THERE were indications on Monday that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had made a U-turn on their earlier stance and bowed to public opinion, urging the Senate to empower Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan as acting president.

At a meeting held at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, at his instance,  members of the council shifted ground to embrace the view of people that power should be transmitted to Vice-President Jonathan as acting president.

There have been calls from different groups and individuals to President Umaru Yar'Adua to trasmit power to his deputy as a result of his ill health and continued absence since November 23, 2009, when he left the country for Saudi Arabia, where he is currently receiving treatment.

At the Monday meeting which lasted more than three hours and had in attendance 20 ministers selected from the zones of the country, the memo of Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili, was the subject matter  and members were asked for their contributions.

Sources at the meeting disclosed that two ministers from the South-West and two other members of Yar’Adua’s kitchen cabinet were in attendance. Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Michael Aondookaa, was absent at the meeting.

According to sources, most members, while discussing the memo raised by Prof. Akunyili last Wednesday, said that as good as the memo was, what she was asking for was not within the powers of FEC, arguing that it would amount to calling for a coup d’etat.

It was then agreed at the meeting that they should look for another solution to the political problem.

“It was there and then  they threw the question to the members of the president's kitchen cabinet, asking them to write to the president to write to the National Assembly to transmit power to his deputy,” the source said.

A member of the Yar’Adua kitchen cabinet was said to have told the meeting that there was no way they could reach the president.

After a long debate, the meeting agreed to the suggestion made by one of them that they should embrace the position of the governors on the matter.

They agreed that once the resolution is passed tomorrow by the Senate, they would ask Prof. Akunyili to present her memo during the Wednesday FEC meeting under Any Other Business (AOB).  

At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that the SGF should brief the vice-president on what was agreed on.

Meanwhile, members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) are due to meet senators in a closed session today, to conclude on the planned motion that will empower Vice-President Jonathan to assume office as acting president.

The forum had met with the Senate President, MrMark, shortly after they ended their meeting in the early hours of Friday.

At the meeting, held at Senator Mark’s official residence, it was agreed that members of the NGF should visit the Senate, on Tuesday, for a closed door session with the senators on the way forward in the current political logjam.

It was gathered that the meeting with the senators would re-emphasise the position of the governors at the meeting of last week Thursday.

Sources said the decision that the governors should further brief the senators was arrived at as a result of the need to clarify any doubt in the minds of the senators, some of who were already planning to impeach the president.

Members of the National Interest Group (NIG) had been observed to be at the forefront of the impeachment move against President Yar’Adua, for his failure to transmit a vacation letter to the National Assembly, in line with a resolution of the Senate on January 27.

But the Governors’ Forum had, on Thursday, passed a resolution which advised the National Assembly to pass a resolution to empower the vice-president to act as president.

Sources in Abuja on Monday said at least two draft motions had been prepared in the Senate for consideration today.

One of the motions was said to have been prepared by the leadership of the Senate, in line with the resolution of the Governors’ Forum, while the second motion was prepared by the NIG, which was further pushing for impeachment as the last resort.

A source said the leadership of the Senate was meeting at press time, on Monday, to harmonise the two motions and prevent a breakdown of law and order on the floor of the Senate.

“We have perfected two motions to transfer power to the vice-president. The leadership has prepared a motion and the NIG has also prepared another. It is going to be a double attack, as we are doing ours in the Senate, the ministers will be doing their own at the Federal Executive Council (FEC),” a source said.

The two motions in the Senate are being predicated on the interview granted to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) by President Yar’Adua, in which he stated that he had been temporarily incapacitated.  

The lawmakers are taking the text of the interview as a communication in line with Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution.  

It was gathered that the senators are interpreting the interview to mean that the president is incapacitated from physically transmitting a letter in line with Section 145 and that the interview should be taken as official position on the state of the president’s health.

A source said since the constitution did not envisage a situation where the president would be unable to write, the BBC interview should be seen as an official communication.

It was gathered that members of the NIG had received a boost from FEC members who had sent words to the Senate that about 30 ministers had signed up to back the memo sponsored by the Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Akunyili.

It was gathered that the ministers were also working on passing a resolution that would empower the vice-president as acting president.

“The governors are coming to meet with us to say that they support our moves and to emphasise to us that the National Assembly has the powers to pass resolutions on any item to guarantee peace and order in the polity.

“The only alternative is for us to go ahead and embark on impeachment. The intervention of the governors is to ward off the impeachment plans by the NIG,” a source said.

It was further gathered that members of the NIG and members of the House of Representatives who were favourably disposed to the observance of Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution were meeting at press time to further take decisions on the Yar’Adua’s situation.

A fresh confusion crept into the proceedings in Abuja, on Monday, as information filtered through the National Assembly that some members of the kitchen cabinet were planning to transfer a vacation letter to the Assembly.

No source, was, however, able to confirm the arrival of the vacation letter in Abuja, on Monday, as conflicting signals pervaded the operations of the kitchen cabinet.

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