Inside the Turai coup...

dris Akinbajo

February 28, 2010 12:22AM

The Nigerian Presidency is held hostage by four un-elected men who, working in concert with Turai Yar’Adua, the President’s wife, almost executed a military-type coup against the nation, NEXT investigations reveal.

Led and coordinated by Yusuf Muhammed Tilde, President Umaru Yar’Adua’s Chief Security Officer (CSO), and supported by Mustapha Onoyvieta, Mr. Yar’adua’s Aide de Camp (ADC); Abdurahman Dambazau, the Chief of Army Staff; and Abdul Mustapha, the commander of the guards brigade responsible for security at the presidential villa, this team kept the Acting President and commander in chief of the Nigeria armed forces, Goodluck Jonathan, as well as several serving ministers and military chiefs in the dark while they smuggled Mr. Yar’Adua back into the country and deployed armed troops, several intelligence and presidential sources said.

“This whole thing is being led by Tilde; he has become to Yar’Adua and Turai what Al-Mustapha was to Abacha (former head of state),” an Aso Rock intelligence source stated.

“He now talks directly to Dambazau (Chief of Army Staff) and Mustapha. They were the ones behind the troop deployment.”

The Botched rebellion

After being evicted by Saudi Authorities with the encouragement of the Americans, as reported exclusively by NEXT, the “Turai cabal” realised that their options had narrowed, and that hardly any western country would be willing to cover-up the degenerating health situation of the ailing President as the Saudis did for three months; they therefore decided to bring Mr. Yar’Adua home three days earlier than planned.

To ensure utmost secrecy for his return, Mr. Tilde contacted Dahiru Dodo, an Assistant Commissioner in the SSS who is the administration officer at the Presidential villa.

“Mr Dahiru changed the guards at the presidential wing of the airport three days before the President arrived. He deployed only his loyal boys there. Even the director of the SSS was not aware of the changes,” a presidency source disclosed.

This was, however, the first step in the process. The second was to get the support of some men of the Nigerian army. This was not so difficult according to military insiders who said Mr. Dambazau, harbours some disdain for Mr. Jonathan; and the media has reported the shocking fact that he was the only Service Chief who did not salute Mr. Jonathan during the last Armed Forces Remembrance Day parade in Abuja.

Civil society groups at a news conference in Abuja last Wednesday had harsh words for Mr. Dambazzau and warned him against allowing the army to be used to fracture the constitutional order.

Mr. Dambazzau, alongside Mr. Mustapha, are widely believed to have supervised the deployment of the two army units - the 4th battalion and Guards brigade - who were deployed to secure the road leading to the airport and escort the presidential convoy back to Aso Rock.

“Three hundred carefully selected officers were deployed and conveyed in 25 vehicles for the operation. Even the weapons were released to them at night,” army insiders said, emphasising that the men were chosen based on primordial loyalties than any professional abilities.

“The secrecy of the mission was very important to them. It was not only the Acting President that was unaware of the troops deployment, even the Chief of Defence Staff was kept in the dark. They even flew the four-star flag which is meant only for the C-in-C.”

When contacted on the deployed troops, the spokesperson of the Nigerian Army, Chris Olukolade attempted to downplay the issue and described the deployment as a “routine exercise” by the army. Top military chiefs were however divided on this claim and Ishola Williams, a retired army general and one time head of the training and doctrine command of the army said it was needless, “escorting him with soldiers, mobile police could have done the same job”.

“Ask him to tell you when it ever happened, that 300 officers will be deployed and allowed to use the Commander in Chief’s seal without his express permission. You cannot even set up a presidential guard under the Guards Brigade commander without the permission of the President. Could they have done this under General Obasanjo or Babangida, not to say Abacha?” asked a high ranking official.

Final coup trap

Having achieved some success in sneaking in the ailing President, the next stage was to set a trap for Mr. Jonathan.

“They brought in the ailing President without the Acting President’s consent on the day of the executive council meeting. They then deployed one of their boys to commandeer the President’s seat at the Council meeting venue. They thought Jonathan would insist on sitting on the seat. If he had insisted, they will just allow him and then accuse him of subverting the authority of the ‘real President.”

Mr. Jonathan learnt of their ploy, which was one of the reasons why he postponed the weekly council meeting. Worried that Mr. Jonathan was not biting the bullet, the duo of Mr. Tilde and Mr. Onoyvieta proceeded straight to his office to inform him that Mr. Yar’Adua had directed that he preside over the meeting. Mr. Jonathan insisted that he be directly briefed by Mr. Yar’Adua who had traditionally issued such directives on the phone, when he was unable to attend or chair the meeting.

Yet it was not merely a scheme isolated to the military corridor. It was gathered that a handful of legislators were told to help build consensus around a renewed Yar ‘Adua presidency and they were told to keep the news a secret because the president was returning to chair last week’s council meeting.

Umaru Dahiru, a senator and chairman of the Northern Senator’s Forum, promptly called a meeting on the night of the president’s arrival and after a rambling statement on the need to support the ailing president, finally dropped the bomb to a shocked gathering of fellow senators who then scampered out to figure out what that meant in the context of the Jonathan constitutional succession.

The colluding ministers

Some ministers were also carried along in the Tilde-schemes, among these were Adamu Aliero, minister of the Federal Capital Territory and an in-law to Mr. Yar’Adua; and Tanimu Yakubu, the Chief Economic Adviser to the President.

It is not clear if Sayaad Abba-Ruma, minister of agriculture, was in the know, as he was on the ministerial team dispatched to Saudi Arabi to access Mr. Yar Adua’s health. If he did know something, according to a ministerial aide, he not only kept it from the Acting President, he also kept it from his colleagues who were on the plane to Saudi Arabia.

The travelling ministers were still in flight when they received the news that Mr. Yar’Adua’s plane was about to leave Saudi Arabia. It was the many calls made by these ministers to their friends and media contacts that alerted the nation that the ailing president’s plane was inbound.

Not yet seen

It is four days since President Yar’Adua arrived, yet no one can claim to have seen him. Though Segun Adeniyi, the president’s spokesman has been speaking on his behalf, even he, according to our findings, has not seen or heard directly from the President. “Segun has been receiving briefs from Tilde and Onoyvieta; he cannot claim to have seen the President. Tilde is running the show now, but I believe he is getting directives from the first lady,” a source stated.

However, after the failure of the plot to push Mr Jonathan into committing some act of desperation, the cabal realised that their best bet was to pretend to show the Acting President some support while they wait for Mr Yar’Adua to recover. Mr Adeniyi, who had earlier said that Mr Jonathan’s title has reverted to Vice President, appeared the next day to tell Nigerians that Mr Yar’Adua has affirmed Mr Jonathan as the Acting President.

The Downfall of Her imperial majesty, Turai Yar'adua.

How does it feel to be President Umaru Yar'Adua's wife now? How does it feel to be at the center of all manner of scurrilous insinuations and innuendos? How does it feel to see presidential power sleep from your husband not on account of end of tenure but because of illness and nobody seems to be showing sympathy?

Read the intriguing detail of how the Yar’Adua administration has worked since inception, the controversy that Acting President Goodluck Jonathan meets Turai Yar’Adua, the first lady, to get directives before performing his duties as acting president.

If Turai Yar'Adua had watched the Eddy Murphy film 'Trading Place' some years ago, could she ever have imagined herself as one of the characters some day? SAMSON EZEA of the Guardian Newspapers wrote on the Turai Yar'Adua persona, the allure of power and the jostle for Jonathan's successor, as it becomes more and more obvious as the days go by that her husband, President Yar'Adua is unlikely to resume his seat soon.

But first, read the latest on Turai Yar’adua from the Associated Press and then her history, background and biography and downfall below:

While Nigeria's ailing president remains unseen after being brought back into the country under the cover of darkness, his assertive wife Turai Yar'Adua has stepped into the spotlight in the oil-rich nation.

Analysts warn a new political struggle could envelop Africa's most populous country that for weeks had no clear leader but now has a stricken president, an acting president who was formally named in a move not contemplated in the constitution and an increasingly powerful first lady.

Turai — not her husband Umaru Yar'Adua — planned to meet privately with Acting President Goodluck Jonathan shortly after the president's return to Nigeria. Details on the planned encounter were not released. She controlled access to her husband while he was hospitalized for three months in Saudi Arabia, allowing only very close family members and a few aides to see him. Many Nigerians believe she also organized a military convoy that escorted Yar'Adua from Abuja's international airport when he returned home unannounced on Wednesday.

On Thursday, a headline in The Daily Sun newspaper proclaimed "Turai takes over."

