Until recent developments in the polity occasioned by the continued absence of President Umaru Yar'Adua from duty due to his medical condition, I used to think, in my naivety, that this country is too big and sophisticated to be taken for a ride by an
individual or a group of people. Sure, I am not alone in this fantasy boat. I have not only been proved wrong but also forced to watch a power game in which the country's constitution barely had any role to play in the game.
In the vacuum created by the AWOL president who has stubbornly refused to start the process of transfer power to his vice-president, a cabal has effectively seized the reigns of power, the members arrogating to themselves executive functions which neither the constitution nor the incumbent of office of the president has entrusted to them. In the process, democracy is compromised and the nation is unwittingly at a crossroads.
No doubt the politicians are yet to learn their lessons. Thank God that the allure of political office would no longer sway the men in khaki from solely pursuing their constitutional role. They have demonstrated that they have risen above the greed of some ambitious officers of the past and have now wholly imbibed the culture of pursuing their professional calling, a clear message to the citizenry that that institution has become much more disciplined. It was clearly reflected in the address of the army chief recently, whether it's a forced reaction or not to certain pressures engendered by the mess the president created.
In the attempt to find a way forward, the courts were approached by some stakeholders to make some interpretations (more of such resolutions are possible in the days ahead as the issues get knottier). In the web of confusion, the executive council of the federation was ordered to, within 14 days, tell the nation whether Yar'Adua who appointed them as members was still capable of performing his duties. By the end of the following Wednesday's weekly session, the FEC was quick to officially inform the nation that they were convinced beyond reasonable doubts that Yar'Adua was capable of continuing in office.
How they arrived at this conclusion without soliciting any evidence of the president's state of health from his doctors is hard to fathom. In any case, to say otherwise is committing collective suicide whenever the man returns, or if such declaration leads to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan becoming Acting President and he has the opportunity to select his own team. It could simply be pay back time for some of them.
But for medical advice from the Saudi kingdom, the cabal would have, in their desperation to stop Jonathan, smuggled back the president in his precarious state to put paid to all talk of power shift. Since this is a distant option, perhaps the feasible one would be to get the massing opposition to go by the cabal's own terms if Jonathan would become acting vice president. Yet, the country lies prostrate as they play chess with its destiny.
Nigeria has never had it so bad under a civilian dispensation. Not a few have pointedly accused former President Obasanjo of being the precursor of the present woes. Good for him you say? He had no choice than to fight back as he did, trying to wash his hands off any complicity to the extent of invoking a curse upon himself if he was responsible for installing a non-performer. I don't expect he would fold hands watching chroniclers of events putting him on the negative side in the Yar'Adua matter. But he can't completely extricate himself, no matter how hard he tries.
Just as the executive council members were battling with their own position, Senators were also forced into two stormy days of debate behind closed doors after which they resolved to urge the president to transmit a letter of medical vacation to the National Assembly, implying that he needed to transfer power to Mr. Jonathan. Significant as it is, that's as far as they could go because the resolution had no weight of the law.
Before the nation could express any relief that the senators spoke out at last, a court has added to the confusion by its ruling that in fact, Mr. Yar'Adua was under no obligation to notify the National Assembly of his incapacitation, so he had not breached any part of the constitution by his disappearing act which left the ship of state rudderless.
It is on record too that a group of eminent elders cutting across geo-political divides and comprising former holders of political, military and judicial offices at the highest levels in the land, has added a voice of reason to calls for transfer of power to Jonathan. The call, coming on the heels of similar rally by the Arewa Consultative Forum(ACF) means little to the powerful clique in Abuja who have since held our dear nation to ransom. It is clear, however, that they would soon run out of options, having played most of their cards to fence off the ailing president.
They would do well to read between the lines the joint statement issued by the U.S. and the European Union on the unnecessary drift the ship of state had been subjected to and the need for caution.
Too many things are wrong in the present configuration. Among these is the fact that whatever powers devolve around the vice president (or as may have been granted by a court pronouncement) he still has no real power to exercise executive authority in crucial matters like external aggression. Or are we so nave as to say it could not happen in the absence of a government where executive authority to urgently react to territorial aggression resides in only the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces?
We should not be surprised at the level of corruption in government in the president's post-medical observation days or whenever the hawks allow Jonathan to start acting as president with full powers to sanction. The present situation looks like a field day for the daring ones. Nobody is deceived. EFCC should be ready for more fight in the days ahead.
For now, the ministers seem not to be accountable to the people who did not appoint them in the first instance, and cannot be forced to act on any serious matter of state as we have on hand at present. Well, they are okay with sundry issues including contracts awards. Has anybody noticed that the militants in the south-south are about returning to the creeks because the man who negotiated ceasefire with them is nowhere to continue discussions and the deputy has no powers to reopen talks? What we are talking about is the danger posed to the economic mainstay of the country once again.
On a lighter note, a friend was reacting to the exit of the wobbling and fumbling Eagles in Angola the other day, asking why anyone would lose sleep over their non-performance. How can they perform when the chief coach is absent from training, he asked. Can you get the drift?
Caught in the web of this confusion as laid out earlier in this piece, the real problem is how the country would find its bearing as we reconcile the declaration of the FEC that our president is not incapable of performing functions of his office - yet he has been away for 72 days, the various judgments of the Federal High Court that Yar'Adua is not obliged to write the National Assembly on his absence and that he breached no constitutional provision. Where do we go from here and who will help us entangle the web if the man does not return to his seat soon?
A major gain, to my mind, from this confusion is that the job of the Constitution review committee has been cut out for the members as regards the affected sections of the law and the welfare of the president. The necessary changes are no longer likely to cause disaffection among the lawmakers as representatives of the people at both the Federal and state legislative houses. It's seemingly easier now than amendments to the electoral provisions. The amendments are very necessary and urgent.
By Banji Adisa
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