The Senate may on Tuesday (tomorrow) pass another resolution on the need for President Umaru Yar’Adua to abide by Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution.

The move, said a competent source in the Senate on Sunday, is viewed as a last ditch effort to stem the constitutional crisis that had arisen due to Yar’Adua’s failure to hand over to Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan 77 days after he travelled to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.

The source spoke with one of our correspondents hours after a group, Concerned Mothers of the Niger Delta, called on the wife of the President, Turai, to prevail on her husband to abide by Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution.

The Section reads: “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 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-Presidents as Acting President.”

The Senate had on January 27, 2010 passed a resolution urging Yar’Adua to transmit a letter to the National Assembly in line with the section of the constitution.

This time, the resolution would adopt a motion paving the way for Jonathan to be sworn in as Acting President.

The action , if taken, would go down in history as the first of its kind in Nigeria.

It was learnt on Sunday that the proposed motion is a part of the outcome of a series of meetings between Senators and governors over the vacuum created by the President’s absence.

Our source said that barring last minute changes, “the Senate will take a motion and adopt a recommendation that will end this stalemate.”

He added, “We in the Senate (I can’t speak for the House of Reps) are looking at the likelihood of adopting a motion to that effect since the President has stated his true state of health in the interview he granted the British Broadcasting Corporation.

“The same which was replayed severally on the network service of the Nigeria Television Authority, and most Nigerians heard him, we can conclude that he is not in a position to transmit a letter to the Senate as required by Section 145 of the constitution, the Senate thus pass a resolution that the Vice- President should be sworn in as Acting President.”

According to him, Senators have become tired of being led by the nose by self-seeking individuals.

The source however expressed fears that the constitutionality of the proposed action could be a source for concern.

He said, “I agree that we are faced with a dire situation, which we are trying to resolve politically. The constitution recognises only two options: One is for the President to transmit a letter to us and the second is for the FEC to comply with Section 144.”

The section stipulates that the President or vice-president shall cease to hold office if found out that he is unable to carry out his official functions.

Neither the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information and Media, Senator Ayogu Eze, nor his counterpart in the Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Aloysius Etuk, could be reached for comments on the proposed resolution.

Only last week, the cracks within the once tight knit Yar’Adua cabinet became visible with key members disagreeing on the state of affairs.

Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili’s memo urging her colleagues to support a peaceful transition of power from Yar’Adua to Jonathan was leaked to the public.

This was followed by a disclaimer by the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Mohammed Abba -Aji, to claims by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, that the President wrote a letter to the National Assembly that he was going on a medical trip.

Meanwhile, a group, CMND, has called on Turai to prevail on Yar ‘Adua to send a letter to the National Assembly empowering Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to act as President.

Turai, it argued , is by her position as the President’s wife seen as one of the custodians of the constitution, adding that she should use her position to guarantee peace in the country.

A statement by the body’s National Coordinator, Chief Christy Odion and Secretary, Mrs Oritsegbugbemi Okorotie said, “ We want to say that we are not too comfortable about the role she has been playing so far since our President has been hospitalised in a Saudi hospital.

“As far as we pray for the quick recovery of the President, we appeal to our First Lady to urge our President to do the right thing and come back as President when he is declared healthy. This she must do for the interest of the country.”