"She is indeed the person I think is calling the shots," said John Campbell, a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria who now is a fellow with the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations. "The basis of her ability to do it is because she controls access to the president."

That control has allowed Turai to apparently bring Yar'Adua back into the country, putting new pressure on Jonathan. The vice president, who became acting president through an extraconstitutional vote of the National Assembly, has taken few public actions since taking power. Now with Yar'Adua back in the picture, it may mean Jonathan will do even less to avoid confrontation with the president and Turai.

Yar'Adua has not been seen in public since he suddenly left Nigeria on Nov. 23 for Saudi Arabia for treatment of what his chief physician described as acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart. The president also has kidney ailments. There was no official information on his whereabouts Thursday.

Presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi did not return a call for comment Thursday about Mrs. Yar'Adua's role. In a newspaper interview published Dec. 16, he described her as "a warm, caring, not-in-your-face woman who wants her husband to succeed and who is eager to ensure stability on the home front and leverage her moral power for the greater good of the society."

But Nigerian media say she also has political savvy.

An editorial Thursday in the newspaper NEXT said Mrs. Yar'Adua must have lined up allies to "have pulled off this feat of sweeping into the country in the pre-dawn hours and rudely shoving aside the acting president, in addition to effectively overruling the National Assembly.

"All would have been impossible were Mrs. Yar'Adua not already receiving support from powerful people in the security services and the bureaucracy," the newspaper said.

Yar'Adua left the country without formally putting Jonathan in power as acting president, forcing lawmakers to vote two weeks ago to put in him charge. However, the federal ministries remained stacked with Yar'Adua appointees and many in the military's ranks come from the Muslim north, as Yar'Adua does. Though military officials promised to stay out of politics, they did respond to a request from Yar'Adua's camp to send troops to attend his homecoming.

Nigerians have already known Mrs. Yar'Adua as assertive. After becoming first lady in 2007, she led an effort to bring a cancer treatment center to Abuja, the capital. Her image still graces billboards advertising the center, her bearing regal and serious. Nigerian television and newspapers also routinely covered her actions, carrying images of her in traditional dress, her head covered by finely woven cloth in line with her Muslim beliefs.

Now, she may prove to be the power behind presidency.

"She's always been protective of the president," said Nnamdi Obasi, a Nigerian analyst with the International Crisis Group. "I think people are surprised she's gone this far."

The Downfall of Her imperial majesty, Turai Yar'adua

TO say that these are not the best of times for Nigeria's First lady Hajia Turai Yar'Adua, is to belabour the obvious. Before now, she practically had the world at her feet as she commanded respect not only as an influential First Lady, but also as a powerbroker.

Hitherto, Mrs. Yar'Adua as wife former Governor Yar'Adua was a First Lady that was seen but hardly heard. But, of course, she became more visible to Nigerians when her husband, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua emerged President of the country in 2007.

As the President's wife while he was Katsina State Governor for eight years, Turai was not well known among the governors' wives. Not because she couldn't hold her own among them but largely because, according to insiders, Mrs. Yar'Adua "is somewhat shy," an aspects of her, they say, she works hard to cover up in public.

But, at home and in her husband's government, the First Lady, close associates say, is quite influential. Indeed, as her husband's soul-mate, Turai Yar'Adua is said to make a lot of input into a number of important state matters, especially in the wake of her husband's ill health which made the president not strong enough to exert himself as he necessarily should. Consequently, a lot fell on Mrs. Yar'Adua to do if not for anything else at least to secure her husband's job. Thus, she was the head of Yar'Adua's kitchen cabinet in Katsina, a powerful position from which she dispensed favours and had a strong say in who was what in her husband's state administration.

Sources who spoke to The Guardian say it was on the basis of this antecedent that some of the commissioners who served in her husband's government in Katsina were appointed into the Federal Executive Council (FEC) or, as it is now called, Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF), on Turai's request, as ministers and special assistants to form another kitchen cabinet in Abuja, to help in the running of government against the backdrop of President Yar'Adua's fragile health situation.

Prominent among such influential people are the Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Abba Ruma, Economic Adviser to the President, Chief Yakubu Tanimu and a member of the House of Representatives and the president's childhood friend, Shehu Baba Inuwa. Others who are not in government but were part of them are Alhaji Dahiru Mangal, retired Inspector general of Police, Alhaji MD Yusuf and others. Together, these people allegedly formed a strong clique, which pundits have tagged 'the Katsina mafia' to run the government of the country with Turai as the leader.

To give the clique a national outlook, some people from the South and other part of the North were co-opted into it especially those who assisted in financing her husband's presidential campaign.

In the villa, perhaps until only a week or two ago, she was seen as the greatest powerbroker that was allegedly interested in virtually every issue regarding governance.

When asked to evaluate the First Lady, Mrs. Yar'Adua, one former top PDP official paused to weigh his words, then said: "She is far more than what Andy Uba was to Obasanjo. She is Uba, Maryam Babangida and Miriam Abacha thrown together." That is to say, she is enormously powerful and influential, indeed, one who, according to insiders, could cause the ouster of an official the First Lady does not like.

It was disclosed that she influenced the appointment of the former Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Alhaji Abubakar Lawal Yar'Adua and her blood brother, Bashir Abdullahi as the Managing Director of Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC). It is believed that it was after Abubakar fell out of favour that the current managing director Alhaji Mohammed Barkindo was thrown up.

That was also what happened in the case of the new comptroller general of Customs whom she influenced his appointment through rapid promotion to pacify a member of the cabal, Ibrahim Mangal. She is also believed to have tried to influence the appointment of the Magajin Gari by the newly installed Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmumini Kabir Usman, ostensibly because she was allegedly interested in imposing her son-in-law, 39-year old Badamasi Kabir Usman, on the traditional post.

She is also believed to have single-handedly picked Ibrahim Shema as her husband's successor as governor of Katsina in 2007 but fell out with him following the political crisis between the governor and the 'Katsina mafia' in the villa.

A diplomatic source, who pleaded anonymity, disclosed to The Guardian that the First Lady also influences diplomatic business. "Not only is she courted by businessmen, many diplomats also prefer to talk to her rather than to meet her husband," the source said. "Turai is known as the go-to-person for all Aso Rock-based requests that may be delayed by her husband's sluggish bureaucracy.

Corporate executives, including bankers with one favor or another to ask, have found out that things become quicker once they have paid courtesy visits to Turai Yar'Adua".

She is said to be demanding absolute loyalty from government officials outside of and beyond their loyalty to her husband. It is alleged that the former Attorney General now minister of Special Duties Michael Aondoakaa and the former Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro reported primarily to her before they left office.

It is known in several quarters that because of President Yar'Adua's failing health, his wife Turai holds sway on his behalf on many issues. For instance, during the last cabinet reshuffle, it was revealed that ministers who were desperate to retain their portfolios lobbied the First Lady.

She is believed to have been very influential in the appointment of the former Director-General of the National Action Committee on AIDS, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin, as the Minister of Health. Before the time, Osotimehin was said to be contending for the post of Director General of National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration (NAFDAC).

Turai whose pet project is cancer eradication was said to have developed interest in Osotimehin's appointment to the health ministry because of the way he handled NACA anti-HIV/AIDS campaigns held in the six geo-political zones of the country.

It was also disclosed that she was responsible for the deployment of a long-serving minister, Dr. Hassan Lawal to the Ministry of Works and Housing from his previous Labour portfolio. Lawal, a Minister of Labour in the last administration, combined his portfolio with the supervision of the Ministry of Health, when Prof. Adenike Grange and her deputy, Mr. Gabriel Aduku were made to resign on allegation of financial misappropriation.

The First Lady who married Umaru Yar'Adua in 1975, and they have five daughters and two sons is also perceived to have influenced the President in several decisions although the President denied same when asked during a media parley whether his wife influences him.



The President's denial that his wife influences him has not however changed the common opinion about her. Before now in the Villa, the First Lady is perceived to be fully in charge of many of the decisions being taken. She is perceived to be the President's closest adviser and in the present era of his absence, she is said to be fully in charge.

Sources allege that many governors use their wives to court Turai's friendship by advising them to initiate some projects that would demand inviting the First Lady to their states.

Apart from President Yar'Adua denying the allegation of his wife's influence, her spokesman, Mr. Lawan Bakori also dismissed them as mere rumours, which have never been substantiated.

Turai Yar'Adua was born in the Katsina Metropolis in July 1957, and she spent her formative years at the Government Girls Secondary School, Kankiya.

Later on, she enrolled at the Katsina College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria, where she reportedly emerged as the best student in 1980.

She obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Education) in Language from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1983. She had previously worked as a teacher before she became Katsina State First Lady when Yar'Adua was elected governor in 1999.

