Reports reaching
Newsdiaryonline from the Senate chambers
revealed that Nigeria's Senate has
declared Goodluck Jonathan as acting
president and Commander in chief
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
The resolution had
been predictable especially after
Nigeria's Governors' Forum
resolved last week that it would support
the emergence of Jonathan as acting
president.Before now, the governors
seemed divided between supporters of
President Umaru Musa Yaradua and
Jonathan.The presidet has been bedridden
for more than seventy days in a Saudia
Arabian hospital in Jeddah where he is
receiving treatment for acute
pericarditis.But sources believe the
entire causes of the president's
illness have not been fully disclosed
Human rights groups
and civil society groups especially the
SNG have protested.Prominent
Nigerians and former leaders all
unanimously called for a constitutional
transfer of power.But a cabal of
yaradua's loyalists continued to
stonewall .But crack emerged at
the federal executive council last week
with Dora Akunyili the information
minster submitting a memo calling for
power to be transmitted to the VP
Since president
Yaradua failed to transmit a letter of
vacation to senate, it is believed the
senate action today is a political
solution to the crisis.It is said in
some circles that poltical solution has
become necesary in the light of the
threat to democracy in the face of the
lingering crisis.Thenews and Insider
weekly magazines this week reported on
their covers, the rumblings in the
military over Yaradua's health crisis.
It is also believed
that Jonathan's first major move may be
to reconstitute the federal cabinet
given the credibility problem dogging
Yaradua's ministers now. |
