Nigeria’s Vice President Goodluck Jonathan Is not Acting President

San Francisco (THEWILL) - Vice President Goodluck Jonathan is not the acting president as earlier reported.

Presidential Spokesman Segun Adeniyi made the clarification late Thursday saying the ailing President Yar’Adua has just asked Vice President Jonathan to represent him at official functions on Friday, as the muslim community pay visits to Aso Rock in celebration of their festival.

President Yar'Adua is currently admitted at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah, where he is being treated for a disease called acute pericaditis, an inflammation of the sac around the heart. The president is also known to suffer from an advanced churg Strauss syndrome.

Medical experts say it takes at least six weeks to effectively treat the disease, which may also require a surgical procedure.

Chapter Six of the Nigerian Constitution clearly defines how the Vice President can assume the office if the president is indisposed.

The constitutional provision states as follows:

141. There shall be for the Federation a Vice President.

143. (1) The President or Vice President may be removed from office in accordance with the provisions of this section.

144. (1) The President or Vice President shall cease to hold office, if - (a) by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all the members of the Executive council of the Federation it is declared that the President or Vice President is incapable of discharging the functions of his office; and

(b) The declaration is verified, after such medical examination as may be necessary, by a medical panel established under sub-section (4) of this section in its report to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

(2) Where the medical panel certifies in the report that in its opinion the President or Vice President is suffering from such infirmity of body or mind as renders him permanently incapable of discharging the functions of his office, a notice thereof signed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall be published in the Official Gazette of the Government of the Federation.

(3) The President or Vice President shall cease to hold office as from the date of publication of the notice of the medical report pursuant to sub-section (2) of this section.

(4) The medical panel to which this section relates shall be appointed by the President of the Senate, and shall comprise five medical practitioners in Nigeria: -

(a) One of whom shall be the personal physician of the holder of the office concerned; and

(b) Four other medical practitioners who have, in the opinion of the President of the Senate, attained a high degree of eminence in the field of medicine relative to the nature of the examination to be conducted in accordance with the foregoing provisions.

(5) In this section, the reference to "Executive council of the Federation" is a reference to the body of Ministers of the Government of the Federation, howsoever called, established by the President and charged with such responsibilities for the functions of government as the President may direct.

145. 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.

146. (1) The Vice President shall 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 section 143 of this Constitution.

(2) Where any vacancy occurs in the circumstances mentioned in sub-section (1) of this section during a period when the office of Vice President is also vacant, the President of the Senate shall hold the office of President for a period of not more than three months, during which there shall be an election of a new President, who shall hold office for the un-expired term of office of the last holder of the office.

(3) Where the office of Vice President becomes vacant:

(a) By reason of death or resignation, impeachment, permanent incapacity or removal in accordance with section 143 or 144 of this Constitution;

(b) By his assumption of the office of President in accordance with sub-section (1) of this section; or

(c) For any other reason, the President shall nominate and, with the approval of each House of the National Assembly, appoint a new Vice President.

The president was unable to perform the hajj in Mecca because of his ill health, though his physician says he is responding to treatment.

There is still no word on when the president will be discharged nor when he is expected back in the country.