She came into national reckoning in 2007 when her husband was elected president of the federal republic of Nigeria. Her antecedents affirm that she is committed to family life, love, charity and a strong faith in the Almighty God. She was later made the National Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) in Nigeria.

Turbulent Times For The First Lady

AS time often runs off, First Lady, Mrs Turai Yar'Adua is now left in the lurch as her husband, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua remains hospitalized in Saudi Arabia hospital without anybody including his doctors being specific on when he will be discharged to assume duty once again as Nigeria's President.

Before now, the deteriorating health condition of President Yar'Adua was an open secret to many Nigerians. It was disclosed that when he was governor of Katsina, he was once hospitalized for six months and his wife Turai and some members of his kitchen cabinet were running the government until he recovered and assumed office again. At the peak of his presidential campaign, Yar'Adua once fell ill and was rushed to Germany. Then he was rumoured to have died but he later recovered and joined his campaign train again.

Even as the jostle for vice president slot became intense in the belief that Yar'Adua may not come before the party primaries for 2011 election, the North is already positioning candidates for the slot. Prominent among names being touted by different groups are Gen. Theophilus Danjuma; Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; Mallam Nasir El-Rufai; and Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State.

Turai's group is allegedly pushing for one of her in-laws, Isa Yuguda and Adamu Aliero. But the odds against them might be their ties to Turai, which major stakeholders in the North may want to do away with. It is really a sad moment for a woman who was once the power centre in government.

With Materials from the Guardian Newspapers and AP

YAR’ADUA’S RETURN A GRAND DECEIT – AKANDE

Yar’Adua’s return a grand deceit – Akande
From MODESTUS CHUKWULAKA, Abuja
Friday, February 26, 2010

National Chairman of the Action Congress (AC), Chief Bisi Akande, has dismissed Wednesday’s reported return of President Umaru Yar’Adua to the country as a grand design to deceive Nigerians, and warned that the attitude of impunity and lawlessness of the present administration would quicken the collapse of the country.

Akande said what happened on Wednesday morning was a continuation of the deception by those around the President and challenged any person who had set an eye on the president since his “alleged” return to come out and fault him.
Speaking in Abuja shortly after the public presentation of a book authored by former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Dr. Abel Guobadia, Akande described Yar’Adua as “a master in deceit,” while the country remained a rudderless state.

“Many miracles are happening in this country right now, and we don’t know who is ruling us. We must not allow miracles to continue to rule us. The attitude of impunity and lawlessness of this administration will quicken the collapse of the country,” he said.
Asked if the return of the president from his medical vacation would help in stabilizing the polity, the former Osun State governor retorted: “Are you sure he has come back? Have you seen him? Is the President back? Who has seen him?”

Reminded that the presidential spokesman had already issued a statement to the effect that Yar’Adua was back in the country after three months in Saudi Arabia, Akande said: “That’s how they have been deceiving us since he became President. He is a master in deceit. I don’t think that Yar’Adua is here in Nigeria. I believe Jonathan is now the Acting President. But those who are deceiving us will continue to deceive us, using the military to threaten us.”
Although he said Jonathan was in reality the Acting President, he expressed misgiving that he would be able to steer the country in the right direction for the reason that he belonged to the same Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“Jonathan will not be capable; he is PDP. But what I am saying in reality is that Jonathan is the Acting President of Nigeria. These people who are using the military to threaten us are deceiving us that Yar’Adua is here. We must shun them. They are the ones destroying this country; we must shun them,” he said.
Earlier, Akande, like many others had paid glowing tribute to Guobadia who presided over INEC from 2000 to 2005. The book entitled: Reflections of a Nigerian Electoral Umpire, dwelled mainly on the author’s experience as the chairman of INEC and his views on the nation’s electoral system.

Former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Muhammed Uwais who chaired the presentation said Guobadia brought to INEC a wealth of experience no other chairman had brought to the office. “He was not a sit-tight chairman. He knew his tenure was only five years. He did not lobby for extension. At the end of five years, he wrote to the President, giving notice of his desire to disengage,” Uwais said.
A serving national commissioner of INEC, Mr. Philip Umeadi Jnr., also credited Guobadia with the introduction of technology in the electoral system as well as initiating electoral reforms. “The electronic voters’ register we met could have been enough for the conduct of any free and fair election in 2007,” he said.

Senate amends section 145 .

The Senate, on Wednesday, voted to alter the provisions of section 145 and 190 of the 1999 constitution.

The amendments make it compulsory for a president or a governor to transmit a letter to the leadership of the National Assembly or House of Assembly respectively to enable the vice president or deputy governor act “whenever the president is proceeding on vacation or is unable to discharge the function of his office.”

The bill also empowers the National Assembly or state legislators to pass a resolution, empowering the vice president or deputy governor to act on behalf of the president or governor if there is a failure to transmit such letter within 14 days of his departure.

The bill is sponsored by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and supported by members of the senate Committee on Constitution Review.

The idea to alter the two sections proposed for amendment came up as a result of the inability of the lawmakers to constitutionally get the president to transmit a letter when he was absent. This led the Senate to adopt a creative resolution, empowering Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to act pending the return of President Yar’Adua.

The House of Representatives has already considered a similar bill, seeking to amend the same sections. While the Representatives are contemplating a 21-day grace period for the president or governor to be away on vacation without transmitting his powers, the senate voted in favour of 14 days grace period.

The differences will, however, be harmonised by a joint committee of the senate and House before the bill is passed down to the state Houses of Assembly for consideration.

Speedy passage

The bill was first read by the senate on 17 February. The following day, the senate started the second reading debate on the bill. After three days of debate, when nearly all senators contributed, on Wednesday, the bill passed its second reading.

It was immediately committed to the committee of the whole senate. There, the senate considered the provisions of the amendment bill, clause by clause, after which slight amendments were made on the original proposal.

The bill was then put to vote and senators stood in turns to vote a “yes” or “no” for or against the alterations. Out of the 109 senators, 17 senators were absent from the sitting and 89 senators voted “yes” to amend the first part of the bill.

Two senators, Yale Mallam Kaka (ANPP Borno State) and Garba Yakubu Lado (PDP Katsina State) voted against the alterations.

President Turai Yar’Adua.

Since returning her critically ill husband to the country in the dead of the night yesterday, Turai Yar’Adua has in the last twenty-four hours effectively seized control of the apparatus of government, shoving aside Goodluck Jonathan and unilaterally causing a reversal of the decision by the National Assembly to name him Acting President.

She has a combination of factors working to her advantage: on the one hand, her husband is back in the country and expected to resume Presidential functions; on the other, the state of his health renders him incapable of exercising any presidential authority, automatically creating a vacuum for a proxy.

This bizarre scenario is what Mrs. Yar’Adua is exploiting, with urgency and precision. Yesterday, she instigated a series of puzzling actions, aimed at curtailing the movement and powers of the Acting President.

These include the deployment of two members of the brigade of guards to barricade the “presidential seat”, allegedly to prevent Mr. Jonathan from sitting on it to preside over the meeting of the Executive Council of the Federation; and the early afternoon ransacking of Mr. Jonathan’s office by personnel of the State Security Service (SSS).

Not long after that action, the President’s spokesperson, Segun Adeniyi issued a statement announcing that, “while the President completes his recuperation, Vice President Jonathan will continue to oversee the affairs of state.” There is however no evidence that the Acting President is in any position to oversee Nigeria’s affairs, as he spent most of Wednesday holed up in his office or home, as ignorant as the rest of the country about happenings in the corridors of power. In the vacuum, the First Lady is in absolute control, not only of the affairs of state, but also of access to the President.

Acting in the dark

Over 20 hours after arriving in the country, no public official has yet seen Mr. Yar’Adua, NEXT findings reveal. It emerged yesterday that even Mr Jonathan, has not seen or spoken to Mr Yar’Adua since he returned to the country. A highly placed source in Aso Rock revealed this Wednesday, adding that a political stalemate is in the offing between the two men.

The source confirmed that the Mr. Jonathan was completely unaware of the president’s homecoming until just a few hours before his plane landed in Abuja. In addition, all the security and army personnel that were dispatched to the airport did not receive their orders from the Acting President’s office.

Two army units, the 4th battalion and Guards brigade, were deployed to secure the road leading to the airport and escort the presidential convoy back to Aso Rock.

According to our source, “300 carefully selected officers were secretly deployed and conveyed in 25 vehicles for the operation. Even the weapons were released to them at night.” The directive for this deployment was not issued by the Acting President who is also the present commander in chief of the armed forces of Nigeria. This caused a little pandemonium among the ruling class who wondered who deployed the men.

