What a very unique and extraordinary brand of "democracy" being practiced in Nigeria, when a sitting vice president is not allowed or cannot seat-in for a president, who is on his annual vacation-leave? What then is the job of the vice president bereft of such opportune time or circumstance when duty calls? Icheoku has written in the past questioning the zoning-arrangement of a "democratic" Nigeria wherein a particular zone believes it is their turn to rule Nigeria? What happens for instance, when the incumbent zonal-president dies or is incapacitated, while still in office and a succession problems ensues between his zone of origin and the incumbent vice president? The zone which produced the late president then insisting to serve out and complete their own term in office while a despondent vice president insists on following the letters of the constitution regarding succession? Such a mishap will be analogous to anarchy let loose and the conundrum is better imagined than witnessed.
The recent drama playing itself out in Nigeria over the annual vacation of President Umaru Yar'Adua as to who shall stir the ship of the state in his absence, is a snippet of the catastrophic consequence an Umaru Yar'Adau's sudden demise can bring upon Nigeria. The North, particularly the Katsina-axis will fight to the last to spring another president on Nigeria while the Niger Delta South-Sou
th will fight to enthrone their son, Vice President Jonathan Goodluck into the presidency. Does anyone have any idea of the debacle such a fight to finish will cause in Nigeria? Icheoku disclaims an idea what!
The current tussle over who will "succeed" or act for a vacationing President Umaru Yar'Adua is merely a test-run of things to come, should the long-awaited, much anticipated and expected demise of Umaru Yar'Adua happen while he is still in office. Icheoku says, admitted that Nigeria has since become such a laughing stock of the world but the current debate on who is the rightful successor of a vacationing president does not burnish the notoriety any bit. It is either some people are economical with the truth as to Jonathan Goodluck's present right to Aso-Rock or Nigeria is practising a special brand of Northern Oligarchy approved "democracy"? To solve this problem Nigeria may have to re-tool its democracy to remove the office of the vice presidency entirely, in order to completely avoid such a glitch/smirch in the future. Nigerians can change their constitution and abolish the office of the vice president, making the office of the president supreme with just a lieutenant president; who automatically steps in should the president become incapacitated. May be Nigeria can adopt a similar practice as obtains in the 50 States of the United States of America which only have the office of a governor with a separate office for a lieutenant governor, who does not necessarily deputize him; but automatically succeeds him in event of a vacancy in office. And both of them do not necessarily have to belong to the same political party! Nigeria, why not solve this succession problem pronto? Problem identify, problem solved!
The recent drama playing itself out in Nigeria over the annual vacation of President Umaru Yar'Adua as to who shall stir the ship of the state in his absence, is a snippet of the catastrophic consequence an Umaru Yar'Adau's sudden demise can bring upon Nigeria. The North, particularly the Katsina-axis will fight to the last to spring another president on Nigeria while the Niger Delta South-Sou
th will fight to enthrone their son, Vice President Jonathan Goodluck into the presidency. Does anyone have any idea of the debacle such a fight to finish will cause in Nigeria? Icheoku disclaims an idea what!The current tussle over who will "succeed" or act for a vacationing President Umaru Yar'Adua is merely a test-run of things to come, should the long-awaited, much anticipated and expected demise of Umaru Yar'Adua happen while he is still in office. Icheoku says, admitted that Nigeria has since become such a laughing stock of the world but the current debate on who is the rightful successor of a vacationing president does not burnish the notoriety any bit. It is either some people are economical with the truth as to Jonathan Goodluck's present right to Aso-Rock or Nigeria is practising a special brand of Northern Oligarchy approved "democracy"? To solve this problem Nigeria may have to re-tool its democracy to remove the office of the vice presidency entirely, in order to completely avoid such a glitch/smirch in the future. Nigerians can change their constitution and abolish the office of the vice president, making the office of the president supreme with just a lieutenant president; who automatically steps in should the president become incapacitated. May be Nigeria can adopt a similar practice as obtains in the 50 States of the United States of America which only have the office of a governor with a separate office for a lieutenant governor, who does not necessarily deputize him; but automatically succeeds him in event of a vacancy in office. And both of them do not necessarily have to belong to the same political party! Nigeria, why not solve this succession problem pronto? Problem identify, problem solved!
