Monday, December 14, 2009

Plot to impeach David Mark unfolds

INDICATIONS have emerged in Abuja that some forces are pushing for the impeachment of the Senate President, David Mark, as fallout of the prolonged stay abroad of President Umaru Yar’Adua, who is receiving treatment in Saudi Arabia.

It was learnt in Abuja that some forces who were constantly strategising on the likely fallout of the president’s sickness had been tinkering with options, including the bid to get the Senate President out of the way.

A source told the Nigerian Tribune that the forces, including a top leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and two Northern governors, had been strategising on the likely political scenario in the event that President Yar’Adua could not continue in office as a result of his illness.

It was also gathered that the group, after a series of meetings in Abuja and a North-Central state, decided that Senator Mark could be a stumbling block to their machinations and that he should be cut down.

The source further said that Mark was seen as an experienced politician who could not be manipulated and that the group believed that the Senate President had his own agenda on all national issues.

It was further gathered that the group believed that in the event that Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan takes over from his boss as a result of the President’s medical condition, a combination of Jonathan and the Senate president could be difficult to contain as number one and number three.

According to sources, the duo are seen as loyalists of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and that the former president could have a way of influencing them if they were allowed to hold the executive and legislative positions.

The group is also said to be scared that those silently pushing for Jonathan’s resignation could have their way and ensure the emergence of Mark as acting President.

“They feared that Mark may be difficult to control if that happens and as the head of the National Assembly, there could be a conspiracy of the lawmakers to extend his tenure,” a source said on Thursday.

But one of the governors, who is said to be strategising to take over from President Yar’Adua in 2011, is said to be supporting the plot, on the notion that Mark’s continued occupation of the number three seat could be injurious to his ambition.

The governor is said to be plotting to ensure that he weeds out as many of his likely contenders as possible out of the way before the 2011 presidential campaigns gets underway.

Although the governor is said to be placing his own agenda on the hope that President Yar’Adua would soon return to the country to continue his term in office, he is said to have been convinced that Yar’Adua would not be able to contest the 2011 elections.

The said governor is said to have adopted a former South-South governor as his running mate for the 2011 election. The choice of the South South governor is also said to have been supported by the top PDP leader, who is said to be quite afraid of the possible emergence of Jonathan as President and even his continuation as Vice-President after 2011.

Said the source: “The PDP leader is afraid that the vice -president could emerge a force to reckon with in the South-South and the entire South if he remains in office beyond 2011 and that is why he has been supporting the subtle attempts to have him replaced even before President Yar’Adua took ill.”

The calculations by the PDP big gun, according to sources, are that his political structure could suffer if Jonathan gains ascendancy and he is said to be supportive of measures that could ensure the emergence of his political son as the nation’s number two in 2011.

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