Constitutional crisis

Deutsche Welle: President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has been hospitalized in Saudi Arabia since November last year which left Africa's most populous country without a leader for more than two months. Why has it taken so long to replace him?

Deji Idowu: The constitution says, if the president is not available, he should transmit a letter to the National Assembly, empowering the vice-president to act, while he is not around. Unfortunately Yar'Adua did not comply with that section of the constitution.

Why not?

Journalists gathered that he actually broke down in the State House and had to be carried out in emergency. So maybe the circumstances did not give room for that orderly transfer of power. When he got to Saudi Arabia he was held incommunicado with everybody. Nobody in the Nigerian government could reach him. So nobody could even say for sure if there was a letter to the National Assembly, which someone probably was hiding. It could have been a political intrigue among the different ethnic groups of this country. But at the end everybody was fed up. So the National Assembly and the Houses of Assembly in the states as well decided to empower the vice-president at least to act for now, so that the country can move on.

How likely is it that Jonathan has to step down again, because the constitution was not respected?

I don't see that as a possibility. Yar'Adua is from the Northwest, from the Hausa Fulani region, while Jonathan is from Bayelsa State in the South, where we have the Niger Delta problems. The Niger Delta militants insisted that, if anything happened to Jonathan, there would be problems in Nigeria.

What do we know about the president's health?

It was officially announced that he had an inflammation of the outer membrane of the heart. That is the problem he is coping with in Saudi Arabia. But we know that all along he has had kidney problems. The complication is getting to the point that he is having multiple organ failures. Medical experts in Nigeria doubt that he can get active as a president again. The president is very sick, no doubt about that. But we know he's alive. The problem is that the part of the country he comes from will still wants him to hang on to power for selfish reasons, not for the national interest.

What kind of personality is Jonathan as compared to Yar'Adua?

Basically I wouldn't say there is much difference, because they belong to the same party, the People's Democratic Party. Jonathan said that he is continuing from where Yar'Adua stopped. He says he will prioritize power projects and infrastructural developments.

Didn't Yar'Adua make a similar announcement before he was elected in 2007, but little has happened since?

The problem is that, since Yar'Adua took over, he has been struggling with his health. That has slowed him down in taking decisions.

How do the people react to their acting president?

Nobody actually has criticised the reshuffle for now, but many human rights lawyers in the country are saying the National Assembly is wrong not to have followed the constitution. People from North where Yar'Adua comes from, are not particularly happy. But those from the South and the Middle Belt seem to believe that it is proper for Jonathan to act as president.

How did Nigeria's strong military react to the political handover?

That is the most interesting part of the whole scenario. When the situation was rather tense, some people feared a coup, but the military came out and said they had no intention to dabble into the political arena and that the constitution should be followed. So the military is ready to work with whoever is commander in chief and president.

Interview: Patrick Vanhulle
Editor: Michael Knigge