Yar’Adua’s vacation, threat to democracy —AC
ReplyDeleteBy Olayinka Oyebode and Chukwudi Akasike
Published: Monday, 2 Feb 2009
The Action Congress, on Sunday, said the failure by President Umaru Yar‘Adua to adhere to the constitutional provision over his vacation had created a void that could threaten the country‘s democracy.
The AC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the unfortunate power game in the Presidency, resulting from the vacation saga, had created an atmosphere of instability.
It added that the development was an impression of a government whose actions were out of purpose.
The party also said that it was difficult for Nigerians to determine who was really in charge of the country at the moment, a development which the party described as ‘dangerous‘.
The AC said, ”The President is on vacation. The Senate President said the Vice-President is not recognised as acting President because Yar‘Adua did not adhere to the constitutional provision to send a written declaration to the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives before going on vacation.
”Also, the President‘s men said he remains in charge, even though he is on vacation - a contradiction of the statement by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, that the VP would carry out the President‘s duties while he is away.
”To further confuse issues, some apologists - who are more interested in keeping their honey ducts flowing than in the survival of Nigeria‘s democracy - have jumped into the fray, playing on semantics to push their dubious and self-serving stand that the President is in charge every minute of his four-year tenure, even if he becomes incapacitated for whatever reason.‘‘
The party wondered why an issue of the President‘s vacation, which could have been treated as a routine matter, would generate so much fuss, at a time the country should concentrate its energy on seeking ways of alleviating the sufferings brought on Nigerians by the global economic meltdown and the absence of good governance.
The AC said the SGF was competent enough to make pronouncements on behalf of the government, but wondered what message the Yar‘Adua administration was sending to the world when the SGF was wilfully contradicted on the issue of the President‘s vacation.
It said, ”If the statement by the SGF is anything to go by, which we believe it should be, then all the actions of President Yar‘Adua while he remains on vacation are null and void and of no effect whatsoever.
”But so will be the actions of the VP as his acting presidency is not recognised, due to the failure to follow the Constitution. That creates a void that does not augur well for a country like ours.‘‘
The party reiterated its earlier call on President Yar‘Adua to take immediate steps to lower the heat that had been generated in the polity by complying with the letter and spirit of the Constitution that he swore to protect and uphold.
”Such action will not be a sign of weakness on the part of the President, but an indication of good leadership, a leader who puts the interest of his country above his own, or that of anybody at all.”
Meanwhile, the Chief Press Secretary to the Cross River State Governor, Mr. Patrick Ugbe, has said that the state was not aware of the details of Yar’Adua’s visit to the Obudu Cattle Ranch.
He said, “We don’t have details of when the President will arrive. We know that Obudu Cattle Ranch is one of the places he is expected to spend his vacation but I am not aware of the time the President will visit the state.”
