Jonathan is acting president

Ini Ekott and Festus Owete
February 10, 2010 07:48AM

Goodluck Jonathan, the 52-year-old zoologist and former teacher, is now the Acting President of Nigeria following separate resolutions by the Senate and the House of Representatives yesterday. He will remain in that office until the ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua shows he is healthy enough to resume office.

More than 20 state governors who arrived the National Assembly shortly after the resolution, congratulated the Senate on the decision. The chairman of the Governor’s Forum, Bukola Saraki of Kwara state, who spoke on their behalf, said the decision “makes us proud” and “is a victory for all Nigerians.”

The Senate voted on the resolution to empower Mr. Jonathan as the Acting President and few hours later, the House of Representatives did the same. All these happened exactly 78 days after Mr. Yar’Adua left Nigeria for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.

First broadcast

Later in his first broadcast to the nation at 10pm yesterday, Mr. Jonathan said “I am deeply humbled and honoured by this great call to duty.” He commended the National Assembly for “showing great courage” in passing the resolutions making him Acting President and wished the ailing President quick recovery. He said the Federal Government “ will take every step necessary to consolidate the gains of Amnesty in the Niger Delta and execute the post-Amnesty programme.” He also sympathised with victims of the recent Jos crises saying “culprits of the heinous crime… will face the full wrath of the law.”

Mr Jonathan also spoke on the anti corruption efforts of the Federal Government saying “the war against corruption will be prosecuted more robustly. We will therefore strengthen the capacity of the anti-corruption agencies and give them a free hand to prosecute the anti corruption war.”

The Senate resolution

The first part of the Senate’s two-pronged resolution reads: “That the Vice President, His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, GCON, shall henceforth discharge the functions of the office of the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as Acting President.”

The second part of the motion said the Vice President will cease to discharge these functions when Mr. Yar’adua transmits, in writing, to the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, a notice that he has returned from “his medical vacation.”

After two executive sessions, the House of Representatives also adopted a resolution making Mr. Jonathan Acting President pending the return of Mr. Yar’Adua from his medical trip to Saudi Arabia. The resolution, which was read by the House leader, Tunde Akogun says, “That for the peace, order and good government of the Federation, and consistent with the judgements of the courts, the Vice President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCON shall assume full presidential powers as acting president, pending the return of the President, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua GCFR to office.”

Members voted unanimously for the adoption of the resolution when the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, put it to vote although there was some uproar and drama. The success of the resolution was preceded by two executive sessions which were characterised by intense disagreements.

Full powers

Mr. Jonathan, according to the Senate resolution, assumes full presidential powers and can officially communicate bills and letters to the National Assembly.

While awaiting yesterday’s decision, lawyers had expressed fears that such a legislative resolution may be controversial considering the fact that the source of its authorization is not legally firm enough to empower the Vice President to act.

Section 145 of the constitution requires that a holidaying or sick president sends a written letter to the leadership of the National Assembly before the Vice President can legally act in his stead.

The Senate had based its decision on the purported interview Mr. Yar’adua had with the British Broadcasting Corporation in January 2010, where he supposedly promised to return as soon as his doctors considered him fit enough.

The Senators said in their motion that the Senate President and the Speaker of the House, had read the declaration of Mr. Yar’adua in the media, and will assume it to be the required transmission – which implies that section 145 has been “complied with.” “If you go online, you will see what was said,” Mr. Mark said in response to Garba Lado (Katsina state), the only Senator who raised a formal opposition to the resolution.

Mr. Lado argued that some Nigerians, including lawmakers, had questioned the authenticity of the interview, and as such could “not understand the kind of decision where voice interview can be interpreted to mean a written declaration.”

In support of Mr. Mark’s explanation on the motion, which was hugely supported during debate, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, said the law gave no details of the mode of communication required except in asking for a written submission from the president.

“Section 145 does not require the president to sign anything, the form is not prescribed,” he said. “If the president had sent a text message to the Senate President and the Speaker of the House, section 145 would have been fully complied with. In addition, the interview was transcribed and was written on the net.”

Ahead of the decision which the Governors’ Forum called ‘historic’, Senators shut themselves in the chambers for preparatory discussions that lasted more than 30 minutes.

Back in the open chambers, the weeks of intrigues that have surrounded the controversial transfer of power to the Vice President, culminated with majority of the Senators expressing their support for the decision.

Save for the few amendments on the motion, which included the proper spelling of Mr. Jonathan’s middle name, Ebele, and the inclusion of the “Armed Forces” in the designation Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Senate President spared no room for discussions on the motion.

Doctrine of necessity

Mr. Mark seemed to have anticipated the many questions which the resolution might raise when he declared that the upper chamber acted according to the ‘doctrine of necessity.’ “There comes a time in the life of any nation when people must stand up for the truth,” Mr. Mark said, while addressing the visiting Governors after the resolution. “We are not to concern ourselves with all the technicalities. The doctrine of necessity demands that we do what is necessary that was not foreseen by the constitution.”

The Senate, he said later in a speech, had acted with “patriotism, wisdom and collective national interest.”

Joy Emordi and Iyabo Obasanjo suggested that the Senate’s resolution should be made clear enough to demand that Mr. Yar’Adua can only resume office after first returning to Nigeria and second, proving that he is capable of performing the functions of his office.

Mr. Mark ruled that if the president “transmits the letter, we should assume that he is capable.”