In a matter of hours, the handover drama in the Presidency that has lasted more than two and half months would come to an end. Son-in-law to President Umaru Yar’Adua and governor of Bauchi State, Mallam Isa Yugua, gave the hint on the heels of reports that more Ministers are falling in line behind the Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili, whose memorandum to the Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) has left it in disarray.

Yuguda told journalists in Abuja in the early hours of Saturday that Vice President Goodluck Jonathan would assume office as Acting President from this week in line with the decision of the court, the resolution of the Senate and the demand of Eminent Persons Group among so many others.

He explained that the 1999 Constitution did not make provision to take care of the likelihood of a situation where the President is so incapacitated that he cannot write the National Assembly.

Yuguda said the decision of the governors asking Yar’Adua to handover to Jonathan should be commended because it was a realistic and pragmatic as well as creating a window for genuine dialogue among Nigerians on the vexed issue.
He, however, stressed that the issue of Yar’Adua transmitting a letter to the National Assembly that would have paved way for Jonathan to act as president in his absence had been blown out of proportion.

“You would recall that the Forum of Governors met over 30 days ago in Abuja during which we deliberated on the health of the President and later addressed the media. As at then, we did not know that he was going to be away for this long because none of us is God and we are not in a position to determine the health of anyone. But we provided the way forward,” he said.
The Bauchi governor explained that taking a critical look at the ailing President today in comparison to the appraisal of the reaction of some Nigerians to the illness, it would seem as if some of those involved do not have blood flowing in their veins.
“I feel frustrated that we are not building the required type of image we need as a country as we end up making our nation a laughing stock,” he said.

Commenting on last month’s ethno-religious crisis in Jos, Yuguda said one way of nipping such unfortunate crisis in the bud was to ensure a strict adherence to law and order, stressing that anyone found to have committed offence should be severely punished no matter his status.
He called on the National Assembly to urgently enact a law to resolve once and for all the issues surrounding indigene/settler in the country, saying that every Nigerian should be free to choose where to be called his home irrespective of where he hails from.
Yuguda further said religious leaders who hide under the vocation of preaching to incite the people for their selfish ends should be arrested and prosecuted, adding that the activities of the political class should also be monitored with a view to checking their excesses and if found wanting, they should be severely dealt with.

“Pastors hiding under the canopy of religion to incite the people must be denied access to places of worship. Any Islamic cleric that hides under the canopy of religion to incite the people and cause crisis should be denied access to places of worship. Such people should be rejected by the society because God does not go where there is crisis.”
Sunday Sun however authoritatively learnt that some of the hawks in the cabinet, who had ensured that Yar’Adua did not hand over to Jonathan, have tactically began moves to take strategic positions in a ‘President Jonathan’ administration.
One of the strategies of the hawks is to worm their way into Jonathan’s favour by telling him they had all along been on his side and that they were actually the ones funding the organizations that had staged some of the demonstrations urging Yar’Adua to communicate his medical vacation to the National Assembly to enable the Vice President assume office as President in acting capacity.

It was gathered that the prodigal ministers’ group was actually behind a team that took a middle course of the road in the address they presented to the National Assembly urging the Federal legislature to resolve the matter believing that both the Senate and the House of Representatives were going to remain satisfied with their initial resolution in which the Senate summoned the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to brief it.
Unfortunately for the hawks in the Presidency, the Senate took a hardliner position, insisting that the ailing Yar’Adua should communicate his medical vacation letter to the National Assembly in line with Section 145 of the Constitution.