A Nigerian federal court ruling allowing Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to assume executive presidential powers has sparked more uncertainty over who is in charge of Africa's most populous nation. Judge Daniel Abutu on Wednesday said Jonathan can perform all the executive duties for ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua, who has been in hospital overseas for nearly two months, without an official transfer of powers.
But the judge also said the vice president cannot be the "acting president," provoking widespread confusion over what exactly Jonathan's responsibilities will be while Yar'Adua recovers in hospital in Saudi Arabia. Nigerians are now looking to Jonathan to clear up the uncertainty, but the vice presidency has yet comment on the ruling.
"The judgement of yesterday has not cleared up anything. The country remains rudderless. It has no leadership for now," said Rotimi Akeredolu, the president of the Nigerian Bar Association, which has filed legal action against the government and Yar'Adua for not transferring over powers.
The case is one of four lawsuits over Yar'Adua's absence. Judge Abutu's ruling on Wednesday is likely to undermine the other three, which were adjourned on Thursday to next week. Jonathan has been representing Yar'Adua at cabinet meetings and official functions but executive powers have not been officially given to him, leading to questions over the legality of decisions made by the government in Yar'Adua's absence.
"It is supposed to have been an interpretation (of the constitution), but it appears to have created more confusion," said Mike Ahamba, counsel to the main opposition All Nigeria People's Party.
Under the constitution, Yar'Adua must write a letter to the National Assembly stating that he is transferring over his presidential powers to the vice president. "It is one thing for this court to rule, but another for the vice president to gather up the courage and take over presidential powers," said Reuben Abati, chairman of the editorial board for Nigeria's Guardian newspaper. "The vice president has been very careful not to show he is over-ambitious."
Transferring power from Yar'Adua, a Muslim northerner, to Jonathan, from the predominantly Christian south, would be highly sensitive in a country where rival groups have maintained a careful balance since the return of civilian rule in 1999. Yar'Adua made his first public comment on Tuesday since being hospitalised for a heart condition, saying he was recovering and hoped to return home soon.
"The current president and those who surround him are not willing to transfer the powers of the president to the vice president," said Ayodele Thompson, director for the Lagos-based think tank Initiative for Public Policy Analysis.