STILL ON THE PRESIDENT’S HEALTH

PHOTO: THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DURING A SESSION.

Constitutional experts knew that a time like this would come in the history of Nigeria’s grossly imperfect and hole-in-the-heart constitution.

No constitution in the world is perfect and constitutional amendments are a regular phenomenon all over the world.

The American system which we copied from is being nurtured by constitutional amendments whenever the need arises.

The British Constitution, we all know is an unwritten constitution and the system runs mainly by acts by parliament, judicial verdicts etc.

The 1999 Constitution of Nigeria though imperfect, is sufficiently clear on the issue of succession in case of voluntary abdication of office or vacancy occasioned by natural causes as clearly elucidated by Sections 145 and 146 of the Constitution.

Section 145 of Nigeria’s 1999 constitution states thus: “whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such functions shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President”

Section 146(1) stipulates that “The Vice President should hold the office of President if the office of President becomes vacant by reason of death or resignation, impeachment, permanent incapacity or the removal of the president from office for any other reason in accordance with sections 143 and 144 of the same constitution.

Section 144 (2) of the constitution gives a stubborn and an unwilling President an escape route to manipulate his hold on power. This section talks about “an infirmity of body or mind as renders him PERMANENTLY INCAPABLE of discharging the functions of his office”. Protagonists of the President argue that the president has not been “Permanently incapacitated” as there is still hope of recovery.

But it is not yet Uhuru for the President’s men as the President’s illness is Terminal. Terminal and permanent are interchangeable and is enough argument for the President to turn in his letter to the National Assembly citing permanent incapacitation to enable the Vice President govern as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The ambiguity of Section 144 (2) could be amended by the National Assembly within days to lucidly state that “in the absence from office for a period of more than 7 days as a result of illness or any other form of natural incapacitation, the President would have been deemed to abandon his office”. Nigeria cannot afford so much vacuum in government. In 2002 and 2007 President George W. Bush officially transferred power to Vice President Dick Cheney when the President went in for a minor colonoscopy operation. The transfer of power was for about two hours on each occasion.

The Presidency is not a private enterprise or property and it should not be a do or die affair to be President as there is so much more to life than being President.

But the National Assembly as a consenting ally to this monumental and fraudulent rape on our fragile democracy has decided to look the other way while the President and his wife hold this great and highly endowed country to ransom. Even the Senate turned down its Deputy Majority Leader, Mr. Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), when he tried to bring up a motion to discuss the Presidents health on Tuesday 1^st December 2009. The Senate felt that the debate on the motion would worsen the already controversial succession debate.

The senate threw out the motion and “solved” the succession controversy by declaring a day of national prayers for the ailing President. This is because the National Assembly is a PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) dominated House and of course they are all benefiting from the vacuum in Aso Rock.

Let us use an American example to illustrate the hypocrisy of the Nigerian situation. Constitutional Amendments of the American constitution is a continuous exercise.

The first amendments to the American Constitution was ratified on 15^th December 1791. These amendments (ten in all) were all collectively ratified on the same day and they are commonly known as the Bill of Rights because they generally dealt with the rights of the American people.

The American Presidential election of Nov. 7^th 1876 is till date one of the most controversial and disputed elections in American history. This is because the constitution did not provide procedures for the resolution of disputes emanating from Electoral Colleges. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives therefore voted to establish a Federal Electoral Commission Bill to tackle the crisis from the 1876 Presidential Elections. And on 29^th Jan 1877, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Electoral Commission Bill into Law. The 15 members of the Commission were made up of 5 Democrats, 5 Republicans and 5 Supreme Court Judges. And so the Americans solved a life threatening problem in the space of a summersault and President Rutherford B. Hayes was sworn in as President of the United States of America on 5^th March 1877.

Even slavery was abolished by the ratification of amendment 13 on 6^th Dec. 1865. This incursion into the American example is to demonstrate the willingness of a Nation to attain greater heights in spite of seeming intractable problems.

Nigeria can follow this patriotic and democratic example by amending section 144 (2) of its constitution to specifically give a time limit to which the President can be absent from office due to such “infirmity of body and mind”.

Senator Victor Nodma-Egba (SAN) an articulate progressive who finds himself among dare-devil ultra conservatives was snubbed in the house on Dec. 1^st 2009 when his motion for discussion on the President’s health was rejected by the PDP controlled House.

Today, as the President battles for his life in the King Faissal Specialist Hospital, it is be- labouring the truth to say that Nigeria has no Leader or President. What we have is a consortium of leadership with Hajia Turai Yar Adua at the Head of Command. Who said a woman cannot be Commander-In-Chief in Nigeria. Antagonists of female Presidency can now hide their heads in shame.

In that line of leadership hierarchy also is Vincent Ogbulafor, the Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party. Mr. Vincent Ogbulafor who now craves and courts relevance has foisted himself on the Vice President who has been turned to a mere errand boy. The PDP is Nigeria’s biggest cabal and it will take something cataclysmic to disband the hounds and scoundrels that conglomerate to form Nigeria’s most hideous, invidious and inveterate cartel.

The next in the line of command is Gov. Isa Yugudu of Bauchi State who also doubles as President’s Son-In-Law. For the first time in the history of Nigeria it has now become very fashionable to marry the President’s daughter for political convenience. To qualify to marry any of the President’s three daughters, you must be a State Governor in Nigeria. You must be confirmed and sworn in as a Governor before Hajia Turai will listen and consent to give out any of her daughters in marriage.

The Ministers, Special Advisers-Assistants are next. And for these it like a horse race, jockeying and jostling for Hajia Turai’s attention as the President lies prostrate in his Saudi Specialist Hospital.

But greatest of all is Hajia Turai’s transcendental and phenomenal burst to power. As the Commander-in-Chief, she has agreed to give a daily bulletin-type press conference on the health of her husband to some select friends and in-laws.

Meanwhile, in all this hide and seek game, the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has been side-lined and snubbed like a leper and an enemy.

For how long will Nigeria “turn and turn in the widening gyre” – to borrow from Chinua Achebe. The National Assembly should now initiate the process of confirming Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as Nigeria’s Acting President. The National Assembly knows how to do this. Nothing in the Constitution stops President Umaru Yar Adua from becoming President again when he returns hale and hearty from Saudi Arabia. No nation wishes its President to die even as effeminate and weak as ours is.

The nation has so many unresolved problems. The budget figures are out and what an elitist plot to make the rich-richer and the poor-poorer. Out of a budget of N4.079 trn, N2.11trn (about 50%) is for the payment of salaries, allowances and other running expenses of the ruling elite most of them carting over N10mn home in their car booths monthly. A nation that apportions only 29% of its national budget to the people and 71% to the ruling elite can only be described as a gang of armed robbers. For records, Education was given only 6% of the National Budget as against United Nations 26% for developing countries.

The  problems of permanent fuel subsidy, building of smaller and functional refineries, the global economic meltdown especially as it affects Nigeria, global warming, unemployment and growing loss of jobs especially in the banking sector, electoral crises and manipulations, electricity woes are all staring us in the face. The National Assembly can save this country by showing patriotism and choosing Nigeria first before personal and party loyalties.

God bless Nigeria – a land flowing with milk, honey, oil and a prodigious human capital endowment.

Ben Nanaghan wrote from Lagos and can be reached at bennanaghan@yahoo.com