2011: North pushes for PDP Presidential primaries in June – Vanguard

Key supporters of  President Umaru Yar’Adua in the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP,  are pushing for the conduct of the party’s presidential primaries in June.

Vanguard gathered in Abuja that the decision to push for an early conduct of the primaries by Yar’Adua’s supporters is to ensure that, if he is unable to return to the country soon, a Northerner would emerge as the party’s candidate to contest the 2010 presidential poll.

Though the campaign is allegedly being spearheaded by members of the party from the Northern part of the country, they allegedly have the support of some of Acting President Goodluck Jonathan’s opponents from the South-South zone.

Govt alleges campaigns against Jonathan – The Guardian

A six-member committee was raised yesterday by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to visit President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where he was been receiving medical attention since November 23, last year.

Yesterday, Acting President Jonathan alleged plans by some persons to launch media “campaigns of calumny” against his Acting Presidency, but affirmed that he would not be deterred.

Senior Special Assistant to the Acting President (Media and Publicity), Ima Niboro, said in a statement last night that no method of misinformation would stop the Acting President from “our collective efforts to reform this nation and change our ways of doing things once and for all.”

Already, he said allegations have surfaced in the media (not The Guardian) that the Acting President induced the support of state governors by approving a release of $2 billion and another expenditure of N300 billion sourced from a businessman for some rallies and to influence members of the National Assembly.

Soyinka, others: swear in Jonathan as president now – The Nation

After a brief break, the controversy over President Umaru Yar’Adua’s absence resurfaced yesterday.

A group campaigning for the rule of law, the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), advised the Federal Executive Council to pass a resolution should pass a resolution declaring ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua incapacitated, in compliance with Section 144 of the Constitution.

President Yar’Adua has been away in Saudi Arabia since November 23, last year. He is ill.

The group has members and sympathisers across Nigeria. Some of its leading lights are Prof. Wole, Soyinka, Lagos preacher Tunde Bakare, activist-lawyer Femi Falana, pro-democracy activist Gen. Alani Akinrinade and former Kaduna State Governor Balarabe Musa.

It said following the resolution, a medical panel should be set up to ascertain the fitness of the President by the National Assembly.

FEC tables Akunyili’s memo today – Daily Trust

The controversial memo by the Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili asking ailing President Umaru Musa Yar’adua to present a letter of medical vacation to the Senate as required by section 145 of the 1999 constitution will be discussed today at the Federal Executive Council meeting.

The memo which was rejected during last week’s FEC meeting because it was not submitted to other ministers in advance in line with FEC’s policy, however seems to have been rendered irrelevant by yesterday’s resolutions by the two arms of the National Assembly which mandated Jonathan to assume power as Acting President. The Senate and the House of Representatives said President Yaradua’s  interview on BBC where he acknowledged his indisposition suffices as a medical vacation letter.

Reps in rowdy session over Yar’Adua, Senate acts today – The Guardian

Tension verbal abuse and near-degeneration into fisticuffs marked a debate by the House of Representatives on the absence and health status of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua yesterday.

But unlike the Senate, the House of Representatives, for the second time in two weeks, failed to demand a letter of vacation from Yar’Adua. The Nigerian leader is spending the third month in a hospital in Saudi Arabia.

With a few voices of dissent, which were not even heard by the House leadership, the members through a voice vote stopped a motion seeking to compel Yar’Adua to, within two weeks, transmit a letter to the National Assembly on his absence.

But the Senate appears relentless in its efforts to resolve the riddle over Yar’Adua’s continued absence from office for three months.

Yar’Adua: National and Global Pressure Mounts – Thisday

Elder statesmen, over 200 members of the House of Representatives and world powers yesterday made strong statements on the continued absence of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua from the country which has left a power vacuum in Nigeria.

The Eminent Elders Group, comprising former Heads of State, Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Chief Justices of Nigeria (CJNs) and other elder statesmen urged Yar’Adua to transmit a letter to the National Assembly to enable Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan step in as Acting President.

About 200 out of the 360 members of the House of Representives have also signed a letter asking the President to formalise his medical leave on a day the US, UK, France and European Union voiced their concern on the power vacuum.

The Senate had, at the end of a two-day closed session, which held on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, passed a resolution urging Yar’Adua to formally notify the National Assembly of his medical vacation in Saudi Arabia in line with Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution.

Obasanjo to Yar’adua: Take the path of honour – Daily Trust

President Umaru Yar’adua should consider “taking the path of honour and the path of morality” by resigning from his office in view of his serious health challenges, former president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo said in Abuja yesterday. Obasanjo, who was chairman at the 7th Trust Annual Dialogue, was responding to a question by a young man from the audience, who asked him whether he chose Yar’adua as his successor in 2006-07 “out of wickedness.”

The question caused a stir in the jam-packed Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, venue of the dialogue, but Obasanjo retrieved the microphone and began to answer. He said, “When in the year 2006 the idea came up as to succession, I was convinced in my mind that a Southerner succeeding me will not augur well for Nigeria. [Murmurs in the audience]. You may not agree with that, you may agree. I was convinced in my mind [about] that.

“Now, I was looking for somebody who will succeed me who has three important qualities. One, he has enough intellectual capacity to run the affairs of Nigeria. Two, he has sufficient personal integrity to run the affairs of Nigeria. Three, he is sufficiently broad minded in knowledge, politically, religiously, socially, whatever to manage the affairs of Nigeria.

“These three were important and very paramount in my mind. [From the audience, someone shouted, “What about health?” There was a brief commotion as many people said, “Let him [i.e. Obasanjo] finish!”]. Wait, wait, wait! You may hear what you have never heard…Then Umaru Yar’adua who is now the President, I know he had kidney problem and was under dialysis. Some time earlier, he had gone abroad when he was governor of Katsina. When the idea was for him to contest, I asked him and he gave me a medical report and the medical report showed that he had come off dialysis.

“I asked experts, who then told me that if you were under dialysis or you are on dialysis and you are no longer on dialysis, it means you have had a successful kidney transplant and that you can live for as long as God may wish you to live.

Oshiomhole Alerts over Withdrawal of JTF – Thisday

The political situation in Edo State got feverish yesterday as Governor Adams Oshiomhole raised an alarm over an alleged order by the Minister of Defence, Major-General Godwin Abbe (rtd), withdrawing soldiers of the Joint Task Force (JTF) code named “Operation thunderstorm” from the state.

President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had earlier approved the deployment of JTF in the wake of violent crimes in the state.
Oshiomhole who was miffed by the decision appealed to Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to call Abbe, former Works Minister Tony Anenih and Principal Secretary to the Vice-President, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, to order so as to avoid chaos in the state.

The governor claimed that the reason for the withdrawal of the soldiers was to enable the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) move in arms and ammunition into Etsako Central Local Government Council for the House of Assembly re-run election scheduled for this weekend.

Economic council meets, silent on Yar’Adua – The Guardian

The National Economic Council (NEC), the umbrella body of the governors of the 36 states of the federation and federal economic team ended their meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, but without discussing the absence of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua since November 23, last year.

The governors, however, agreed to continue their court action over deductions from the Federation Allocation.

But the NEC meeting discussed the issue of deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum sector, the controversial execution of comprehensive health centres in all the nation’s 774 local council areas and the Police reform trust fund.

The council was also briefed on the classification of Nigeria by the United States as a nation to be watched for terrorism.