The return into the country of President Umaru Musa Yar’adua in circumstances shrouded in complete secrecy in the early hours of today totally devoid of pomp and ceremony usually accorded to a person of his stature is a confirmed beyond a shadow of doubt that the man is being held hostage by a certain cabal in furtherance of its selfish and devious agenda. I wonder aloud how a man who has been weighed down and emaciated by a life threatening ailment would be removed from his hospital bed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia flown on an aircraft for more than six gruelling hours and then bundled into an ambulance under heavy security coverage into the presidential villa. It shows that this cabal that has held our president hostage is desperate, mindless and callous. The truth of the matter is that the President is permanently incapacitated from performing his presidential duties. This is what the return of the President in the condition he was brought into the country has confirmed. The suspension of today session of the Executive Council of the Federation which we had expected President Yar’adua to preside over as Chairman has further confirmed that the president cannot perform the functions of his office. Most importantly , the statement issued by the Special Assistant to the President, Olusegun Adeniyi that President Yar’adua has directed that the Vice-President, Goodluck Jonathan should assume office as Acting President is belated, and of no moment. The directive has being over taken by events. It is otiose. This because the National Assembly has already conferred on Jonathan the status of Acting President and he has been exercising these presidential powers to the fullest since then. Some strict constructionist may contend that the National Assembly has no such powers to confer on Jonathan the toga of Acting President but there is doctrine of necessity which invocation which cannot be wished away. President Yar’adua is just striving to save his face by doing what he ought to have done three months ago when he left the shores of this country for medical treatment. I think President Yar’adua was hurriedly brought to the country to scuttle his possible removal from office by the National Assembly as it was strongly rumoured. He wants to eat his cake and have. He wants to remain President while he suffers from permanent incapacitation and infirmity of the mind brought about by his ailment. Those who have held the President hostage for their selfish interest wants to remain relevant in the scheme of affairs because Yar’adua is still constitutionally the President even though Jonathan is the Acting President. Yar’adua will still enjoy and indeed be entitled to all his rights and privileges as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is sheer power play.
The health of Mr. President has been a source of speculation and controversy since he collapsed and was flown abroad during electioneering campaign in early 2007. Mr. President in May 2008 publicly admitted that he has not been quite healthy. The Constitution, the basic law of the Country contemplates a healthy, virile and physically/mentally strong Mr. President to deal with the difficult and challenging business of governance in a complex country such Nigeria. However, the Constitution has contemplated this type of situation we have found ourselves. We can take umbrage under Section 144 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 which has laid down the procedure for the removal of a President who has become a liability like Yar’adua. I think the presence of Yar’adua in the country breathing down on necks of the crowd of his loyalists and hawks in the Executive Council of the Federation will be a check on the constitutionalists in the council who wants him removed on ground of his fragile health. This is the calculation of the hawks and loyalists of the ailing President. The truth of the matter is that the Executive Council must be pressured to be alive to its constitutional responsibilities by appointing a panel to examine whether the President is fit to remain in office as President in view of his fragile health which has greatly affected his performance in the last two years. I expect President Yar’adua as a patriot who believes in this country to see reason and throw in the towel in the interest of the peace, well being and stability of this country. Let him call of the bluffs of the hawks around him who are pretending to love him more than his own mother will love him. The country has been bogged down by his ailing for so long. It is the time the country moves on. I will advise him to simply render his letter of resignation forthwith otherwise the Executive Council of the Federation must invoked Section The truth of the matter is that for the past three weeks Mr. President has not been able to perform his constitutional duties and responsibilities because of his poor health. The germane question is: What is the constitutional implication of a sickly President? Put it another way, what is the position of the Constitution when a President becomes so sick to perform the functions of his Office? Section 144 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, expressly spelt out the procedure for the removal of a sitting President who becomes infirm or suffers permanent incapacitation thus: (1) The President or Vice-President shall cease to hold office, if – (a) by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all the members of the executive council of the Federation it is declared that the President or Vice-President is incapable of discharging the functions of his office; and (b) the declaration is verified, after such medical examination as may be necessary by a medical panel established under subsection (4) of this section in its report to the President of the Senate and the House of Representatives. (2) Where the medical panel certifies in the report that in its opinion the President or Vice-President is suffering from such infirmity of body or mind as renders him permanently incapable of discharging the functions of his office, a notice thereof signed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall be published in the official gazette of the Government of the Federation. (3)The President or Vice-President shall cease to hold office as from the date of the publication of the notice of medical report pursuant to subsection (2) of this section. (4) The medical panel in which this section relates shall be appointed by the President of the Senate, and shall comprise five medical practitioners in Nigeria- (a) one of which shall be the personal physician of the holder of the office concerned; and (b) four other medical practitioners who have, in the opinion of the President of the Senate attained a high degree of eminence in the field of medicine relative to the nature of the examination to be conducted in accordance with the foregoing provisions. (5) In this section, the reference to ‘ executive council of the Federation’ is a reference to the body of Ministers of the Government of the Federation, howsoever called, established by the President and charged with such responsibilities for the functions of government as the President may direct’. It is clear that the Federal Executive Council has a central role to play in the event that the ill-health of Mr. President persists in settling the ball rolling for his impeachment on ground of permanent incapacitation. The pertinent question is: Can the Federal Executive Council be trusted to perform its constitutional role taking into account that it is mostly made up of unprincipled politicians and jobbers? |
Okoi Obono-Obla
* Obono-Obla is a Barrister, Human Rights Activist and lives in Abuja, Nigeria.
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