Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua will write to the Senate soon in response to calls for him to hand over to his deputy after an absence of more than two months, a presidential aide said on Thursday.
The 58-year-old leader has not been seen in public since he left on November 23 for Saudi Arabia to be treated for a heart condition. His failure to transfer power has brought Africa's most populous nation to the brink of a constitutional crisis.
The Senate said last week Yar'Adua should formally notify parliament of his absence, a step which would mean Vice President Goodluck Jonathan could take over as acting president.
Former heads of state and lawmakers, the Nigerian Bar Association and the opposition have all made similar calls, some of them through the courts.
Should Yar'Adua inform the Senate that he is temporarily unable to hold office, Jonathan would take over as acting president until such time as he writes again to the contrary.
Aji declined to say when the letter would be sent but promised there would be "no time lag". He said only Yar'Adua's doctors would decide when the president could return to Nigeria.
No comments:
Post a Comment