There is a fire being kindled in Nigeria and it must be put out immediately, else, it will spare no one. Nigerians were asked at the last crossover night by Pastor E. A. Adeboye to pray that people in authority would not abuse the constitution. I thought at least these people would have heard the warnings and restrain from going that route or at least not go this fast. From all indications now, it seems our leaders are bent on circumventing the constitution not caring what the consequences will be but I have got news for these people: when the events of today are written in Nigeria’s history, their names will not be forgotten.

When the history is written, it will be said that a Justice – Daniel Abutu of the Federal high court had the opportunity to quench this fire but chose to lecture Nigerians; telling us that since President Yar’Adua did not write a letter informing the National Assembly about his medical trip, then the vice president could not act as president. He could have issued an order of ‘mandamus’ for the Assembly to act but he refused, rather, he simply advised the vice president to perform functions as assigned to him by an ailing president thereby creating more questions than answer. Judge, Nigerians will never forget your name you had the chance to write a good history for this country but you chose otherwise.

The history books will certainly not forget people like the present Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Andoakaa who had the chance at this trying time of his country to stand on the right side of history but chose to stand with his paymaster laying aside his constitutional duty as the nation’s chief law enforcer. His first response was to lie about the letter he wrote to the vice president trying to set the man up, when he would speak again, he compared president Yar’Adua AWOL (Away Without Official Leave) to the vacationing president of the United State of America. He told Nigerians with a bold face that President Yar’Adua ruling from his sick bed was like Barack Obama monitoring the Christmas attempted terror attack from his vacation in Hawaii – funny- he went further to say that, Saudi is only six hours flight from Nigeria whereas Hawaii is about ten hours. Mr. AG, I know that your livelihood depends on your loyalty to the president – at least so you display – but I do not expect it to cloud your sense of the knowledge of the fact Hawaii is a state in the US whereas Jeddah could not be found on Nigerian map, I do not expect you not to know that President Obama was daily speaking to the America public through American media throughout the period under question and all Americans knew the exact date he would return to his duties. When Mr. Obama travels out of the state, apart from the fact that he hands over to his deputy, he goes along with press crew from America. And for your information sir, America president is mandated by their constitution as does ours to handover to his deputy whenever he is attending any function where any eventualities can occur even if the event is in the US and he does respects that aspect of the constitution. Mr. Andoakaa, you have disappointed Nigerians and the history books will not fail to mention your name as a major combustor of this fire.

To the men and women in the nation’s parliament, you have come to government in time as this, rather than work to strengthen Nigeria’s democracy; you have chosen to perpetuate illegalities. Mr. Mark – the senate president- whao, you had the gut to tell Nigerians that the president did not write any letter informing you of his trip, hence you had no power to act on the situation. Let me remind you that Mr. President’s refusal to write the letter in the first place was a violation of the Nation’s constitution which should have been met with appropriate actions from you and other members of the parliament, so the bottom line is that you had the power to repudiate the president for leaving the country in this condition but you chose for reasons best known to you not to be the senate president that pull Nigeria out of the impeding fire. Please let it be known to you that your name and those of others in the Assembly will be remembered.

The Federal Executive Council is charged to act in circumstances such as the present one but you people have chosen to respect your pockets instead of the constitution you all swore to uphold without fear or favour. You chose to keep quiet when Nigeria and Nigerians needed your voices the most. Shame, shame. I am weeping. I take solace in the fact our founding fathers like Chiefs Awolowo, Azikwe and Balewa were not men like you. Can you imagine if these sages had chosen the course you guys are choosing today? Probably our independence would have still been hanging up in the air by now.

Everyone knows that President Yar’Adua is a human being and falling sick is not unique to him. But the question that has not being answered is that why did the president refuse to handover to the vice president? Did he forget that they were on a joint ticket? This action is not only a selfish and immoral but also one that create a sense of disrespect to the person occupying the office of the Vice President. Alhaji Yar’Adua claimed in his inaugural address that he would strife to be a servant leader, but the way he and his handlers have managed this situation – the first that challenge him to live up to his words – has been the exact opposite of what the president promised.

As I attempted to close this article, I read in the news that Chief Kalu claimed that there is no vacuum in the presidency. His reason? Vice President Jonathan is doing everything a president should have been doing, hmm. Chief, I thought you were a democrat, a naturalized citizen of the United state, you are telling us that the Vice President can perform the functions of the Commander-in-Chief without the mantle of the office. Are you kidding me? Don’t you know that you are creating a precedent that will come to hunt this nation? Remember, what goes around, comes around and this words of yours will not be forgotten in the history books.

This is a time for our leaders to come together again to save Nigeria. Chief Obasanjo, please remember you have not succeeded until your successor succeeds. Make this fight your last fight, use whatever is left in you to call all opinion leaders in the country (Chiefs Enahoro, Rimi, e.t.c.) together to save the country from this fire that threatens to consume us all.

Olufemi Nelson Fajolu

fajinelson@yahoo.com

Knoxville, TN. USA.