“The Acting President did not give orders for the deployment of the troops and neither were we consulted on such.

So we all wondered if the army was just acting on its own. Maybe it was the Chief of Defense Staff, or the Chief of Army staff or the National Security Adviser who deployed them; you know they all never liked Mr. Jonathan. We don’t know even up till now,” our source stated.

A President held hostage

The list of persons who are being denied access to the President by the First Lady is growing.

Apart from the Acting President, none of the Ministers or Presidential aides has seen or spoken to Mr. Yar’Adua. Not even Segun Adeniyi, Mr. Yar’Adua’s senior special assistant on media and communications, who issued a press statement on behalf of the President has seen or directly heard from him, NEXT findings reveal.

The Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, Bukola Saraki, and the Chairman of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Vincent Ogbulafor, have also been unsuccessful in their attempts to see Mr. Yar’Adua.

“They are preventing everyone from seeing him. None of us, except his wife and his security aides have seen him since his arrival. Right from the airport, they hid him from everybody. The Vice President even tried to go see him yesterday, but was disallowed by Turai,” a senior government official stated.

At the moment, no one outside the tiny inner circle has any details about the current state of the President’s health. A widely-quoted NEXT exclusive story in January reported that he was “seriously brain damaged.” Our investigations continue to point to a man who remains incapacitated and clearly unable to function as President, contrary to Mr. Adeniyi’s statement that the President had been “discharged” by his Saudi doctors.

We have it on reliable authority that since the President’s arrival in the country on Wednesday, his critical condition has necessitated his continued stay in the Ford E-250 intensive care ambulance that picked him at the Abuja airport. He is expected to be in the ambulance until the intensive care unit that will receive him is retrieved by Julius Berger from Katsina and re-installed in House 7 within the grounds of the Presidential Villa.

Sources also said that the President was carried on a stretcher aboard the ambulance that airlifted him into the country. The arrival of the President in the early hours of Wednesday was engineered to take place in utmost secrecy. Just before midnight on Tuesday, the military units sealed off the presidential wing of the airport and cordoned off the area, ordering all airport staff to move to the international wing. The airport was sealed off from journalists and other visitors who had begun to gather at the presidential wing.

The air ambulance conveying the President landed at 1.45am in a remote section of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport runway. Tarmac floodlights were also dimmed, heightening the covertness of the operation.

Sinking deeper into confusion

A brief private meeting between Mr. Jonathan and the ministers held in place of the customary Wednesday Executive Council meetings, which Mr. Jonathan has consistently chaired in the absence of Mr. Yar’Adua. The meeting, which traditionally starts at 10.00am, was postponed by Mr. Jonathan as soon as news of the President’s arrival broke.

The Ministers were duly notified.

A minister confirmed that the instruction to postpone the council meeting came from Jonathan.

“I received a call at about 8.30 from his secretary saying that our meeting would be postponed,” the minister said. “I was asked to come directly to the conference room by 2 (o’clock) where they would explain why the meeting did not hold.” The minister went on to say that many of his colleagues did not know about the arrival of the President until Wednesday morning. “Some of us were hearing it from you people in the media as of this morning,” the minister said. “As for me I have not spoken to him since he left and that remains so.” The failure of the meeting to hold is just one of the many manifestations of the deepening confusion that has plagued the country since news first broke on Tuesday evening of Mr. Yar’Adua’s return.

At the end of the meeting, the Minister of Information, Dora Akunyili announced that the Mr. Jonathan would be meeting with Mrs Yar’Adua on yesterday evening. Even though a source said the meeting was not at Mrs Yar’Adua’s behest, but an attempt to stave off a constitutional crisis, the fact that it is taking place at all is yet another pointer to the significant role that the President’s wife will be playing in the current power configuration.

It remains unclear what the agenda of the meeting will be, but a source insisted that the ongoing political stalemate cannot be dispelled until the Acting President meets with the President. “Until the Acting President receives a secure directive from the President, the executive council cannot fulfil its duties,” the source said.

The Silent Coup d'état ..

Meanwhile, the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) has deplored the way President Yar’Adua was brought into the country.

The SNG condemned the secrecy that surrounded the president’s arrival and the alleged hounding of airport workers by armed soldiers.

“It is more curious that soldiers were deployed in the airport without the knowledge of the Acting President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, who was also not on hand to receive him.”

The group said when all was added up, it was clear that there was a sinister plot behind bringing a man, who should be having his health attended to, into the country, and that was evident in the fact that the Executive Council of the Federation was yet to commence its weekly meeting at the time this statement was issued.

“It has also been brought to our attention that a statement has been issued by Yar’Adua’s spokesperson, Mr. Segun Adeniyi, to the effect that he has been discharged by his doctors and that the Acting President, Dr. Jonathan, should act for him while he recuperates. Was it a slip that Adeniyi referred to Dr. Jonathan as “Vice-President” and not Acting President?” SNG queried.

It noted that it was clear and unacceptable and a further confirmation that Yar’Adua and his handlers saw Nigeria as their supermarket, which explained why he did not hand over in the first place while travelling out on medical trip, and the constitution did not confirm on him the right to verbally decide how Nigeria should be run.

According to it, “Nigerians need to see the man who is making this statement. He must address the joint sitting of the National Assembly, even if it’s only for five minutes, which shall transmit power back to him before he can begin to function as president again. In the alternative, he should address the nation on NTA and AIT to explain to the nation why he failed to respect the constitution in the last 93 days.”

SNG noted that if President Yar’Adua did not do any of the above, it would mean that he was totally incapacitated and his coming home would not have changed anything.

“Our quarrel with him was not the location where he was but the fact that we are not sure that his body and mind can support the functions of his office. This has been confirmed by the fact that it took one hour twenty five minutes to dislodge him from the air ambulance into the Ford Intensive Care Unit ambulance and another one hour ten minutes to take him from the airport to the secretariat junction in Abuja where he proceeded to the Villa. All these point to permanent incapacitation,” SNG stated.

The group insisted that the process of empanelling a medical board as stipulated in Section 144 must proceed forthwith. “And the Executive Council of the Federation has its job cut out for it, as they now have no excuse to fall on anymore. There is no need for any jamboree as Yar’Adua is now within the shores of Nigeria,” SNG said.

It called for a conclusive resolution of the crisis so that Nigeria could avoid a political disaster. “We remain resolutely committed to the logical closure of this matter and we stick to our March 3, deadline,” the group said.

Goodluck Jonathan Demoted Already?

By Olu Jacob and Daniel Momoh (234NEXT)

February 24, 2010 07:34PM
The handlers of the ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua who sneaked him into the country in the wee hours of today have not wasted any time in trying to wrest power from Acting President Goodluck Jonathan.

Unconfirmed reports speak of plans to make him resign if he doesn't toe the line now being drawn by Turai Yar'Adua who is now effectively in charge of the presidency. A number of ministers who were deemed to have been disloyal to Mr Yar'Adua, are also slated to be sacked, and Dora Akunyili is said to be top on that list.

A source in Aso rock confirmed that officials of the State Security Service had this afternoon gone into the office of Mr Jonathan and conducted a thorough search although it is not immediately clear what they were looking for. They were allegedly working under the directives of Mrs Yar'Adua.

Only a few hours after he arrived the country, and while he lies convalescing in a ‘clinic', aides to the President began systematically to divest Mr Jonathan of any opportunity to exercise the powers of the presidency. He has been denied access to the President and to any information that will keep him abreast of the unfolding drama. Sources say he is barely managing to avoid embarrassment as events keep changing around him and he only gets to hear of the changes after they were announced.

As early as 11.31am, while he prepared for the weekly meeting of the Executive Council of the Federation, a security detail entered the chambers and immediately secured the president's chair to prevent Mr Jonathan from sitting on it. Less than one hour later, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Yayale Ahmed announced that the Council meeting has been postponed. Instead, Mr Jonathan was scheduled to have a private meeting with the ministers. That meeting eventually lasted less than 10 minutes and the confusion was evident in the faces of some of the ministers who appeared to be sleep walking .

As part of the process of demoting Mr Jonathan, Presidential spokesperson, Segun Adeniyi has announced that from now on the Acting president will revert back to his previous status of vice President, although he will still need to hold the fort while the President recuperates.

However, there are indications that none of this is happening with Mr Jonathan's consent as he remained locked out of the decision making process. Although no one has come out to say he is under house arrest, sources say after the search of his office, the Acting president was effectively kept apart and the coterie of visitors that has been around him in the last two weeks is no longer evident.

As a sign that Mrs Yar'Adua is now in charge of running the presidency, the Acting President has been scheduled to meet with her this evening, and sources say the fate of Mr Jonathan may depend on how that meeting goes.

