Archbishop calls for President to resign: CEN 1.22.10 p 8. January 26, 2010
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Archbishop Akinola
Archbishop Peter Akinola has joined Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and other civil society leaders in calling for Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua to step down from office.
However, Northern Muslim leaders have resisted the call for the ailing President to hand over power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, a Southern Christian. Analysts warn that unless Nigeria’s National Assembly quickly resolves the succession crisis a military coup is likely in Africa’s most populous nation.
Currently in a Saudi Arabian hospital for treatment for renal failure, President Yar’Adua has made only one public statement in the last nine weeks, and is rumored to have suffered brain damage. However, the president declined to hand over executive authority to his vice-president upon his departure to Jeddah for medical treatment.
The constitutional crisis caused by Yar’Adua’s refusal to hand over power was a “contradiction of the position of Mr. President himself. He has always been an apostle of the Rule of Law. The constitution is very clear as to what is to be done if the president is not around. The constitution has made a provision. What we should do is to ensure we follow it,” Archbishop Akinola said.
“There is a vacuum in the leadership of this country and it is not right. We should just follow the constitution. Period,” he told local media.
On Jan. 12, Nobel Laureate and long-time political critic Wole Soyinka led a march through Abuja, calling for a campaign of civil disobedience and nationwide strikes to compel Yar’Adua to step down.
The former Bishop of Akure, Emmanuel Gbonigi also backed the strike call, saying “political leaders did not care about what was happening in the country.”
“We cannot continue like that and it is necessary for us to do something to let them know that we are hurting. In order to prevent a bloody revolution, it is necessary to accept what Soyinka has said. If it is possible for him to organise one, he should let me know and I will join him,” he told the Lagos Sun.
Since the end of military rule in 1999 the presidency and vice presidency have rotated between the north and south, between a Muslim and a Christian. President Obasanjo was a Christian from near Lagos, and his vice president was a Muslim from the north. His handpicked successor, Yar’adua is a Muslim Fulani from the north who is the surviving brother of Obasanjo’s deputy when he was military dictator in the 1970s. Obasanjo also selected Yar’adua’s vice president, Jonathan, a Christian Ijaw from the southern Delta.
Under the constitution, Yar’adua’s withdrawal should make Jonathan the chief of state. However a Jonathan presidency would upset the current balance of power. The longer the crisis remains unresolved, the more likely the military will seize power, analysts warn.