Contrary to tales by moonlight that he was taking a vacation and would spend it visiting the Obudu Cattle Ranch in Cross Rivers State, as well as his home state of Katsina and Dodan Barracks in Lagos, Umaru Yar'adua is reportedly still in the trenches in the Aso Rock Villa.His aides say he is waiting for Jonathan to return from Ethiopia, where he is attending a meeting of the African Union. At that time, they say he may then leave for Obudu on Wednesday, and return on Sunday. But in an obvious bare-faced deception, Thisday newspaper claimed in a front-page report last week that Yar'adua had left Obudu for the burial of Governor Bello Ali of Yobe state. Our checks reveal, however, that this is patently untrue, and that Yar’Adua has not been to the Obudu cattle ranch in his life.In Aso Rock, where he is paradoxically holding his so-called leadership in wait for his subordinate, authoritative sources told Saharareporters he has embarked on a series of orthodox and unorthodox treatments for his medical ailments. SaharaReporters, and subsequently other news outlets, had reported he was going to be taking significant time out to obtain medical treatment abroad, but that suddenly became a “vacation” in Nigeria last week.Our reporters said that by last night, the first day of February, Cross River State officials were not in anyway in the mood or prepared to receive Yar'Adua into the state. The state governor, Liyel Imoke, was in Lagos yesterday, but he later returned to Calabar on an early after noon flight, with no indication on the ground for a reception for Yar'adua at Obudu Ranch as earlier announced by his aides.Saharareporters had reported that Yar'adua was billed for a prolonged medical trip abroad with particular preference for a kidney transplant center in the US, but various media reports and reports of plots by politically-ambitious persons, especially from the Northern block, forced him to abort those plans. Instead, his aides said he would embark on a "vacation" in Nigeria. Yar'adua's last minute cancellation of his travels abroad also affected a program at the Voice of America (VOA) headquarters in Washington, DC on January 29th that organizers had announced that the "First Lady," Turai Yar'adua, would participate in. She sent in a last minute replacement.Other controversies dogging Yar'adua's “vacation” include his refusal to inform the Nigerian Senate about his travel plans as required by section 145 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Yar'adua also reversed his purported handover to his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, and sent him off to Addis Ababa to represent Nigeria at the annual African Union meeting.Saharareporters learnt that Yar'adua is now hostage to "primordial beliefs" in Islamic marabouts now quartered within the premises of the Aso rock Villa, who have advised him to shun orthodox medical intervention and rely more on spiritual treatments. A Saudi-based Nigerian woman known as "Umah" is administering daily doses of spiritual cure, according to Aso Rock sources. Our reports last week had led the First lady to remove her from the living quarters, she is now located at the "House 7" residence where incidentally some state–of-the art medical equipment are reportedly located. It is not known if Yar'Adua will step out of Abuja before the end of his controversial vacation on Friday, according to the calendar provided by his spokespersons. Sources in the Aso Rock Villa told Saharareporters that a foreign trip for Yar'adua is still very high on the cards as his health has reportedly deteriorated in the last few weeks.
ReplyDeletePolitics of Yar’Adua’s Vacation
ReplyDeleteWritten by Kazeem Akintunde
Monday, 02 February 2009
The decision of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to go on a two-week vacation is generating dust in and outside the National Assembly
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President Umaru Yar’Adua on January 26, began a two-week leave. The issue generated a lot of dust which is yet to settle.
Yayale Ahmed, secretary to the government of the federation, had, in a statement, said that Goodluck Jonathan, the vice-president, would take charge of the affairs of government for the duration of the President’s leave.
But the National Assembly refused to recognise Jonathan as the acting president. The legislators based their decision on the fact that the president never informed them in writing of his desire to proceed on leave in accordance with the provision of section 145 of the 1999 constitution to pave the way for the recognition of Jonathan as the acting president.
Section 145 of the constitution states that “whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such functions shall be discharged by the Vice-President as acting president.”
Some members of the National Assembly had raised the issue of the president going on leave without informing either David Mark, senate president, or Dimeji Bankole, the speaker of the House of Representatives, as stipulated by the constitution.
In the senate, George Sekibbo, a People's Democratic Party, PDP, senator from Rivers State had kick-started the debate on the floor of the senate when he asked the senate president whether President Yar’Adua wrote the legislature of his decision to proceed on leave. “Mr. Senate President, my dear colleagues, I don’t know whether the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has transmitted any message to the Senate president concerning his desire to go on leave. I want to know if it had been done and the Senate is not yet aware. I raise this observation because if we are talking about the Rule of Law, we must abide by the constitution. Last year, there were lots of speculations about the whereabouts of the president. Some people said he was here, others said he was there. He suddenly re-appeared and started working. This Senate has a duty to defend the interest of the country and we know that the president is the symbol of authority of the country. So, the Senate must take interest in the whereabouts of the president.”
