Opposition Wants New Executive Cabinet To Commence Yar’Adua’s Impeachment

PHOTO: PRESIDENT UMARU YAR'ADUA.

ABUJA April 18, (THEWILL) - Opposition Action Congress (AC) has charged the newly constituted Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) to immediately commence the process for the removal of ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua and make Acting President Goodluck Jonathan the substantive President in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.

The Party which has since been calling for Yar’Adua’s removal on the account of his ill health also condemned the apparent restrictions placed around him by his close aides and family resulting in the inability of the Acting President to see the President.

National Publicity Secretary of the AC Alhaji Lai Mohammed who stated the position of the party in Abuja today (Sunday) said the fate of the President must be decided based strictly on the provisions of the Constitution and not on emotions.

Top politicians and interest groups in the country have been divided on the fate of the ailing President with many of them mounting pressure on the newly constituted EXCOF to invoke section 144 of the constitution and remove him.

Section 144 of the Constitution empowers the Executive Council to initiate the removal of the President if it in its opinion he is incapable of discharging his functions.

The Section reads; “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 subsection (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 subsection (2) of this section.

Insisting that it has become obvious that Yar’Adua has not been able to perform his duties due to ill health since last year, the party charged the Executive Council to immediately apply the constitution.

According to Mohammed, "the EXCOF will not wait a day longer to kick-start the process of declaring the President incapacitated, based on his long-term illness, the prognosis for his return to office and the need to keep the country going. 
AC stressed that the framers of the Constitution had definitely envisaged the situation in which Nigeria has found itself since November 2009, when President Yar’Adua has not been able to function officially, hence they made the provision for Section 144."

The party charged the Council not to be misled by emotions being whipped up by some quarters who want Jonathan to remain as Acting President adding that the nation must be governed by the dictates of the law as preached by the ailing President.

"They are saying we must maintain the status quo and have an Acting President that stays that way indefinitely. No! The Constitution did not make provision for an indefinite Acting Presidency. We must resolve this issue within the dictates of the Constitution.  Remove the Sword of Damocles that Yar’Adua’s invisible presidency has become on the Acting Presidency and get our country moving. Sentiments have no place in this issue!’" the party said. 



AC also condemned a situation in which the Acting President has yet to see the President since his return to the country from Saudi Arabia almost three months ago even when both are within the precinct of Aso Rock.

According to the party that confirms that there is indeed a cabal holding the President hostage.