Nigeria to decide if president fit to rule
Source: Agencies |
January 23, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
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NIGERIA'S cabinet will decide within 14 days whether President Umaru Yar'Adua is fit enough to govern Africa's most populous nation after a two-month absence for medical treatment, the Attorney General said yesterday.
The 58-year-old leader has not been seen publicly since leaving on November 23 to receive treatment for a heart ailment in Saudi Arabia. He has not transferred power to his deputy, triggering debate over the legality of government decisions.
Judge Dan Abutu ordered the cabinet to pass a resolution on Yar'Adua's fitness within two weeks after a former lawmaker brought a legal case against the government, saying his failure to transfer power was in breach of the constitution.
"We will abide by the judgement of the court. The Executive Council of the Federation will within 14 days, as directed, consider a resolution on the state of the president's health," Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa said.
The cabinet unanimously agreed in early December, less than 10 days after Yar'Adua left for Saudi Arabia, that there were no grounds on which to seek his resignation, rejecting calls for him to step down or prove his fitness to govern. But pressure for a resolution has since mounted.
More than 3,000 people marched to the state government headquarters in the commercial capital Lagos on Thursday, a rare public demonstration of political anger, demanding Yar'Adua give up his executive powers or return to Nigeria immediately.
The 58-year-old leader has not been seen publicly since leaving on November 23 to receive treatment for a heart ailment in Saudi Arabia. He has not transferred power to his deputy, triggering debate over the legality of government decisions.
Judge Dan Abutu ordered the cabinet to pass a resolution on Yar'Adua's fitness within two weeks after a former lawmaker brought a legal case against the government, saying his failure to transfer power was in breach of the constitution.
"We will abide by the judgement of the court. The Executive Council of the Federation will within 14 days, as directed, consider a resolution on the state of the president's health," Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa said.
The cabinet unanimously agreed in early December, less than 10 days after Yar'Adua left for Saudi Arabia, that there were no grounds on which to seek his resignation, rejecting calls for him to step down or prove his fitness to govern. But pressure for a resolution has since mounted.
More than 3,000 people marched to the state government headquarters in the commercial capital Lagos on Thursday, a rare public demonstration of political anger, demanding Yar'Adua give up his executive powers or return to Nigeria immediately.
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