Sola Akinyede, a PDP senator from Ekiti State, who is also a lawyer, said it was not mandatory for the President to transmit such a message before he goes on leave. He, however, explained that “whenever such is done, the vice-president will become the acting president.”
Teslim Folarin, senate majority leader, said if the President did not write to the Senate on the matter, it is still within the law as it is not mandatory for such a communication to be transmitted. “It simply means that the man has not gone on leave.”
Mark insisted he was not aware of the two weeks leave which President Yar’Adua embarked upon, stressing that until the President formally communicates the Senate on the matter, the declaration that Vice-President Jonathan is the acting president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not acceptable to the upper legislative chamber.
In the House of Representatives, Ita Enang, chairman, committee on Rules and Business, said members would become aware of any letter on Yar’Adua’s vacation “only after it might have been read on the floor” by Dimeji Bankole, the speaker. There was no sign that the president wrote the lower chamber as Bankole, who presided, did not read any letter from the president on the floor of the House.
Another source also informed Newswatch that the president actually informed Mark verbally of his decision to proceed on a two-week break. He was said to have been advised not to write the National Assembly “so that hawks within the system would not hijack the situation.”
Segun Adeniyi, special adviser on communications to the president, actually confirmed to journalists in Abuja that Yar’Adua did not hand over to Jonathan, but that he directed him to be in charge of government during his absence. “I think the background to it was what happened in council during the last Executive Council meeting. There was a debate at the Federal Executive Council concerning some of the principal ministers who, when they travel out, nothing happens in their ministries because the minister of state cannot act. “And the President said as far as he was concerned, if there were issues in his absence, the vice-president should deal with them. “So, if Mr. President is on vacation, it goes without saying that the vice-president will take charge. That is just the normal thing, not handover per se. The President is still in charge, there is no big deal about it.”
What is not in doubt, however, is the fact that the President would not travel out of the country during the two-week break. Adeniyi said Yar’Adua would spend part of the leave at the Obudu Cattle Ranch in Cross River State, Dodan Barracks in Lagos State and his home town of Katsina State.
Bamidele Aturu, a lawyer, while reacting to the politics of Yar’Adua’s vacation said the president should have formally handed over to the vice-president if he was going on leave. “The constitution is clear. If the president is going on leave and he has told the senate president and the speaker, then he would have to hand over the reins of government to the vice-president – the constitution is very clear on that.”
The controversy on the president’s vacation had actually started with earlier reports that he was going abroad for two months to attend to his health.
This later changed. Adeniyi said Yar’Adua was only going for two weeks and would spend the whole of the period in Nigeria and that the vacation was not on health grounds.
Since Yar’Adua became president in May 2007, this is the first time it was officially announced that Jonathan would do his job in his absence. On each previous occasions, there was conflict of roles between the vice-president and other key members of government and it was not clear who was actually in charge.
But even the announcement by Ahmed does not appear to have completely erased doubts that Jonathan is actually in charge. One of those nursing such feelings is Yinka Odumakin, national publicity secretary of Afenifere Renewal Group. He said what is happening in Abuja clearly showed that Jonathan is an outsider in this government. “Yar’Adua is still the man in charge. Jonathan should not be deceived. The power and authority is still with Yar’Adua whether he is in Obudu or Katsina or Dodan Barracks. And if that is not the case, it means Turai Yar’Adua is effectively in charge,” Odumakin said.
He insisted that what is happening is a manifestation of the crisis of confidence between Yar’Adua and his deputy. “The president does whatever he likes irrespective of what the constitution states and Jonathan, to me, is more or less an outsider in this government,” Odumakin said.
