Yar'Adua's Death: How Goodluck Jonathan became Nigeria's President in 2010

Goodluck Jonathan, as the Vice President of Nigeria, was supposed to act as President and discharge the duties of the office as Acting President whenever his boss, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, was not around in reference to Section 145 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution. Unfortunately, the President who had been battling with diverse life-threatening diseases "failed" to transmit a letter to the National Assembly under the afore-quoted section of the constitution which states that: “Whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on a vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary such functions shall be discharged by the Vice-President as Acting President.” Jonathan’s lawyers and advisers argued that until the President transmits a letter, he had no power to act as President. Thus, according to them, any actions he carried out as Vice President that was required by the President, such as the signing of the budget and swearing-in of the Chief Justice of the Federation, would amount to usurpation of power which is impeachable under Section 143 (11) of the constitution. To be fair to President Yar’Adua, he did write a letter to be transmitted to the National Assembly through the Attorney General of the Federation, Michael Kaase Aondoakaa. Unfortunately, the latter who was part of a kitchen cabinet or a faceless cabal failed to transmit the letter to the National Assembly. They felt the power of the President is too immense to relinquish just like that. Besides, to hand over power to a “minority” (in this case, Goodluck Jonathan) was a risk too high for them to take. Earlier in the tenure, Jonathan had been sidelined from the scheme of things as Vice President but the President’s advisers kept stressing on “One Presidency”. However, Yar’Adua’s ailment served as a distraction to him and the cabal “had their way”. #HistoryVille #UmaruMusaYarAdua #GoodluckJonathan Support us on Patreon:   / thehistoryville   Subscribe to HistoryVille: https://www.youtube.com/HistoryVille?... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow us on Social Media: Facebook:   / thehistoryville   Instagram:   / historyville   Twitter:   / historyville   LinkedIn:   / historyville   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For interesting historical articles visit: https://www.thehistoryville.com Video Credits:    • Goodluck Jonathan Visits Washington  , mixkit.co, videvo.net TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Intro 02:17 Yar’Adua’s Illness 03:54 Jonathan's Confusion 05:00 Two Nigerian Chief Justices in One Day 05:57 Yar’Adua’s Cabinet Divided 06:46 The Doctrine of Necessity 08:22 Acting President Goodluck Jonathan 09:07 When the Cat's Asleep... 11:46 Yar’Adua’s Death 12:54 Next Video