US concerns
The United States of America has raised concern over the sudden return of Mr Yar'Adua. A statement from its mission in Abuja today warns that the President's return may create chaos in the nation's polity. According to Johnnie Carson, the US Under-Secretary of State on African Affairs, the US government hopes that, "President Yar'Adua's return to Nigeria is not an effort by his senior advisors to upset Nigeria's stability and create renewed uncertainty in the democratic process."

The statement also touched on the president's health: "We hope that his health is sufficient to enable him to fully resume his official duties," Mr Carson said, adding, "Nigeria needs a strong, healthy, and effective leader to ensure the stability of the country and to manage Nigeria's many political, economic and security challenges."

Some celebrate
Residents of Katsina, the home state of the president, yesterday came out in their thousands to celebrate the return of Mr Yar'Adua from Saudi Arabia. He was flown into the country from Saudi Arabia in an air ambulance Number HZM55A at about 1.47 a.m. yesterday.

Security sources say Mr Yar'Adua was forced to relocate to Nigeria from Saudi Arabia following the decision of the Saudi government to avoid mounting diplomatic crisis.

Status quo
The House of Representatives announced yesterday that it still recognises Mr Jonathan as the Acting President of Nigeria. According to the chairman, Rules and Business, Eta Inang, the status of Mr. Jonathan has not changed. Also, at about 5pm today, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties welcomed the president into the country, but note that the manner of his arrival clearly indicates that he is too incapacitated to rule. However, a statement from the Peoples Democratic Party which also welcomed the President, praised Mr Goodluck Jonathan for holding the fort during the three months of the President's absence.

Nigeria Moves Close to Total Darkness

Fidelis Mac-Leva22
February 2010

These are certainly not the best of times for Nigeria in terms of electricity generation. Power generation in the country has dropped to its lowest level ever and there are indications that the situation, which has been attributed to acute shortage of gas supply to the nation's power plants, would get worse. The consequences on the nation's economy are better imagined.

Checks at the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and the Ministry of Power, show that the nation currently generates between 2,220mw to 2,240mw of electricity per day. Experts say the situation might even get to "fatality level" between March and April.

By December last year when the presidential deadline of delivering the much touted 6000mw expired, the country's power generation slumped to 3,700mw. This was in spite of expending the whole $5.09 (about N762.93billion) special intervention funds allocated for the power sector last year.

The National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) for which the federal government had injected N762.93billion were expected to add 4,770mw to the national grid by the end of 2011. But with the worsening situation in the sector, there seems to be no hope in sight that the first unit of the NIPP projects would be commissioned in the first quarter of 2011 as projected. This has further cast a shadow of doubt on the attainment of the vision 2020 development goals of Nigeria.

On February 4, 2010 during the Ministerial press briefing by the power Ministry, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, shocked the audience with the revelation that power generation had dropped to 2700mw. Again, shortage of gas was attributed for the degeneration.

Last week, the situation went further worse as checks at both the PHCN and the Power Ministry showed that power generation had again dropped to 2,500mw. Shortage of gas was equally advanced as reason for the decline in power generation.

A new twist was, however, added to the unfolding power degeneration saga last week. Oil giant, Shell, wrote to the Power and Petroleum Resources Ministries threatening to shut down its two gas plants unless the stock of wet condensate at the Warri Refinery was evacuated.

The volume of wet condensate at the Warri Refinery which Shell, the major gas supplying company in the country, said was hampering the supply of wet condensate was put at 472,000 barrels.

Shell's ultimatum came even as Power Minister Lanre Babalola issued a directive to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, to accelerate the signing of the pending gas purchase agreement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

"Concluding and signing of the gas purchase agreement with the NNPC will help to secure commitment to its delivery and such a pact will help all parties to keep to terms and conditions of sale and purchase agreement", Babalola said during a meeting with PHCN management staff recently.

With the recurring issue of shortage as being responsible for the steady decline in Nigeria's power generation, analysts and energy experts are beginning to suspect the possibility of sabotage in the power sector.

This is not the first time Nigeria is coming close to total darkness due to gas shortage arising from the built up of wet condensate in the gas plants. In March, 2008, gas supplies by the Nigeria Gas Company to the Egbin and Geregu power generating plants came to a standstill due to build up of wet condensate in the Escravos gas pipeline.

As a combined result power generation at Egbin had dropped from 800mw to a paltry 100mw, while Geregu plant also suffered a daily shortfall of 150mw due to inadequate gas supplies at the time. There was a period of prolonged load shedding in the country at the time such as the one currently being experienced.

The pertinent questions are: Why has it been so difficult for Nigeria to resolve the problem of gas supply once and for all? Are there deliberate attempts by saboteurs in the power sector [within or outside Nigeria] to frustrate gas supplies for certain ulterior motives? Who should actually be held responsible for Nigeria's gas worsening gas shortage?

Even as analysts and other Nigerians ponder on these questions, statistics obtained from the PHCN show no sign of improvement in gas supplies from the six major sources of gas supply in the country. For instance the Chevron Escravos-1 gas plant [a Shell facility] is expected to generate 185million standard cubic feet [scfd] but is currently generating nothing. Same situation is obtainable at the Chevron Escravos-2 gas plant, also a Shell facility, which has the capacity of generating 300mscfd per day.

In the same vein, the Sapele pas plant as well as the one at Ughele which are expected to generate 50mscfd and 90mscfd respectively per day,are also currently generating nothing. The Oben gas plant, on the other hand, which has the capacity of generating 90mscfd is said to be getting that amount, albeit on an irregular basis, while the Utorgu gas plant is generating 290mscfd out of its 360mscfd daily generation capacity.

This implies darker days ahead for the country as the shortage of gas from the gas plants is said to be negatively impacting on the Thermal Plants at Egbin, Geregu, Afam, Sapele, Omotosho and Olorunshogbo.

Daily Trust checks show that the idle capacity of these Thermal Plants arising from shortage of gas has risen to about seventy percent.

How did we get to where we are today?

By December 24, 2009, the power generation in the country stood at 3700MW even as the actual capacity was reported to be 5,500MW.

Available records also show that as at January 2009 the actual generation distributed was 2789.6MW while the idle capacity due to gas and water limitation was 1326MW and 528MW respectively.

Due to what the Power Ministry attributed to pipeline vandalism actual generation dropped to about 1766MW between June and August 2009. Generation, however, rose to over 3700MW by December 2009 through what the Power Ministry attributed to "aggressive repair and rehabilitation" of PHCN existing plants, increased capacity from existing IPPs and collaboration with the Ministry of Petroleum/NNPC to boost gas supply.

By December last year the aggregate installed available generation capacity of the PHCN plants was put at about 5272.2MW with the gas-fired plants contributing about 73 percent of the generation mix. At that time PHCN was deemed to be capable of generating over 3,700MW of power subject to resolving the constraints of gas supply.

A summary of power generation performance in 2009 shows that the highest generation of 3710MW was attained by December 24, 2009 while installed available capacity of 5,226.6MW was reached by December 31, 2009.

The highest installed available capacity of 5,522.5MW was attained on December 23, 2009 while the highest actual generation capacity attained was 3,710MW as at December 23, 2009. On Thursday February 4, 2009, the PHCH announced that the current power generation had dropped to 2700MW. Since then the generation has being on the decline. By last week it dropped to 2500mw while as at the time of this write up it was staggering between 2200mw to 2400mw.

What is the way forward? Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has promised that the power sector would be among his areas of top priority.

Analysts say for his promise to be translated into reality, there must be actual commitment and deliverable targets from critical stakeholders such as the NNPC and IOC's in terms of gas supply.

VP Goodluck Jonathan to stay in charge.

An ambulance, thought to be carrying Yar'Adua,
left the airport under police escort [Reuters]

Nigerian VP to stay in charge

An ambulance, thought to be carrying Yar'Adua,
left the airport under police escort [Reuters]

Nigeria's vice-president will continue to lead the nation while the ailing president recuperates, a presidential adviser has said.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Olusegun Adeniyi, a presidential spokesman, said Goodluck Jonathan would continue to serve as acting president.

"After being discharged by the team of medical experts overseeing his treatment in... Saudi Arabia, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua returned to the presidential villa, Abuja early this morning," Adeniyi said.

"While the president completes his recuperation, Vice-President Jonathan will continue to oversee the affairs of state," he said.

The announcement comes after Yar'Adua returned to Nigeria early on Wednesday morning after more than three months abroad at a Saudi Arabian hospital.

Two aeroplanes arrived at the presidential wing of Abuja's Nnamdi Azikiwe international airport where one of them was met by an ambulance, the Reuters news agency, citing a witness, reported.

