The constitutional crisis resulting from the continued absence of ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua who is spending his 78th day today in far away Saudi Arabia may be resolved this week when governors of the 36 states present their resolution to the National Assembly and harmonise position on how to transfer power to Goodluck Jonathan as acting president.
The governors under the aegis of Governors’ Forum at the end of their meeting, last week, resolved to meet the National Assembly and prevail on the latter to pass a resolution to formally hand over power to Jonathan as acting president.
The governors, it was learnt, initially wanted to have audience with principal officers of the National Assembly and especially with Senate President David Mark as chairman of the National Assembly, but Mark was reported to have rejected the idea.
According to a reliable source, Mark objected to the governors meeting with only the principal officers on the excuse that he would not want the leadership especially of the Senate to be blackmailed if the governors restrict their meting with them.
Mark was said to have advised that the governors meet with the entire members and table their request and allow the federal lawmakers make their contributions before a final decision is taken. Asked if the new move of the governors would not be unconstitutional, a source said “what other alternative do you think is open? The expected letter from the ailing president is not forthcoming and will not come, so, the other option is impeachment and nobody is talking about that for now”.
The source disclosed that once the National Assembly agrees to pass a resolution transferring power to the vice president in acting capacity “every other thing will fall into place; with the service chiefs firmly behind the vice president as acting president, nobody needs to tell anybody that the vice president is acting president”.
The governors had already met with Jonathan, last week, and conveyed their resolution to have the National Assembly pass a resolution to have him assume office as acting president.
A formal motion is expected to be tabled on the floor of the Senate after the governors must have presented their demands to the National Assembly and this may be tomorrow during plenary and which may be preceded by a close-door session to agree on modalities for the motion.