Dr. Goodluck Jonathan



Feb 24 2010

President back after 93 days in Saudi Arabia

By Yusuf Alli

The President returned from Saudi Arabia this morning – 93 days after he left for medical reasons.

An air ambulance landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport at 1.46a.m., carrying President Umaru Yar’Adua. Then a presidential jet landed at 1.55a.m. It was carrying presidential aides and First Lady Turai Yar’Adua.

There was excitement on the faces of a small crowd of security personnel and reporters who kept vigil at the airport.

An ambulance moved towards the plane, swarmed by an army of security men. President Yar’Adua was set to board the ambulance for the journey to the Villa at about 2.04a.m.

Security was tight. The Guards Brigade was present. So was the Police Anti-Bomb Unit. People were barred from the tarmac.

The arrival and departure halls were cleared ahead of Yar’Adua’s arrival. Passengers were chased out.

Minister of Federal Capital Territory Adamu Aliero was seen at the airport.

The six-man Federal Government delegation to Saudi Arabia arrived in the kingdom to a friendly weather yesterday. But the mission of the elite team – seeing President Yar’Adua and the Saudi King – failed.

Reason: President Yar’Adua had been suddenly discharged from the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah.

Yar’Adua had been in the hospital since November 23, last year for the treatment of acute pericarditis (inflammation of the heart’s covering).

His absence has led to a series of political activities, including the emergence of an Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan – for the first time in the history of Nigeria.

The furore generated by the continued stay of the President in the hospital led to a debate in the Federal Executive Council on the invocation of Section 144.

But the debate suffered a setback last Wednesday as the FEC could only raise a six-man team for a get-well trip to Saudi Arabia.

Investigations by The Nation revealed that the FEC delegation could not see Yar’Adua, let alone meeting with him.

It was gathered that Yar’Adua was discharged at about the same time the FEC delegation arrived in Jeddah.

A member of the delegation, who spoke in confidence with our correspondent at about 6.30pm from Jeddah, said: “The fact is that the President has been discharged and we learnt that he is already heading for Nigeria.

“He is likely to arrive at home in the early hours of Wednesday. We have not met with him.

“As I am talking to you, we are also returning to Nigeria immediately.”

Findings revealed that the Presidency has also received intelligent report on Yar’Adua’s homecoming.

A source said: “There is anxiety in the Presidency because Yar’Adua’s return will change the political game. There is tension everywhere”.

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Feb 24 2010

Fresh plan to fly in Yar’Adua •Acting President disturbed •Jonathan, Atiku hold closed door meeting

By Donald Ojogo, Chris Agbambu, Ayodele Adesanmi and Biodun Muhammed:

PALPABLE  tension and anxiety appear to be pervading the nation’s seat of power as reports filtered through on Tuesday morning that members of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s kitchen cabinet have perfected plans to forcibly bring in the ailing president before the end of the week.

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan is said to be ‘very disturbed’ by the report, according to a source close to him.

The plot, ostensibly meant to stave off attempts by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to commence moves  for the exit of the ailing president from office, is coming as the Federal Government’s delegation to Saudi Arabia left on Monday.

There are fears that the delegation might have difficulties in its efforts to see the president in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as previous ones had equally met brick walls.

But the latest move by members of the kitchen cabinet, described by a competent source as Plan C, since the six-man FEC delegation was named last week, is coming as the group failed in its earlier bid to frustrate the visit by the  ministers.

It is alleged that the difficulty in the procurement of visas for the ministers was master-minded by the kitchen cabinet.

The means of bringing in the ailing president could not be confirmed from the source at press time.

The source said: “As I am talking to you now, a lot of things are happening since the delegation departed  for Saudi Arabia First, the kitchen cabinet made frantic efforts to stop the issuance of visas to the ministers. When they failed in that regard, they wanted to stop the presidential plane from being granted a landing permit.

‘Cabal wants to sabotage Jonathan’
The Niger Delta Restoration Initiative (NDRI), a coalition of socio-cultural groups in the Niger Delta region, has warned of a fresh plot by a cabal with membership within and outside the presidency, to plunge the nation into another round of tension and instability by sponsoring acts of economic sabotage aimed at discrediting the leadership of Acting President Jonathan.

The group stated that besides ongoing efforts to frustrate any bill presented before the National Assembly to alter the nation’s constitution so as to legitimise the resolution empowering Jonathan to act as president and further consolidate his hold on power, the alleged cabal had adopted a new strategy, including crippling of fuel supply nationwide by creating artificial scarcity of petroleum products and sponsorship of reports on militant attacks on oil pipelines in the Niger Delta.

In a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja and signed by its President-General, Mr Pupagha Ekpedekumor, the NDRI noted that the emerging acts of intimidation and blackmail against the acting president were borne out of the fear by some northern politicians that the presidency would elude the region, if Jonathan decided to contest the 2011 elections, even as it dismissed the fear as baseless.

