Abuja: A proposal by Nigeria`s information
minister to reassign the powers of ailing President Umaru Musa
Yar’Adua to his deputy has been shot down by the cabinet.
Dora Akunyili, Information minister of Nigeria has asked
the Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) to seek a
vacation letter from Yar’Adua and step in Vice President
Goodluck Jonathan, a report in newspaper `Thisday` said today.
According to the report, Akunyili circulated a memo
yesterday among the council members asking them to discuss the
long absence of Yar’Adua from office, that has led to a power
vacuum in Nigeria.
It also proposed Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to step
in as acting President until Yar’Adua returns from Saudi
Arabia where he is undergoing treatment since November last
year for a heart condition.
Quoting anonymous ministers, the paper reported that
Akunyili asked the cabinet to discuss the President`s absence,
but was forced to withdraw all copies of the memo by the
ministers who threatened to hold her responsible if any of
them leaked to the press.
This seems to be the first crack in the ranks of the
president’s cabinet even as his deputy Jonathon Goodluck had
said that Yar`Adua will return soon to Nigeria.
Neither the President handed over power to VP Goodluck as
required by the constitution nor did he notify the national
assembly according to Article 145.
Two court rulings had said the President is not obliged
to do so, drawing criticism by Nigerians who pointed out
loopholes like the inability of Goodluck to swear in a chief
judge and sign a new bill into law.
Jonathan is also unable to sign the country’s budget, a
situation that led to Yar’Adua’s aide claiming that the
president signed the country’s budget on sick bed.
Attempts by agency to speak with the information minister
proved abortive as she did not pick phone calls.
In the memo Akunyili was quoted as stating: "We should
remember that permanent secretaries have been waiting to be
sworn in for two months, meaning some ministers don?t even
have permanent secretaries now."
She was also quoted as stating that the deployment of
troops to quell a religious riot in Jos by the VP was
unconstitutional.
World leaders called on Nigeria to resolve what they saw
as a uncertainty when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, France`s Foreign
Minister Bernard Kouchner and European Union High
Representative Catherine Ashton signed a joint statement
calling on the country to resolve issue constitutionally.
PTI
