Good luck, Goodluck!
M. O. ENE
Friday, January 15, 2010
I told some friends that, all other things being average, the current political problems confronting Nigeria is easy to solve: the vice president deputizes until conditions dictate otherwise. One countered and condemned my considered “simplistic solution,” insisting that a proper handover is sine qua non -- even if the president took ill and was rushed out of the country! Two days ago, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja agreed with me that Vice-President Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan can exercise the powers of presidency on behalf of ailing President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua until, insha Allah, he gets well and returns.
What else could be simpler? Law is common sense; but, as Voltaire vouched, “Common sense is not so common.” The only problem with the practice of law and delivery of justice is the theatrics of legal minds of the bar and of the bench. It does not require the Wisdom of Solomon to solve such a simple case. The learned judge was right; I don't know what plaintiff Mr. Christopher Onwukwe and his counsel Barrister Amobi Nzelu wanted the judge to do in the first place: legislate from the bench and declare Jonathan "president"?
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Michael Kaase Aondoakaa, SAN, who defended with the Director of Civil Litigation Mrs. Agatha Mbamali and others, is celebrating “vindication”; yet he argued that plaintiff lacked “constitutional capacity and competence,” and he had declared that Yar’Adua can preside over Nigeria from the moon—just as Barack Obama presided from Hawaïi during last Christmas. To the senior advocate, Hawaii is probably a Japanese island and, according to him, farther away from Washington, DC than Saudi Arabia is to Abuja, FCT.
In fairness to the bumbling Baghdad Bob of Nigeria, Aondoakaa did write to Jonathan to exercise the power of presidency. No one believed him because of prevailing political permutations and interesting intrigues churned out by the rumor mills. The Federal Executive Council cowardly ignored their colleague. The ever-cautious Jonathan declined, as he did when his then boss Governor DSP Alameseigha was detained in London and had to steal back into the country dressed as a woman. Jonathan took over only when Bayelsa legislators impeached Alameseigha, as dictated by the extra-judicial squeeze of then EFCC Chairman Nuhu Ribadu.
I am not the only one
who pushed this position. In an interview with ThisDay, former Governor of Cross
River Donald Duke did not mince words in expressing his surprise that VP
Jonathan was
waiting for a letter from his boss before acting:
“Vice President Goodluck Jonathan’s position confuses me because his duty is to stand in the gap when the President is unavailable but he says he is waiting for a letter. What if something happens and the President loses consciousness and cannot read nor write? This letter business is a courtesy and formality to the National Assembly…The issue of stepping-in does not arise because as vice president, he is already in.”
Yes, Jonathan is already in: he is the deputy. However, one thing is being “in” on paper; another is being “in” in reality. Some have opined that a ruling cabal does not want Jonathan near the seat of power. Others have said Jonathan does not have what it takes to take charge because he never had a power base, and he never built one.
True, unlike his predecessor Atiku Abubakar, Jonathan never had a need for a power base. He has been a loyal deputy since he entered politics from academia. Truth be spoken, there is no excuse not to have built a power base, especially after the first long absence of Yar’Adua that led to the firing of former secretary to the government Baba Gana Kingibe. There is no excuse to sitting still while presidential aides pull all the strings. There is no excuse to watch ex-Governor James Ibori ran roughshod over everybody and everything decent. There is no excuse to just wait and watch the world turns.
There is no excuse not taking charge of government business while the boss is away. It is inexcusable, but Nigerians generally “understand.” I don’t; I really don’t understand Jonathan, or, to borrow from Duke, Jonathan’s position confuses the heck out of me. His position could be like a fart from the master palm wine tapper that confuses flies. Then again, the grass that bends survives the storm. I understand that.
Okay, I will give it to Jonathan; he did not become vice president by making waves on some beach in Bayelsa or raising dusts in some playground in Port Harcourt. His calm and cool character must have endeared him to Alameseigha, the Ijaw Governor-General who plucked him from academia in Port Harcourt, and to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, the PDP political godfather who yanked him from Yenegoa and hoisted him on Yar’Adua. Else, how do you explain Jonathan crediting God with helping him escape the swearing in of the Chief Justice of the federation?
Hear Dr. Jonathan in Abuja, of all places at a thanksgiving service of the Redeemed Christian Church:
Few days to the time (expiration of the tenure of the former Chief Justice), the Attorney General came and showed me the Act that says either the President or the Chief Justice of the Federation can swear in the new Chief Justice of the Federation. That law was there but nobody saw it.
“Nobody saw it" until God showed it to Attorney-General Aondoakaa! This was after Jonathan had tried unsuccessfully to convince the former Chief Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi, “that look, I have the powers to extend your period of stay in the office, since I cannot swear in a new Chief Justice, can’t I extend your stay in office so that there will be no vacuum? But he said it was not possible because the Constitution says at the age of 70 he must go.”
And Aloysius Iyorgyer Katsina-Alu became the 11th Chief Justice of Nigeria, the first to be sworn in by his predecessor in 51 years. Aondoakaa must be hug himself for discovering a hidden gem and forcing the VP to abstain from his due duty!
In a “Courageous Comments of a Duke,” Daily Independent’s Emeka Umejei reports that experts agree with Donald Duke, who had labeled the move “a dangerous precedent”:
“This is a dangerous precedent. The Chief Justice of Nigeria swears in his successor. In line with the doctrine of separation of powers, the head of an arm of government does not swear in his successor in the same branch. The Chief Justice swears in the president, who in turn swears in every other member of the executive arm and vice versa. But now a precedent has been set. Perhaps, a president in future may swear in his own successor. Even the legislative arm requires a proclamation signed by the President before it commences sitting in accordance with section 64 (3) of our Constitution.
So it was that on the 50th day of the 50th year of Nigeria’s independence, Yar’Adua spoke to BBC. On the 51st day, the courts spoke to Nigerians. On the 52nd day, Jonathan took over as the de jure acting president and appeared in a photo with Babangida-installed former head of state Ernest Shonekan; whether he will act de facto remains to be seen. On this 53rd day of Yar’Adua’s continued absence from the seat of power, we celebrate the 44th year since the first military coup and the 40th year since the official end of Nigeria-Biafra War. Not many noticed.
And the confusion continues!
Now that the Vice President can comfortably step out and take charge until his boss comes back, what must he do: Walk on egg shells or make waves for a change? I don’t foresee any sudden and unforced change in strategies. He cannot possible change captains of the ship, and he may not now start to make waves all by himself. It is not his nature, and it has never shown in his character. I believe the first natural instinct will to sustain the status quo and survival the storm.
Then again, as a friend’s friend told me last weekend, power is a spirit; when it possesses you, you charge. Jonathan may just grow wings and fly. Then again, especially if the wrong ingredients are mixed, the wings could be punctured or clipped. Of course, things may fall apart.
Everyone is an expert in everything wrong with Nigeria, but no one really knows exactly how to fix Nigeria and its presidency, let alone act. Nigerians should spare us all the hot airs and hollow exhaust emissions; just sit back and do what they do best: PRAY for survival! It is in that spirit of survival that I wish acting President Goodluck Jonathan good luck; he will need loads of luck in the coming days before 2011--if there is a 2011.
Good luck, Goodluck!