Balarabe Musa, former governor of old Kaduna State also said Yar’Adua had shown that he does not have the capacity to lead Nigeria in the 21st century but put the blame squarely on former President Olusegun Obasanjo who imposed him on the nation. “The president is a good man but I think it is wicked to put this kind of man in a position to run this very complex country,” Musa said.
Yar’Adua had in September last year travelled out of the country for the Muslim’s lesser hajj only to prolong his stay in Saudi Arabia to seek medical attention
Presidential Villa and Jonathan as ‘President’
ReplyDeleteBy Agency Reporter
Published: Thursday, 5 Feb 2009
For almost two weeks, Vice-President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has been in the saddle in the Presidential Villa as President Umaru Yar’Adua observed his annual vacation. Yar’Adua did not transmit his vacation to the National Assembly; consequently, his action triggered a rash debate on the import of Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution.
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Dr. Goodluck Jonathan
Some members of the National Assembly have argued that the President ought to have intimated the lawmakers of his vacation, but his Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters, Dr. Abba Aji thought differently. According to him, if the president goes to the moon, he will still function as the country’s number one citizen from there.
Jonathan may not have functioned as an ‘Acting President’ but as an overseer of the Presidency; even at that, he proved that he was indeed in charge of the government when he presided over the Federal Executive Council meeting on January 28. The meeting holds every Wednesday. The January 28 FEC was one of the shortest in a very long while, lasting just about an hour. The reason for this was that only one memo was submitted to the Council for consideration.
However, its outcome was a major one as he directed the ministers to submit their budget implementation plans; he also stopped the award of fresh contracts by September every year. The two directives were clearly in line with Yar’Adua’s dissatisfaction with the ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal Government over none implementation of the 2008 budget. A source in the Ministry of Finance put the figure of unspent funds recovered so far at N400bn. Yet, many roads in the country are death-traps, just as many contractors remain unpaid.
Besides, the directive on budget implementation plan may be a clear yard stick to measure the ministers who share the president’s vision. Repeatedly, Yar’Adua had said that the ministers must perform if they wish to retain their positions in his government, which is currently faced with great challenges, as it moves to address the impact of the global economic recession in the country.
With the budget implementation plan submitted to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation last Friday, it would now be much easier to put the ministers on their toes.
Given the president’s vacation schedule, the February 5, FEC meeting will be Jonathan’s last opportunity to preside as the former is expected to resume duty next Monday. His first FEC meeting with the ministers may have been electrifying, this mien could hardly be said to have pervaded the arena where the National Economic Council meeting held on Tuesday. The mood was somber. Reason: the Vice-President officially announced the death of former Yobe State Governor, Senator Mamman Ali, on Tuesday.
The NEC comprises the 36 state governors and some ministers. Shortly after the national anthem was rendered, the Vice-President nominated the Central Bank Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, and Zamfara State Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Shinkafi, to take the Christian and Muslim opening prayers respectively.
Jonathan thereafter formally announced Ali’s death to the shock of the NEC members, most of whom were his colleagues in the Governors Forum. The Vice-President then directed the Niger State Governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, to move a motion either for the adjournment or continuation of the meeting. Aliyu moved a motion for adjournment, which was duly seconded by Gombe State Governor, Danjuma Goje.
At this point, Rivers State Governor, Chief Rotimi Amaechi, brought an order of notice to the NEC that there was an urgent matter to be discussed and that the meeting should be reconvened shortly after the burial of the late governor. The NEC therefore agreed that the meeting should now hold on February 12, 2008.
Indeed, the Villa was a quiet place during the two weeks of the President’s vacation which is a relief when one considers the near absence of the usually unending traffic of aides, government officials, ministers, governors, diplomats and other dignitaries that visit the Office of the President. Yar’Adua is not the sole beneficiary of the vacation. His aides did too, because of their hectic schedules.
Certainly, these are not a very fabulous times for any minister that is dyed in the wool of the business as usual tradition.