On July 5, 2009, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua traveled out of Nigeria to Germany for medical treatment.
The Presidency announced late on Saturday that the President was going abroad for “a few weeks” to treat a heart condition. He named Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to oversee government affairs while he was away.
Yar’Adua had earlier received treatment in Saudi Arabia. German doctors were to continue his care.
What followed
The President did not send a formal letter to the National Assembly to transfer power, as Section 145 of the Constitution required.
For months, he remained abroad. Federal Executive Council meetings stopped. Uncertainty grew over who was running the government.
In January 2010, the Federal High Court, through Justice Daniel Abutu, interpreted Section 145 and ruled the President could not be compelled to transmit notice. That ruling “doused the growing tension” and set the legal foundation.
The National Assembly’s move
On Thursday February 9, 2010, the National Assembly passed a resolution to resolve the deadlock.
There was no formal bill, It was a Senate resolution, not an Act. Senate President David Mark led and sponsored the move. Reports said he “galvanized other lawmakers and reached a compromise by adopting the Doctrine of Necessity.”
The resolution empowered Vice President Jonathan as Acting President and Commander-in-Chief.
Mark later insisted the doctrine was “the sole responsibility of the Senate,” despite claims that the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and others had proposed it first.
Medical cost undisclosed
The Presidency never disclosed how much was spent on Yar’Adua’s treatment in Germany. Medical expenses for sitting presidents are covered by the State House Medical budget and are not itemized publicly.
In the 2010 budget proposal, the Presidency allocated N1.05 billion for State House health care, including N386m for equipment and N394m for drugs. The allocation was linked to “new health challenges” facing Yar’Adua. Reports said he spent about 70 days abroad for treatment in Saudi Arabia and Germany in 2009.
The issue fueled criticism of medical tourism. The Nigerian Medical Association now estimates Nigeria loses about $7 billion annually to overseas treatment.
Aftermath
Yar’Adua returned to Nigeria briefly in February 2010. He died on May 5, 2010. Jonathan was then sworn in as substantive President.
The July 2009 trip became one of the major constitutional tests of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. It forced lawmakers to clarify how power should be transferred when a sitting president was incapacitated.
