THE Senate is launching, this week, an initiative to resolve the political impasse created by President Umaru Yar’Adua’s long absence from the country.

Specifically, the Senate plans to review sections 144 and 145 of the 1999 constitution which say as follows:
The President or Vice President shall cease to hold office, if —
(a) by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all the members of the executive council of the Federation it is declared that the President or Vice-President is incapable of discharging the functions of his office; and
(b) the declaration is verified, after such medical examination as may be necessary, by a medical panel established under subsection (4) of this section in its report to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
(2) Where the medical panel certifies in the report that in its opinion the President or Vice-President is suffering from such infirmity of body or mind as renders him permanently incapable of discharging the fucntions of his office, a notice thereof signed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall be published in the Official Gazette of the Government of the Federation.
(3) The President or Vice-President shall cease to hold office as from the date of publication of the notice of the medical report pursuant to subsection (2) of this section.
(4) The medical panel to which this section relates shall be appointed by the President of the Senate, and shall comprise five medical practitioners in Nigeria –
(a) One of whom shall be the personal physician of the holder of the office concerned; and
(b) four other medical practitioners who have, in the opinion of the President of the Senate, attained a high degree of eminence in the field of medicine relative to the nature of the examination to be conducted in accordance with the foregoing provisions.
(5) In this section, the reference to “executive council of the Federation” is a reference to the body of Ministers of the Government of the federation, howsoever called, established by the President and charged with such responsibilities for the functions of government as the President may direct.

145. Whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary such functions shall be discharged by the Vice-President as Acting President.

Meanwhile, after several weeks of anxiety and speculation on the state of President Yar’Adua health, positive reports are beginning to emerge from Saudi Arabia that he is on his way to recovery.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that the Senate, on resumption on Tuesday, may go into an executive session to deliberate on the need to save the nation from further anxiety occasioned by the president’s absence. State governors  may be involved in the initiative as they are expected to convince their federal legislators and their state assemblies to back the Senate move.

That way, the bill can become law  in the absence of a presidential assent after a given number of days. Sunday Vanguard gathered  that although  the senators may not yet have built a consensus on this plan, the  belief, according to one of them, is that “there is an urgent need to save this country and we can not allow things to be as they are at present. “Although what I am discussing with you is still in its embryonic stage, some of my colleagues would not be available to legislate in the event that we allow matters to get out of hand. Every Nigerian of good conscience is concerned about the state of affairs as I am talking to you.

“This is not about allegiance to an individual or a small group or clique; it is about allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Constitution of Nigeria can be amended in less than 72 hours if we so desire and pursue with a strong will. Nobody wishes Mr. President ill at all. No. It is his mandate as president and commander-in-chief to govern this nation.  He may be slightly indisposed on health grounds; that does not in any way vitiate from the fact that he is the President.  But to bring down the tension in the land and to ensure that things begin to move well and better, there is a need to do what is proper.

“The consolation some of us have is that Mr. President was able to sign the Supplementary Appropriation Act in far away Saudi Arabia.

What we expect to follow earnestly is a situation where Mr. President appends that significant and symbolic signature to the letter appropriately handing over power to vice president Goodluck Jonathan. That way, this tension about who is in charge or who is not in charge would be reduced. We know what the stakes are but this is about Nigeria. If you recall, some people may thing they have successfully blackmailed Senate President David mark when the issue first broke out, insinuating that the distinguished Senate President David Mark was scheming to occupy the position. “Well, nobody can blackmail 108 senators.  We must act in the absence of a proper transfer of power.  We are not interested in the issue of resignation.

It is about presenting a bill which tackles that aspect of the constitution which says the President must sign a letter of handover or nothing.” This litany of lamentation by the senator is against the backdrop of some of the cases already filed in  the courts on  the legality  of the actions of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, following  the absence of President Yar’Adua  and the seeming vacuum which, though not admitted, appears to exist in the presidency.

Hope rises on Yar’Adua: However, Sunday Vanguard gathered that the intensity of tests and medication the president has been receiving lately in Saudi Arabia is such that there is reason to believe that the worst may be over. Sources said never before has President Yar’Adua had the opportunity of the intensity of the treatment he is currently receiving. The belief by his minders in Saudi Arabia, Sunday Vanguard was reliably informed, is that given enough time to convalesce, he would be able to bounce back with a new lease of life.

Although  presidency sources declined to go into details of the  tests and the medications administered, it was gathered that “what we have been told is that since he has been able to come out of the initial worst case condition, he would return to Nigeria a better and stronger person.

“What we were told is that since he has been able to survive the critical stages, things can only get better with him”.

Sunday Vanguard was told that since taking over as President on May 29, 2007, Yar’Adua has not paid as much attention to his health as he did while he was governor of Katsina State. Another source told Sunday Vanguard that the rumour carried about a year ago that President Yar’Adua had died in a German hospital may have been a contributing factor to his present state  state of health.

“When that rumour hit town, there were still some other things needed to be done and more time required for resting before returning back to Nigeria. But once that rumour about his death started, he chose to return home. What the doctors have now made us understand is that by the time he recovers fully, it would be an invigorated President that we would have. The only unfortunate thing in all of this is that some Nigerians have become so blinded by ambition that they even wish someone dead.  People have died and people are dying and people will die but it is not for individuals to now wish death to fellow human beings.

“The Almighty God is the all-knowing and all-doing. People must understand that President Yar’Adua  did not wish his present condition for himself and it is not as if he is enjoying it.” Sunday Vanguard was told that there is a renewed sense of optimism in Aso Rock Presidential Villa on account of news filtering from Saudi Arabia.

It was on account of this that Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, who is in constant communication with his boss, made the comments he made Thursday in his New Year’s address extolling the commitment of his boss to the governance of Nigeria.

A presidential source said: “if Mr. President is not recovering, how would he have signed the Supplementary Bill  into law”? Also, there are those in the senate who do not believe in the move to speedily amend the constitution because of what another senator described as “one man’s situation.  The constitution must be for all times and not a circumstantial thing”.