On Wednesday in Abuja, Governors who are members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held a “solidarity” meeting with Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, after which they declared that they do not know when President Umaru Yar’Adua would return from Saudi Arabia.
Yar’Adua has been hospitalised in Jeddah since November 23 last year.
Jonathan has been holding brief for the President, who is recuperating from a heart ailment, but facing calls to relinquish the position to his Deputy, on account of poor health.
The parley started at about 9 a.m at Jonathan’s official residence, Aguda House, and slightly delayed the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, which he later chaired.
The Governors, led by Bukola Saraki of Kwara State, had met on Tuesday night in Abuja and resolved to brief Jonathan on their deliberations.
Asked on Wednesday to comment on Yar’Adua’s state of health and the possibility of his returning home soon, Saraki said: “These are two different issues. (His) health is different from the time that he will come back, and we are happy to see a great improvement in (his) health.
“Prior to now, a lot of anti-democratic individuals had been spreading rumours that (he) cannot talk or converse, and that he is in a coma. It is good that (Yar’Adua) said his health is improving.”
Daily Independent gathered that the PDP Governors went as representatives of the Governors’ Forum.
It was also learnt that they raised the issue of internal security in what a source called “the prevailing perception of vacuum in the absence of the President.
“They wanted (Jonathan) to step up to the bill.
“They also discussed the U.S. policy pronouncement over the failed attempt by Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab to down an American plane on December 25, and other pronouncements of former U.S. Ambassador, particularly during the recent Chinua Achebe Colloquium in America.
“They urged (Jonathan) to summon the U.S. Ambassador to raise the issues.”
The source also disclosed that the Governors expressed their solidarity with Jonathan and reassured him of their support and co-operation in the face of political and legal battles buffeting the administration since the absence of Yar’Adua.
Information and Communications Minister, Dora Akunyili, told reporters later that Jonathan informed the FEC about his telephone conversation with Yar’Adua at about 8 p.m. on Tuesday, which was reported by Daily Independent on Wednesday.
She did not provide details.
At the meeting on Tuesday, the Governors also discussed the attempted bombing of an American plane by Abdulmutallab, promising to reconvene next Monday to discuss the issue at a larger forum.
“It is an issue that requires entire Governors to meet and deliberate on. It’s a national issue and as such we are recommending that at the next national meeting, it should be the main item on the agenda. We have brought the next meeting forward to Monday to address this matter,” Saraki said on Wednesday.
Still on Yar’Adua, former Presidential Spokesman, Doyin Okupe, urged lawmakers to declare him unfit to govern and invoke Constitutional provisions for Jonathan to take charge.
Okupe, who served under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, urged Nigerians, high and low and across political divides, to prevail on the National Assembly (NASS) to jettison partisanship, consider the larger interest of the country, and uphold the Constitution which mandates the President to hand over to his Deputy when incapacitated.
Okupe told a press conference in Lagos that, “It is clear that this President, by reason of his continued indisposition, is no longer capable of discharging his responsibilities as President.
“One of the most devastating consequences of this inability to function is the failure of the government to give appropriate diplomatic response to the issue of the Nigerian-born terrorist, which has now led to the unfortunate classification of Nigeria as a terrorist state along with such rogue nations as Yemen, Afghanistan, and Somalia.”
Okupe reiterated that he is a member of the PDP, but insisted that the issue at stake transcends party loyalty or ethnic colouration, and borders on national good.
Okupe, a medical doctor, said he remains a friend of Yar’Adua.
However, he added, “It is painful, it is sad, it is unfortunate but it is right to ask (him) now and today to step down and sign the required letter for (Jonathan) to at least be sworn in as acting President.
“It is a quintessential fact of ignoble impunity for any group of persons to attempt to convince us to the contrary.”
“Those who foolishly went abroad to sign the 2009 supplementary budget have done a great disservice to the President. For they have succeeded in presenting the President as a desperate and an unpatriotic leader who even on his sick bed would rather prefer to be seen as being active at the detriment of the wellbeing of the nation and respect for Constitutional provision.”
Okupe said it is impractical to expect the Federal Executive Council (FEC), overriding members of which are appointees of Yar’Adua, to declare him unfit to continue in office.
“But the Nvational Assembly does not share this burden. As a body, they are the primary custodian of the Constitution. They cannot and should not present themselves as being helpless in these circumstances and neither should they be seen as abdicating their responsibility.”