The ambulance later left under a heavy police escort. There was no immediate word on Yar'Adua's condition.

Constitutional concerns

Following a power vacuum because of Yar'Adua's long absence from the country, Nigeria's parliament installed Jonathan as the acting head of state early this month.

Yvonne Ndege, Al Jazeera's West Africa correspondent, said that while Jonathan had established himself as a leader, constitutionally power still lay with Yar'Adua.

"There is potential, let's say, for Goodluck Jonathan to try to consolidate his position and become the substantive president of Nigeria," she said.

"But my sense is that that will have to come with the blessing of President Yar'Adua because if the constitution is followed to the letter of the law President Yar'Adua will be back in the seat of power."

Nigeria's constitution says the president must make a written declaration that he is on vacation or unable to carry out his duties before a transfer of power can take place.

Yar'Adua had not officially given his consent to the transfer of power, but parliament said it based its decision on an interview that he gave the BBC last month, saying that he would return to work once his doctors gave him the go-ahead.

Health problems

Despite general government support, some critics have described the move to have Jonathan assume presidential powers as illegal.

Yar'Adua left Nigeria on November 23 to receive medical treatment at a clinic in Jeddah for pericarditis, an inflammation of the membrane surrounding the heart that can restrict normal beating.

He is also known to suffer from a chronic kidney condition and has long been criticised for not being able to work more than five or six hours a day.

Aside from the near constitutional crisis, Yar'Adua's long absence had prompted street protests by thousands across the country, demanding his resignation.

It also threatened to paralyse the government until parliament installed Jonathan as acting head of state on February 9.

Balancing act

A delegation of Nigerian ministers had travelled to Saudi Arabia on Monday to ascertain Yar'Adua's health, expecting to report back to a weekly cabinet meeting, but it appeared they had not managed to see him.

Instead they were told that he was on his way back to Abuja.

Nii Akuetteh, the former executive director of Africa Action, said that could have been a deliberate move to avoid further conflict.

There was no word on the health of Yar'Adua, seen here in a picture from last July [EPA]
"My impression is now that the delegation that went to Jeddah [was] a small portion of the cabinet," he told Al Jazeera.

"Now the entire cabinet, if they want to assess the president's health, will have him there to do that instead of depending on a few people who went to Jeddah and can come back with conflicting reports."

The Nigerian presidency reflects a regional balancing act between the Muslim north and the Christian south, with the role traditionally switching between the two sides with every election.

Yar'Adua is from the Muslim north and Jonathan from the Christian south.

While many activists in the south would be pleased to see a southerner in the presidency, others from the north would like their candidate to serve a full term.

"A lot of this was precipitated by people from the south - activists - who actually went to court to say that he [Yar'Adua] has been away for too long," Akuetteh said.

President Yar'Adua returns to Nigeria.

Feb 24 - Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua
returned home after three months in a Saudi hospital renewing
uncertainty over the leadership of Africa's most populous
nation.

Following is a timeline on Nigeria since Yar'Adua was
elected:

April 2007 - Umaru Yar'Adua is elected president.

Nov 23, 2009 - Yar'Adua goes to Saudi Arabia for medical
checks. Three days later officials say the 58-year-old president
is suffering from the heart condition acute pericarditis and it
is unclear when he will return.

Dec 2, 2009 - Cabinet unanimously agrees there are no
grounds to seek the president's resignation, rejecting calls for
him to quit.

Dec 19, 2009 - Niger Delta rebel group MEND say they have
carried out their first attack on an oil pipeline since an
amnesty offer as the absence of Yar'Adua was delaying talks.

Jan 12, 2010 - Yar'Adua makes his first public comments in
over seven weeks, saying in a radio interview that he is
recovering from illness and hopes to return home soon.

Feb. 9, 2010 - Vice President Goodluck Jonathan assumes
presidential powers. Parliament earlier had recognised Jonathan
as acting head of state in an effort to end uncertainty.

-- The Senate resolution states that Jonathan will cease to
be acting president once Yar'Adua stated in writing to the
leaders of both houses of parliament that he has returned from
"medical vacation".

Feb. 10, 2010 - Jonathan chairs first cabinet meeting as
acting head of state, seeking to revive government business
after more than two months of stagnation. He removes Justice
Minister and Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa. Aondoakaa had
been among ministers who held out against formally transferring
power to Jonathan during Yar'Adua's absence.

Feb. 12, 2010 - Jonathan approves the disbursal of $2
billion from windfall oil savings to the country's 36 states and
government agencies.

Feb. 17, 2010 - The cabinet rejects a motion to declare
Yar'Adua unfit to govern, deciding instead to send a delegation
to Saudi Arabia for an update on his health.

Feb. 24, 2010 - Yar'Adua arrives back in Abuja after three
months in a Saudi Arabian hospital.

United States Govt Worried over Yar’adua’s Return

The United States Government have expressed its anxiety that President Yar’adua’s return to Nigeria could upset Nigeria’s stability and create renewed uncertainty in the democratic process. In a Statement by Johnie Carson, Assistant Secretary Of State said expresses the hope that President Yar’Adua’s return to Nigeria is not an effort by his senior advisors to upset Nigeria’s stability and create renewed uncertainty in the democratic process.

And added; Nigeria is an extraordinarily important country to its friends and partners, and all of those in positions of responsibility should put the health of the President and the best interests of the country and people of Nigeria above personal ambition or gain.

Here is the a STATEMENT BY JOHNNIE CARSON, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE

BUREAU OF AFRICAN AFFAIRS

PRESIDENT YAR’ADUA’S RETURN TO NIGERIA

The United States welcomes the news of President Yar’Adua’s return to Nigeria. We hope that his health is sufficient to enable him to fully resume his official duties. Nigeria needs a strong, healthy, and effective leader to ensure the stability of the country and to manage Nigeria’s many political, economic, and security challenges. Recent reports, however, continue to suggest that President Yar’Adua’s health remains fragile and that he may still be unable to fulfill the demands of his office.

We hope that President Yar’Adua’s return to Nigeria is not an effort by his senior advisors to upset Nigeria’s stability and create renewed uncertainty in the democratic process. Nigeria is an extraordinarily important country to its friends and partners, and all of those in positions of responsibility should put the health of the President and the best interests of the country and people of Nigeria above personal ambition or gain. As a nation of 150 million people, Nigeria’s democracy and its continued adherence to constitutional rule should be the highest priority.

Updates - Yar'Adua's return....

Updates as they happen

1448 - Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to meet with First lady Turai Yar’Adua this evening.

The Acting President Goodluck Jonathan will continue to run state affairs while President Umaru Yar'Adua recovers after three months of medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, the presidency has announced.

A statement by Olusefun Adeniyi, a spokesman for the presidency said, "President Yar'Adua wishes to re-assure all Nigerians that on account of their unceasing prayers and by the special grace of God, his health has greatly improved. However, while the President completes his recuperation, Vice President Jonathan will continue to oversee the affairs of state."

1404 - Statement by Presidency spokesman, "VP to run state affairs as President recovers."

1333 - Officials of the State Security Service (SSS) ransack office of the Vice-President.

1326 - Unconfirmed reports quote sources at Aso rock as saying that the Acting President Goodluck Jonathan will resign at the 2PM meeting and some ministers might go with him.

1245 - Action Congress says the "mere presence" of the president is not enough for him to resume power. Publicity secretary, Lai Muhammed, says the president must now write a letter to nation assembly to announce that he is fit for office.

1239 - Senate begins third reading of Section 145 ammendement bill. On the same day that it passed the second reading.

1232 - Army official detailed to receive president at airport this morning claims that Mr. Yar'Adua "walked" into the waiting ambulance. This is unconfirmed.

1220 - Secretary to the government of the federation, Yayale Ahmed, announces that the weekly federal executive council meeting has been postponed. The Acting president will still meet with his cabinet in his office at 2pm but this will be a private meeting. No reference made to President Yar'Adua's health or return. He is not expected however to attend the meeting between Goodluck Jonathan and his cabinet.

1153 - Senate goes ahead to conclude debate amending section 145 of the constitution without any mention of President Yar’Adua’s return.

1135 - Jonathan is waiting, trying to avoid embarrassment by staying away and waiting for the president who is taking eternity to come out

1134 - Senate makes no reference to the president's return and continues session on amendment of Section 145 of the Nigerian constitution. However various groups are seen fervently huddling together during recess.

1131 - A security detail is guarding the president’s chair to ensure Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan does not sit on the chair.

♦One hour after the weekly cabinet meeting of ministers was supposed to have commenced, there is no sign that it would hold, as all the ministers have stayed away.

