OLUSOLA FABIYI

The sudden decision by governors to back Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as acting President has changed the tone of debate on the lingering crisis in the Presidency over the absence of President Umaru Yar'Adua, writes OLUSOLA FABIYI Until Thursday last week, there was no serious scare in the camp of members of President Umaru Yar'Adua's kitchen cabinet. They were upbeat that the clamour by several people for the President to step aside and allow his deputy, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to act, would soon fizzle out. Even when the 36 governors, under the aegis of Nigerian Governors Forum called for an emergency meeting in Abuja that night, there was nothing to suggest that the game was up. But after the meeting, it was glaring that the pro-Yar'Adua group were certainly becoming orphans.

President Umaru Yar'Adua

But if the pro-Yar'Adua group had been following events, they would have realised that they might not be able to carry on for long. Before the governors met, their counterparts from the Northern part of the country, the President's immediate constituency, had met the same day in Kaduna, where their leader who is also the Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, raised the alarm that some cabals had hijacked Yar'Adua's government.

While cautioning that the regime of late General Sani Abacha experienced the same thing when his security aides usurped government structures and shielded him from public view, he warned that the same thing should not be allowed to happen to Yar'Adua.

It was this mindset that the governors brought to their emergency meeting in Abuja. To show the seriousness the meeting deserved, 31 states were represented. Out of this, 28 state governors were in attendance while seven deputies represented their governors. Only Plateau, Ogun, Yobe, Zamfara and Anambra states were not represented at the meeting. Two of the governors in attendance are sons-in-law to the President. They are Usman Dagingari (Kebbi) and Isa Yuguda (Bauchi). Unlike before, our correspondent observed that the meeting started early, with almost all those who attended coming early.

But while the governors at their last meeting said the President was getting better based on his contentious interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation's Hausa Service, their countenance at the end of Thursday's meeting was different. After the over five hours meeting, the governors changed their position and canvassed for support for the Vice-President to act in the President's stead. They also said they would visit the leadership of the National Assembly with a view to supporting them to pass a resolution to that effect.

What would have necessitated such change of heart? Was it their love for the country, as canvassed by the chairman of the Forum, who is also the Governor of Kwara State, Dr. Bukola Saraki? Findings by our correspondent revealed that the governors were confronted with the reality that the clamour for Yar'Adua to cede power to his deputy was assuming a dangerous dimension.

A source at the meeting, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said that the governors realised that they needed to act fast to save the country from imminent crisis, which he said the governors realised was capable of jeopardising national security. Not only that, it was also learnt that the governors were confronted with several arguments that their job would also be on the line if the agitation against Yar'Adua's continued hold on to power, which was said to have generated a lot of tension, was not doused.

It was learnt that unlike before, when some of the governors were always sceptical to discuss issues concerning the President with caution due to the presence of his in-laws among them, Thursday's meeting was said to have been different.

The governors were said to have argued that since the President left, none of them, including his sons-in-laws, had been able to speak with him to actually know the true position of his health. Not only that, they were said to have made reference to the claim by Saraki, at their last meeting that the President spoke with Jonathan; Senate President, David Mark and the Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole.

Saraki had claimed that the President assured these people that his health was improving and that he would soon return to the country. The governors, according to the source, said it was not true that the President spoke with these people as Mark was said to have denied speaking with the President.

They were said to have wondered how long it would take to take Nigerians for a ride since none of them could say when the President would actually return. The source said, "Several issues were considered. The governors were confronted with the security implication of unending agitation by the people for the President to hand over power to his deputy since they are from the same political party.

"They realised that since several eminent Nigerians, irrespective of party affiliations and geo-political consideration, have all called on the President to cede power, there was no need to disregard such calls.

"Not only that, it was argued that since none of them have seen the President since he left the country 75 days ago, there is no need waiting for him before doing anything again. The governors also said that Nigeria was becoming a laughing stock in the comity of nations and that there was the need to address it so as not to stem the tide."

Though the governors said they also discussed the recent crisis in Jos, which led to the death of over 230 people, the meeting was actually centered on what Saraki called the state of the nation. At the end of the meeting, the governors according to Saraki, "resolved to meet with the leadership of the National Assembly with a view to urging them to pass a resolution to formally recognise the vice-president as the Acting President in the interest of the nation."

He also said that the Forum called "on all arms of government to continue to give full and total support to the Acting President until the President returns in the interest of our dear and beloved country, Nigeria."

Though the governors were silent on how this would be done as the constitution insists that the President must transmit a letter to the National Assembly before such a resolution could become valid. But the source dismissed that, wondering whether Nigerians were not told that the President signed the Supplementary Budget, even on his sick bed.

"So, if he could do that, what stops him from doing that," the source quipped.

Before the governors made their U-turn, the leadership of the party, led by its National Chairman, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, had paid a solidarity visit to Jonathan in his office.

During the meeting, Ogbulafor had said, "On behalf of the Peoples Democratic Party, I pledge our unalloyed support to you as you continue to steer the ship of our nation. You can count on our support in this regard at all times. Furthermore, the words of the Holy Scripture in Psalm 62:11 are apt for this moment, that 'God has spoken once, twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God."

Ogbulafor, while pouring encomium on Jonathan, also said that the party's leadership was satisfied with his (VP) performance and that he had also demonstrated "patriotism and an enviable measure of loyalty and statesmanship" since Yar'Adua left Nigeria on November 23, 2009.

A party source told our correspondent that the leadership knew that the game was up and that it was a matter of time before their numerous manoeuvres would fall like pack of cards as Jonathan would soon become Acting President. "So, in the new power game, none of them want to lose out," the source added.