While appealing for caution and restraint from all sections of the country with regard to the prevailing political situation in the country, the group, however, warned that the Niger Delta people would not fold their arms and watch one of their own being blackmailed and humiliated out of office for no just cause.

“As part of their Plan C since the composition of the delegation, they have decided to take the ultimate risk of forcing the man (President Yar’Adua) back, against the advice of the doctors treating him. The acting president is fully aware of the development and I feel for him because he looked disturbed, when he was briefed this morning.

“Here is a man who has shown unflinching loyalty to his boss, but had to take up the responsibility of leadership when the circumstances called for it; now, no matter what he does to keep that loyalty, he will find it difficult to continue to enjoy the confidence of the Yar’Adua family, because they are human beings who would be tempted to distrust him, I think that must have been the reason why he was disturbed.

“Some of us have offered useful advice to him since he assumed office as acting president; we have told him to dissolve the Federal Executive Council and forge ahead in the interest of the nation, because some of those Yar’Adua put in place have seen their positions as ones to be used to promote personal interests. I can bet you that, if the man dissolves the cabinet, heavens will not fall. No one owns this country more than others and that is why some of us are of the view that delaying the dissolution of the cabinet is dangerous for him. Only God knows what he is waiting for, despite the wide international support he has received since he assumed office,” the source, a former northern federal lawmaker, said.

The source spoke with our correspondent as former vice-president and presidential candidate of the Action Congress (AC) in the 2007 elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, met with Jonathan on Monday night.

The meeting, held at Aguda House, the offical residence of Jonathan, lasted for about three hours, even as details of their discussion remained sketchy at press time.

Falana, others to sue Saudi govt
Foremost lawyer, Femi Falana, has said that he and some civil liberty organisations are set to drag the Saudi  Arabian government to the international court over President Yar’Adua.

According to the lawyer while fielding questions from journalists, the Saudi  Arabian government had no legal right to prevent Nigerian officials from seeing the president.

He opined that the Saudi authorities were only running away from the implications of holding the country responsible for anything that  may happen to the president, hence its plot to shift its responsibility of being in custody of the Nigerian president to the doctors.

Jonathan sends first communication to Senate
The Acting President,  Dr Goodluck Jonathan, has forwarded the nomination of the board members of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) for confirmation barely two weeks after the resolution of the Senate made him the acting president.

The letter  was read by the Senate President, Mr David Mark, at Tuesday’s plenary session.

The letter is written under the seal of  the Acting President, who personally signed the correspondence as Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

The Senate, however, commended Dr Jonathan for that act through its Spokesman, Ayogu Eze.

According to Eze, “The Acting President has started exercising his powers…and that his first communication was received by the Senate.”

Entitled: Re: Appoint-ment of Chairman and members of the CCB, the letter reads: “Paragraph 1, Part 1A of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution provides that the CCB shall comprise the following: (a) a chairman; and (b) nine other members.

“Each of whom at the time of appointment shall not be less than 50 years of age and subject to the provisions of Section 157 of this Constitution shall vacate this office on attaining the age of 70 years.

“Section 153 (1) of the Constitution also provides that the chairman and members of the Bureau shall be appointed by the President subject to confirmation by the Senate.

“In this connection, there are vacant positions of chairman and eight members of the Bureau.

“I have, therefore, in the exercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 154 (1) of the Constitution, decided to appoint the underlisted as chairman and members of the CCB.”

They are: Sam Saba (Chairman); Ibrahim Manzo; Stephen Bekefula; Habib Elabor; Christiana Ekoja Okwori; Disina Mohammed; Okechukwu Ikechi Nwadinobi and Ademola Adebo as members.

Saba was formerly the CCB Secretary until his elevation.

The Acting President has also forwarded the draft 2010 budget proposal of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to the National Assembly for approval.

Jonathan presented the proposal pursuant to Section 299 of the 1999 Constitution. He also expressed hope that the budget proposals would receive expeditious consideration and passage by lawmakers.

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Feb 22 2010

Yar’Adua: Our mission to Saudi is to thank the King – Minister

Indications emerged on Monday that the six-man delegation raised by the Federal Executive Council to visit ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua in Saudi Arabia might only be on an appreciation visit and may not necessarily see the President.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, told journalists in Abuja that the delegation’s mission was to thank the King of Saudi and express the appreciation of the government and people of Nigeria to the monarch for accommodating Yar’Adua.

He did not, however, respond to the question on whether the team would have an opportunity to meet with President Yar’Adua while in Saudi Arabia.

He said, “We will be expressing our deep appreciation to the King of Saudi Arabia for the excellent and generous attention, both the government and people of Saudi have given to our President, who, unfortunately has been away for almost three months now for medical treatment.

“We need to be on the record to thank the King for that, and that is enough reason for us to go and it is enough reason for a strong team from the government to go.”

Maduekwe, who himself is a member of the team, said that the six-man delegation would leave for Saudi Arabia on Monday night.