Neither the Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan nor his aides have also turned up. This is very unusual, as they (the Acting President and his aides) always keep to time in past meetings. Mr Jonathan had locked out some ministers from past meeting for lateness.

However, aides to the ailing President, Umaru Yar'Adua who returned to the country, early this morning were seen at the chambers. Mr Yar Adua's (Aide-de-Camp) ADC, Mustapha Onoedieva
and Chief security Officer Yusufu Tilde were seen at the council chambers for a while earlier today, but they also left.

No presidency official is willing to talk yet.

President Umaru Yar'Adua returned to Nigeria early this morning, and was carried from the airport in an ambulance. A terse report on Nigerian Television Authority this morning said he has been taken to a ‘clinic.'


http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5531463-146/live_updates_-_yaraduas_return_.csp

Guess who's back?

Nigeria’s federal capital, Abuja, is awake and buzzing at this hour with the startling information that Umaru Yar’Adua is on his way back Nigeria, 90 days after he was evacuated in a medical emergency. Some officials claim to have received text messages from some of Yar’Adua’s aides in Jeddah claiming that Nigeria’s sick “leader” would arrive at 2:00 AM, Nigeria time.
Although guarded Saharareporters sources had first claimed they were not officially aware of Yar’Adua’s return, they have been more forthcoming in the past hour that the story is true. Panic-stricken ministers and officials are in the dark about the latest information regarding Yar’Adua.
On the ground as of the time of writing this report, there are no reported troop movements or any airport ceremony that may indicate such an event, but the strong rumours are taking on a life of their own in Abuja.

The equally bizarre development is that Nigeria’s six–man ministerial delegation to Saudi Arabia arrived Riyadh at 6:00 AM (Nigerian time) today to find itself in an embarrassing effort to reach the King of Saudi Arabia, which was to be a step towards reaching Yar’Adua.

Their first order of business was to deliver a goodwill message to the King after which they were to have proceeded to Jeddah to meet Yar’Adua but they were shocked when the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs told the delegation that the King could not meet with them. He reportedly accepted their good will letters, thanked them for coming and told them that Yar’Adua had been “discharged” from hospital and was “on his way to Nigeria.”

The response of the Saudi authorities left the ministerial delegation stranded in Riyadh as they didn’t know what to do. It is now expected that they will return to Abuja early tomorrow.

Signs that new intrigues had crept into the ministerial trip emerged on Sunday night when a few minutes to departure to Saudi Arabia from Abuja, the ministers were denied departure as it was claimed that the Saudi authorities denied them landing rights, but the Saudi ambassador to Nigeria denied that claim.

When Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, showed up on Monday at the Presidential Villa to address the media, he had changed both the itinerary and mission of the six-man team. In preparing the mind of the Nigeria public for what would happen, he shockingly said the trip to Saudi Arabia was aimed at visiting the King of Saudi Arabia to thank him for taking care of Yar’Adua, and not to visit him in the hospital. That was not exactly the mission when the delegation was set up last Wednesday at the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council.

This evening’s development is a strange development, as it comes only days after Turai Yar’Adua was quoted as saying her husband would be returning home in 10 days. There are no indications as to Yar’Adua’s exact health situation, but it curious that he will be arriving in dead of the night with any official airport ceremony planned which has heightened fears that he might returning as a “packaged” person. There is not any indication whether the National Assembly, which is dominated by the People’s Democratic Party, would be insisting on his being checked out by doctors before he can seek to take back power.

Goodluck Jonathan became Acting President two weeks ago. Saharareporters sources said Jonathan was informed about Yar’adua’s impending return only a few hours ago.

The six Nigerian ministers selected last Wednesday by the cabinet to visit Umaru Yar'Adua in a Saudi hospital were last night unable to leave Abuja following the denial of landing rights to them by the Saudi aviation authorities who reportedly questioned the health of the ministerial jet in which they were heading to the country. Saharareporters sources also revealed that the Director of the Presidential Fleet, Captain Shehu Iyal, who is also a core loyalist to Yar'Adua, had deliberately failed to file the necessary papers for the aircraft until it was too late. Since, Jonathan was made **Acting President, Captain Iyal has refused to recall the presidential jet in Jeddah, claiming that he does not recognize Jonathan as "President". The crew of the Presidential jet is equally stranded in Jeddah as the Chief Security Officer to Yar'Adua, Yusuf Tilde, reportedly seized their passports on the orders of Mrs. Yar'Adua.

Our sources revealed that the delegation had become suspicious when earlier today the Nigerian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Abdullah Aminchi called some members of the delegation and told them the "first lady was eagerly awaiting" their arrival in Jeddah. It turned out to be a lie as the delegation could not get landing clearance a few minutes before take off.

Saharareporters had exclusively reported that Hajia Turai Yar'Adua, the ambitious wife of the sick "President" who leads a combative pack of Abuja-based Yar'Adua loyalists, last week threatened the ministerial delegation not to come near Jeddah.

Since the team set up at the last meeting of the Federal Executive Council meeting, Yar'Adua's loyalists have embarked on a new campaign to frustrate the team from visiting Jeddah to ascertain for themselves the health status of Yar'Adua, who has not been seen in public since he was evacuated from Nigeria in November 2009.

The so-called "kitchen cabinet" had met and decided that everything be done to oppose the visit. They seemed to have had a favourable breakthrough after they alleged to the Saudi authorities that the ministers were only visiting to remove Yar'Adua, a Muslim, from power, while his deputy, a Christian, would take over.

In the last couple of days, Mrs. Yar'Adua has also reached out to Northern lawmakers to oppose the trip and succeeded in turning the issue into a regional issue. Last week a group of 199 lawmakers from the North met and declared publicly that they would oppose the removal of Yar'Adua regardless of the findings of the Federal Executive Council delegation.

Mrs. Yar'Adua has also reached out to several northern foot soldiers, promising them that her husband was homebound in 10 days and that they should all resist any attempt to visit him in the Saudi hospital. But a family source told Saharareporters that Yar'Adua is damaged beyond restoration but they are determined to bring him home in dignity so that he can leave power honorably and "go to sleep" afterwards.

Saharareporters spoke to a member of the delegation, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ojo Maduekwe, who answered his phone in Abuja at about 12 midnight Nigerian time. Ojo refused to answer any questions, claiming a Saharareporters reporter "insulted" him at the United Nations recently at his press conference.

It is not clear if the team plans to appeal to the Saudi authorities again tomorrow. The team ought to have taken off at 6:00p.m. from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja shortly after former American president, George Bush met with the "Acting President," Goodluck Jonathan.

Written by Saharareporters, New York Sunday, 21 February 2010 21:56

Former EFCC investigator, Danjuma Mohammed, assassinated

A former top investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Danjuma Mohammed, was shot dead today in the Gwarimpa area of Abuja by assassins who invaded his home. Mohammed, a Deputy Superintendent of Police who worked as an investigator with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), was a close associate of the exiled former EFCC Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu.

He was also one of the first casualties of the power play in the EFCC when Mrs. Farida Waziri took over the reigns of the commission three years ago. Along with Ibrahim Magu and several other experienced investigators at the EFCC, Mohammed was sent back to the police by Mrs. Waziri.

But Saharareporters sources said the FIRS found Mohammed to be a valuable tool and had recruited him to engage in investigating and prosecuting tax defaulters. He reportedly met stiff resistance in the department handling the job in the FIRS before he undertook its reorganization.

Mohammed's assassination would be the second against financial crimes investigators. In November 2009, Abubakar Umar, a lawyer and special assistant to Ahmeed Al Mustapha, registrar of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), was found brutally assassinated and burned in his car in Abuja. Abubakar had been trailed by unknown assailants after he left work. He was abducted, shot to death, and set ablaze. His badly burnt body was found near Utako Market in the opposite direction of his residence in Maitama. Before he was killed, Abuabakar had had some disagreements with the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Usman Bayero Nafada, over land ownership.

Police claim they are looking into this case, but such proclamations in past assassinations have amounted to nothing.
The family of late Abuabakar Abba Umar is offering N10m to anyone who provides information leading to the arrest of his killers. Abuabakar Abba Umar until his death was an Assistant Director and the Special Assistant to the registrar general at the Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja. Mr Umar was also a board member of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
He was trailed by trailed by his assailants on 11th November 2009 who shot him and burnt him in his Toyota Camry car. An autopsy carried out at the National Hospital Abuja revealed a bullet wound in his skull. Initially, the police believed that it was accident. However, after the autopsy report was released, some suspects were arrested but no breakthrough was made in finding his killers.

