Indications that the House would revisit last Wednesday’s decision on the presidential crisis emerged as soon as the lawmakers started arriving in the chamber. They were noticed consulting among themselves on what should be the collective position of the House. Although the plenary session was billed to commence at 10.00 am, it did not start until about 11.35 when Mr. Bankole, accompanied by his deputy, Usman Nafada and other principal officers, came into the chamber. However, about five minutes later, the Speaker announced the dissolution of the House into executive session, which lasted between 11.40 am and 12.15 pm. Sources at both sessions said some lawmakers demanded the transmission of a letter from Mr. Yar’Adua, in accordance with Section 145 of the Constitution, and those opposed to this still held to their positions.
It was learnt that the major point of disagreement was the content of a motion on the Order Paper on the transmission of a letter by Mr. Yar’Adua. The motion, which was listed against the names of Chile Igbauwa and 76 others, was titled “Assumption of Executive Powers of the President by the Vice President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, pending the return of President Umaru Yar’Adua.” It sought two basic prayers, namely:
“that for peace, order and good government of the Federation, and consistent with the judgements of the Courts, the Vice President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCON, shall act and assume all the Executive powers of the President, pending the return of the President, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua GCFR” and “accordingly, that the National Assembly shall receive and treat all correspondences from Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan acting as aforesaid, consistent with the judgements of the Courts.”
But the group asking for a letter from the President kicked against the use of “shall act” in the motion, and insisted that it should read clearly that the Vice President “should assume full presidential powers as Acting President.” Following the inability of the two groups to reach a compromise, the House could not hold its normal plenary session for about 15 minutes; forcing it to dissolve into another executive session that lasted between 12.31 and 1.05 pm. Although there were consultations with the Speaker and some of the lawmakers at different times on the possible way out, the two groups finally agreed to a common position at the second executive session.
Senate resolution
A member told NEXT that the two groups reached a compromise when they learnt that the Senate, which was also discussing the matter, had adopted a resolution making Mr. Jonathan Acting President. Speaking on the resolution, Femi Gbajabiamila (AC, Lagos), said the leadership of the House lost room for further maneuvering of the situation. He added that the leadership was looking for a way out of the crisis, including intimidation and automatic tickets for some members, but could not get its way because of the insistence of many members that the House was taking a position different from other Nigerians.
He noted that “the leadership saw the wall caving in on them and had no choice but to accept the resolution.” On the effect of the resolution, Mr. Gbajabiamila, who is the deputy minority whip of the House, said “We know it has no force of law but under the doctrine of necessity, it can be given the force of law. If it is not obeyed, we fall back to Section 143 and that is impeachment.” Danlami Hamza, an ANPP member from Kano State, said the resolution will lessen tension in the country, adding that it is what Nigerians expected of the lawmakers. He, however, added that the title “acting president” is just an “appendage” since, according to him, Mr. Jonathan has been discharging some presidential functions, namely the deployment of troops, presiding over the meetings of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, and receiving letters of credence from envoys.
A burden off
Chairman of the committee on rules and business, Ita Enang, expressed joy that the passage of the resolution has taken the burden off the members of the House. Mr. Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom) added, “We have what is called the doctrine of necessity. It is clear we have to come with a solution to this matter because what is important is that we have to strengthen our democracy.” Also speaking, Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi (PDP, Enugu) said the House has done what it deems necessary in the face of the political logjam in the country. House spokesperson, Eseme Eyiboh, said section 4 (2) of the constitution mandates the National Assembly to legislate on anything that can bring about peace, order, and good governance “and we can’t stop doing things because there is a lacuna in the constitution. “We have to look at the doctrine of necessity. We are under obligation to promote the kernel of the constitution in order to promote orderliness.” Innocent Ugochima (PDP, Ebonyi), merely said, “We are using what we have to go for what we don’t have.”
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