Besides Maduekwe, others in the team include Petroleum Minister, Dr. Rilwanu Lukman; Health Minister, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin; Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Adetokunbo Kayode; Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Dr. Sayyadi Abba-Ruma; and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed.

Maduekwe spoke to journalists when he came to the Presidential Villa for a meeting with the Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

Another member of the delegation, Osotimehin, was also in the Villa on Monday to see Jonathan.

Osotimehin, who arrived in the State House earlier on Monday morning, had initially informed journalists that members of the delegation were waiting on Maduekwe to finalise the travel arrangements with the Saudi authorities.

The delegation was forced to postpone its trip on Sunday night when the members were denied landing clearance by the Saudi aviation authority.

However, the delegation’s chances of successfully meeting Yar’Adua on his sick bed at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah, appeared uncertain as Maduekwe could not offer a definite response when journalists asked if the ministers would see the President.

Maduekwe was also not definite about the date the Federal Government emissaries would return to the country.

“We are leaving in the next few hours; we leave tonight (Monday night) and we are not going to be there all week.

“It is not going to last long and as soon as we carry out the purpose of our going there, we start coming back,” he said.

When he was asked if the ministers would see Yar’Adua, Maduekwe said, “We will talk to you when we are back.”

Maduekwe’s response gave room for the suspicion that the trip might go the way of previous ones.

Prominent Nigerians who had so far travelled to Saudi Arabia, but failed to see Yar’Adua include some governors, chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, including the National Chairman, Mr. Vincent Ogbulafor; a delegation of members of the House of Representatives, as well as some of the President’s loyalists, including ministers.

The inability of previous visitors to see the President has led to concerns that the six-man FEC delegation might eventually return to the country without seeing him.

A national daily (not The Punch) had reported on Monday that Yar’Adua’s wife, Turai, had already barred the ministers from seeing her husband.

The FEC’s decision to appoint six of its members to travel to Saudi Arabia had also prompted speculations that the council might be moving to invoke the provisions of Section 144, which mandates it to declare the President incapacitated to remain in office on the grounds of ill-health.

But Maduekwe stressed that the delegation was not a medical mission, and would not be seeking to determine the President’s state of health.

He said their objective was to pay a solidarity visit to Yar’Adua and members of his family, and also convey the gratitude of the Nigerian Government to the King of Saudi Arabia, for his hospitality to the President.

He said any minister could have made the team, adding that Osotimehin was not going to see Yar’Adua in the capacity of a medical doctor.

He said, “The constitution does not make that doctor a member of a medical panel; the fact that he is the minister of health does not make him a member of a medical panel.

“An engineer can be minister of health; even a lawyer like me can be minister of health.

“The only position in the executive council, which by constitutional provision requires a particular profession to head is that of the Office of the Attorney-General, it must be a lawyer.”

Explaining the purpose of the visit, Maduekwe said the delegation would also assure Yar’Adua that the country was moving forward under Jonathan’s leadership.

He said, “The purpose of this visit is exactly what I have told you; to express appreciation to the King of Saudi Arabia and also express our solidarity with the first family and register our prayers and the best wishes for the rapid recovery of the President and of course give assurances that under the dynamic leadership of Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, governance is going on.

“The executive council remains focused, united and that every issue whether it is infrastructure, healthcare or education or even diplomacy has been proceeding normally.

“You can see the flow of foreign visitors to Nigeria and we need again to have this conversation in Saudi both with the government of Saudi and also members of the first family.”

He said FEC did not make the gesture until now because it did not know that Yar’Adua would be away for so long.

He said, “We didn’t know that this thing would last two weeks, will last one month, will last two months and it’s close to the third month.

“It’s just time; we couldn’t have done it much earlier because we would have thought it was just for a few weeks but it’s entering the third month.

“So we felt there is need to be on the record.

“We don’t want it to be on the record that when our President comes back, even if he comes back today, that for the three months he was there we didn’t go to Riyadh to thank the king.

“It is better to go physically to do the thanking.

“We can write a letter to thank him but this is the King of Saudi Arabia and nothing less than what we are doing is adequate, that’s all.

“That is the major emphasis on what we are doing.”

Maduekwe also said that the delay in the delegation’s take-off was due to “normal issues of process.”

He added, “Ok, and the offices opened on Sunday, your request to come into a country is received, is processed and we have a very good relations with the Kingdom and there is no problem and our desire to be there is accepted.

“So there is a process, just like nobody comes to Nigeria without notifying us that the person is coming.

“Protocol arrangements at the airport to receive them; we are not going as private citizens, we are going there as government officials and on the basis of reciprocity, like if the Saudis come to Nigeria they will be properly received at the airport.

“Like I told you, this request was made close to the weekend when I asked the Saudi ambassador to see me, he duly said he would pass on our request to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“It was only by yesterday (Sunday) that the details of our going were concluded.

“By the time we had them it was almost midnight.

“So we couldn’t continue because we have to get the people on the delegation to know.”

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