The family of the later Umar is offering the N10m in an effort to assist the law enforcement agencies in apprehending his killers. Anyone with useful information should contact the

mobile number: 0706 7868 334 or email abuabba67@yahoo.co.uk

Aondoakaa Begs Akunyili, Says I Was Misquoted

Special Duties Minister, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa has apologized to the Minister for Information and Communications, Dr. Dora Akunyili over a statement credited to him in an interview with a national daily where he asked Akunyili to “… go confront herself with what happened in NAFDAC.”

Akunyili had issued Aondoakaa a seven days ultimatum to clarify the statement or be dragged to court for libel.

But Aondoakaa who was recently demoted from the exalted position of Attorney General and Minister for Justice to Special Duties Minister in a letter dated February 9, 2010 where he addressed Akunyili as “My Dear Sister” he said he was only praising the performance of the Information Minister at the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, where she served as Director General.

According to the embattled former Attorney General, “while much of the quoted words can be rightly ascribed to me, the import of the last sentence to the effect that “let her go confront herself with what happened in NAFDAC”, was meant to be in the positive

“The correct import of the above quoted words is that the Hon. Minister had already earned a reputation for herself while at NAFDAC and needs not seek to do more by embarking on the present course of action to the detriment of a resolution already adopted unanimously by members of the FEC.”

It would be recalled that Aondoakaa had described Akunyili as a self-seeking office holder who wants to make herself a cheap hero.

Aondoakaa said: "Well, first, she did not understand the constitution and she is not following events in the country. I think she was just trying to make herself a cheap hero out of that. If you see what the Senate said, the Senate made an appeal. She does not need the FEC to make an appeal; she can also make her appeal.

"The Senate said it was appealing. You saw the spokesman of the Senate eventually came out and said they have no power to compel the man. Now, there is even a court decision that says that transmission of letter shall be voluntary. It is within the President.

"Bringing the memo to the FEC is just to make herself an angel. She wants to be seen as a populist. Whatever she wants to gain from it is still personal. None of the FEC members has disrespect for the Vice-President. As far as we are concerned, the VP is our leader and he is leading us. What she is trying to do is self-seeking; let her go and confront herself with what happened in NAFDAC.

"We are working as a team and the AGF is there. You cannot just come out as an island and take a decision and try to rock the boat without even consulting your colleagues. Just because the next day the press will bring you out and make you a hero and others as villains.

"But you will discover that out of the ministers, others are working assiduously to make the VP have full presidential powers without talking to anybody. In fact the public does not know that they are the ones working to make the VP assume full powers to carry the country forward. They don’t go to pages of the papers to talk but they are working tirelessly to make sure that this thing works and the country moves forward."

Aondoakaa Sacked, May Be Arrested...

Nigerian Vice President Goodluck Jonathan removed the powerful justice minister on Wednesday in his first major step since assuming executive
powers in the absence of President Umaru Yar'Adua.

Jonathan assumed full presidential powers late on Tuesday to fill a power vacuum left by the ailing 58-year-old leader, who has been in hospital in Saudi Arabia since late November receiving treatment for a heart condition.

Outgoing Justice Minister and Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa had been among the group of ministers who held out most strenuously against formally transferring power to Jonathan during Yar'Adua's absence of more than two months.

"There was a swap in the cabinet. I am now the minister of special duties while the minister of labor takes over from me," Aondoakaa told reporters after a six-hour cabinet meeting.

Former Special Duties Minister Ibrahim Kazaure will replace outgoing Labor Minister Adetokunbo Kayode in the reshuffle.

Aondoakaa had been a key figure in the Yar'Adua-appointed cabinet and was embroiled in a public row with Information Minister Dora Akunyili, who last week tabled a motion that Yar'Adua should formally hand over powers.

"There were those who had relied on him in Yar'Adua's absence as an unofficial prime minister," said Antony Goldman, a Nigeria expert and head of London-based PM Consulting.

"He's still in the cabinet, but clearly the justice minister is a pivotal appointment, particularly at this moment."

Akunyili said the cabinet recognized Jonathan as acting president and pledged to support him but some analysts expect there could be a further reshuffle in the coming days or weeks.

Legal questions remain over how Jonathan announced he was assuming presidential powers in Africa's most populous nation hours after parliament recognized him as acting head of state.

The constitution says the president must write informing parliament of his absence before powers are transferred, but Yar'Adua has written no such letter.

The African Union nonetheless congratulated Nigeria for resolving "a delicate and sensitive political situation within the constitutional and legal provisions available."

Although Jonathan's empowerment means he can sign laws and act as commander-in-chief, alleviating immediate concerns about paralysis in government, political uncertainty is likely to continue as rival factions in the ruling party jockey for position ahead of elections due early next year.

"We view yesterday's decision as only a near-term solution to the brewing constitutional crisis," Standard & Poor's said, maintaining its B+/Stable/B foreign and local currency ratings on the country.

If he achieves nothing else, investors hope Jonathan can maintain relative stability in the Niger Delta, the restive heartland of the OPEC member's mainstay oil industry. He is the first Niger Deltan to be at the helm of the country.

Yar'Adua last year spearheaded the most comprehensive effort yet to end the unrest, an amnesty which saw thousands of gunmen lay down weapons in return for clemency and the promise of jobs.

His absence has slowed the program's implementation and Jonathan pledged to make the region a priority.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the main group behind years of attacks on oil facilities, said in an email to Reuters it was monitoring developments but declined to say whether it would reinstate a ceasefire.

The militant group last month called off a 3-month truce and threatened to unleash an "all-out onslaught" against Africa's biggest oil and gas industry.

The Joint Revolutionary Council, a coalition of ex-militants and community leaders, said Jonathan's takeover was illegal and warned of further unrest, although its ability to carry out attacks is unclear.

Akinaka Richard, a Niger Delta activist who sits on a government committee responsible for implementing the amnesty, said Yar'Adua's absence had meant there had been no agreement on the budget for part of the program, causing it to stall.

But he said his committee was due to meet with Jonathan within the week to agree the budget framework.

Senate declares Jonathan acting President.

The Senate today declared Vice President Goodluck Jonathan acting President, ending the 78-day political logjam over President Umaru Yar'Adua's absence from home.

Senate President David Mark said the resolution became imperative following the President's admission on a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service programme on January 12 that he is ill and receiving treatment in Saudi Arabia.

Mark said the resolution was politically expedient to resolve the political crisis engendered by Yar'Adua's absence.

He said the President would resume duty when he returns home and notifies the senate accordingly of his fitness.

The motion to declare Jonathan acting President was unanimously endorsed by the senators.

Terror Watch List: Nigerian lawmaker deported from Amsterdam Schiphol.

A high-ranking Nigerian lawmaker, Tuggar Yusuf Maitama, this week became the first major casualty of Nigeria’s new inclusion by the United States among 14 nations allegedly with terrorist links. Hon. Maitama, who represents Gamawa federal constituency of Bauchi State, is the Chairman of the Committee on Public Procurement in the House of Representatives. Mr. Maitama was traveling to New York on a KLM flight on Monday when the US Immigrations and Customs agents in Amsterdam pulled him aside and told him that he could not fly to the United States, having been found to have “terrorist tendencies”. His visa was immediately revoked and the lawmaker was deported to Nigeria. But Saharareporters quick search through US no-fly list and terrorism-related databases did not yield Maitama’s name.

It is not yet known if Maitama was coming to New York as part of an official delegation sent by the crumbling Yar’Adua regime to meet with UK and US officials over the inclusion of Nigeria in the terror watch list. The group, which includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ojo Maduekwe; the Senate Chairman on Foreign Relations, Jubril Aminu; his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Umar Bature, as well as the chairperson of the EFCC, Farida Waziri, made a stop-over in London yesterday, and is expected to arrive in New York later today. They are to be lodged at the Millennium UN Plaza Hotel New York.

That means it will be an interesting visit, as they will be welcomed tomorrow morning by Nigerian protesters who are getting ready for a Save Nigeria Group "Enough Is Enough" rally at Nigeria House on the other side of the same block.

The cumbersome delegation is unlikely to meet with much success in the US. The US state department has already dispatched to Nigeria a delegation, led by US Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Africa, Johnnie Carson. It is expected to leave for a crucial three-day trip to meet with Goodluck Jonathan.

Mrs. Waziri's inclusion in the delegation is a surprise. Owing to the poor work of the EFCC, she is highly unpopular with the US government, and the EFCC was singled out for criticism last year when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Nigeria. In addition, Mrs. Waziri's first visit to the US a few months ago ended with her being heckled and chased out of an official function in New York by Nigerian demonstrators. That encounter could be repeated tomorrow.
http://www.saharareporters.com/real-news/sr-headlines/4898-terror-watch-list-nigerian-lawmaker-deported-from-amsterdam-schiphol.html