Nigeria’s most vocal opposition party, the Action Congress (AC), has slammed the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Justice Minister, Michael Aondoakaa, for “seeking to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians with his string of poorly-thought-out comments on the health of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the latest statement credited to the AGF, that the President could perform his official functions without actually being around, amounted to a deliberate attempt to trample on the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“If the framers of our Constitution had wanted the President to rule from a distance, it would not have dwelt on the need for the President to hand over to his deputy if he is proceeding on vacation or otherwise unable to carry out his official functions for whatever reasons.
“Unfortunately, many members of the President’s cabinet, in their desperate bid to ingratiate themselves to him, are ready to distort the Constitution and even peddle bold-facing lies.
“It is particularly sad when the official leading such a campaign of lies and deceit is the country’s chief law officer. The Minister was previously quoted as saying President Yar’Adua’s ailment is ‘minor’, even when the President has been in Saudi Arabia for the past 23 days (as at 16 Dec.).
“With his latest comments, which have not been denied, Minister Aondoakaa has hit a new low,” AC said.
The party said the truth was that the many of the President’s aides and ministers were thinking more of themselves rather than the ailing President.
“While it may be fair to say that they don’t want the President to die, it is also becoming increasingly clear that they don’t want him to get well soon, so that they can continue their current freewheeling style with no one supervising them,” it said.
The party re-stated its stand on the issue of the President’s health, which is that it expects the appropriate organ of government – the Federal Executive Council (FEC) – to act in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution by initiating the process to ascertain whether or not the President can continue in office on the strength of his ill health.
“The FEC is the only organ constitutionally saddled with the responsibility of starting this process. If it does not start it, no other organ can, and Nigeria will continue in this same state of suspended animation – which we have been subjected to in the past 23 days.
“Unfortunately, enlightened self interest will not allow the FEC to act. Members are not sure if a Jonathan presidency will retain them or not, hence they are not in a hurry to engage in an act that will amount to self immolation,” AC said.
Yar’Adua is receiving treatment for an acute condition of the inflammation of the membrane of the heart at a Saudi hospital.