Indications emerged last week that President Umaru Yar'Adua may be impeached by the National Assembly to pave way for the swearing in of Acting President Goodluck Jonathan as the President and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation following series protest by civil Society groups in the country.
One of such protesters is the Save Nigeria Group led by Bakare. The group among several other things are calling for the impeachment of President Yar'Adua and the dissolution of the cabinet.
The protesters carried placards and a casket bearing “RIP, kitchen cabinet” and also through their addresses, demanded that the ailing president should speak to the country now.
The protesters first converged on the Unity Fountain Square and planned to match to the Aso Villa to register their demands, but Global Concord gathered that words later reached them that Acting President Goodluck Jonathan had directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed to receive them which he did in front of the building housing the office of the Head of Service and some ministries.
Placards carried by the protesters had the inscriptions such as, “Turai, leave Nigeria alone,” “Jonathan, get decisive now”, “Dissolve Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF),” “Ministers are serving only the cabal,” “Interloper governors are dangerous, resist them.” “Greedy governors want to destroy Nigeria”, among other writings.
Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of operations, John Ahmadu, told the protesters that the force was ready to provide security for them and urged them to carry out the protest in an orderly manner.
Heavy detachment of policemen had barricaded the gate to the National Assembly from the Eagle Square, making it impossible for the procession to gain entry into the National Assembly to deliver their protest letters to the Senate President, Mr. David Mark, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honorable Dimiji Bankole.
However, the letter to Acting President Jonathan was delivered to him, through Alhaji Ahmed, who received the protesters at about 10.47 a.m because they were also not allowed into the Villa.
The letter addressed to Acting President Jonathan and dated 10th March, 2010, signed by Pastor Tunde Bakare, on behalf of the Save Nigeria Group, entitled “Petition From Save Nigeria Group,” demanded, among other things, for an end to the invisible presidency of Yar'Adua by the activation of Section 144 of the constitution to make Jonathan the substantive president.
They also asked for the immediate dissolution of EXCOF, which they said had largely collaborated with presidential aides to create the avoidable constitutional crisis the nation had faced in the last 100 days.
Another prayer of the group as contained in the letter as well as inscriptions on the various placards the protesters carried was a quick and thorough implementation of the Justice Mohammed Uwais Report on electoral reform, starting with the immediate removal of Professor Maurice Iwu as chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the reconstitution of INEC with persons of impeccable integrity and competence.
Part of the letter delivered to the SGF by Pastor Bakare of the Latter Rain Assembly reads: “we, the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), a coalition of pro-democracy and human rights organizations and patriotic Nigerians who desire the entrenchment of a truly democratic and accountable governance, hereby petition you on certain developments that can truncate democracy and security in Nigeria.
“We believe in Nigeria and are determined to fight to save the country form the control of groups and individuals that profit from the failure of the Nigeria system.
“For more than 100 days, Nigerians have not seen or heard from President Umaru Yar' Adua since he was evacuated to Saudi Arabia for treatment. For the three months he reportedly stayed in an intensive care unit of a Saudi hospital, several of his aides continued to claim that the president was getting better. Some claimed he had started intense physical exercises. It is now more than two weeks since he was brought back to Nigeria in the dead of night. We have still not heard from or seen President Yar'Adua.
“The refusal of President Yar'Adua to resign from office on account of his deteriorating ill health and failure to transmit a letter of vacation on time as required by the constitution has resulted in a severe but avoidable constitutional crisis. This crisis has compounded other political challenges caused by an electoral system that is designed to aid electoral malpractices.
This dysfunctional electoral system threatens democracy and good governance in Nigeria”
The SGF, Alhaji Ahmed, commended the group for the peaceful manner it conducted itself and assured it that its demands would be looked into expeditiously.
He said: “When we received your request that you would like to hand over a letter to Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, he directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, in my own person, to come and receive it and I found it very good and natural to come and face you because yours is a demonstration of democracy in action in Nigeria.
“Democracy cannot survive if we do not hear the voice of everybody. What you are pursuing in your own perception may be the very right thing for you to do, but in democracy, you may have others with opposing voice, but usually, the superior reasoning takes supremacy in democracy.
“Your three basic demands are noted; one, you want to know the status of your president. It is because you love your president and that is why you want to know his status and you will not be denied. Secondly, you want us to take constitutional way of dealing with the issue. This government is a creation of constitution and we will abide by it. Thirdly, we are aware of your concern regarding credible election in this country. Only two weeks ago, the acting president handed over the Uwais' committee report unedited to the National Assembly.
“I would like to assure you that the National Assembly, which will do the necessary legislation in terms of reviewing the Electoral Act and the constitution in order to have accepted electoral process”.
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