Eric Patrick
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has revealed that a top presidential aide blocked the submission of a letter from the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to the National Assembly during the height of the constitutional crisis triggered by Yar’Adua’s prolonged illness.
In a recent interview, Jonathan reflected on the uncertainty that engulfed the country at the time, noting that Nigeria’s fragile balance of power between North and South, as well as Muslims and Christians was severely tested when Yar’Adua, a Northern Muslim, fell seriously ill while in office. Yar’Adua had taken over from former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Southern Christian.
Jonathan said Yar’Adua had indeed drafted a letter to the National Assembly to initiate a formal transfer of power, but it was never delivered by the aide entrusted with it.
He explained that although he continued to function as vice president—presiding over executive council meetings and approving government memos—he lacked the constitutional authority of the Commander-in-Chief, as there was no official handover.
According to Jonathan, the stalemate prompted the National Assembly to invoke the “doctrine of necessity,” a legal maneuver that ultimately allowed him to assume presidential powers in the absence of a formal transmission of authority from Yar’Adua.
Jonathan said: “There’s always a balancing between North and South, Muslims and Christians. And Yar’Adua was a Northern Muslim, serving as president. He took over from a Southern Christian, Obasanjo, who ruled for eight years.
“Definitely the Northern Muslims wanted Yar’Adua to at least do eight years before power would return to the South, likely to another Christian.
“But his health issues came up and it was a problem. That’s why even allowing me to act as president became an issue.
“One year that Yar’Adua was going for the medical checkup. Actually, a letter was written.
“Of course, the constitution says that for the vice president to act, the president would send a letter to the Senate and the House of Representatives informing them.
“That letter was written, but the person to whom the letter was handed over, I will not mention the name to you now, was one of the aides of Yar’Adua, and refused to submit the letter to the National Assembly. And Yar’Adua became so ill that he had no control over issues.
“So we had a country where the president was not available, and there was no acting president.
“Yes, as a vice president, you can take over some of the responsibilities of the president. You know the president of Nigeria has two main responsibilities.
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“First, you are the chief executive of the country, so like a prime minister of a country. That, the vice president can assume, you don’t need any transfer.
“And I was doing that because we were having an executive council meeting, we were approving memos from ministers, so the government was going on.
“But there was no commander-in-chief. What is the second responsibility of the president of Nigeria, besides being the executive head of the country? And there’s nothing like acting commander-in-chief. Either you’re a commander-in-chief or not.
“But when you become an acting president, you are at the same time a commander-in-chief.
“So that was lacking, and no country allows that gap. A country like America doesn’t allow that gap at all.
“If an American president wants to, even if it’s a whitlow, that he requires an extension, that he will be off for five minutes, he will hand over to the vice president before that procedure.
“Immediately he regains consciousness, he takes over. But we stayed for some time.
“And that led to what they call the doctrine of necessity. When the National Assembly felt that the country was in a situation where it was not expected, they now have to initiate this doctrine of necessity. And they now made me to act as a president without a letter from Yar’Adua.”