Former Senate President David Mark has refuted assertions made by former Youth Development and Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi about the Doctrine of Necessity’s origins.
Mark insisted that the Senate, not the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), which is led by former Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki, took the initiative to invoke the Doctrine of Necessity.
He claimed that the theory, which allowed then-Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to take over as Acting President, was solely the result of legislative action.
Speaking during the public release of Abdullahi’s memoir, The Loyalist, on Tuesday in Abuja, Mark—who is currently the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress—emphasized that no person or organization from Kwara State had any influence over the decision.
Contrary to the popular belief that the Doctrine of Necessity came from the National Assembly, Abdullahi has previously asserted that the NGF, under Saraki’s leadership, was the first organization to promote the concept.
On February 10, the Senate used the Doctrine of Necessity to swear in then-Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President after weeks of political unpredictability.
This came after President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had been absent for a long time due to illness since November 23, 2009, without sending a formal proclamation as required by Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution. Jonathan was given all presidential authority by the resolution until Yar’Adua recovered and returned.
According to Abdullahi’s 297-page autobiography, he first heard of the “Doctrine of Necessity” when Saraki called him from Abuja and asked him to write a statement outlining the concept for the National Assembly.
“The Yar’Adua presidency is largely responsible for the tense relationship between Saraki and Jonathan,” Abdullahi said in the book. Saraki had a close personal relationship with the president and was the powerful head of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum at the time.
Conversely, Jonathan was the vice president who lurked in the background and was mostly ignored. Therefore, even though Jonathan was now the nation’s second-most important citizen, it was easy for him to feel that Saraki and his fellow governors, who were having fun with Yar’Adua, despised him as that “deputy governor.”
Through various methods, Yar’Adua was aware of his vice’s discomfort with Saraki and had once urged him to see Jonathan in order to make amends. Saraki complied with the president’s request, but in sessions like this, where there aren’t any pressing problems, decorum usually takes precedence over candor, and everything is usually covered up.
After Yar’Adua passed away, the Jonathan era started. Aside from the lingering hostility, the Jonathan circle believed that Saraki was instrumental in thwarting Jonathan’s formal assumption of office as interim president and assisted Yar’Adua in maintaining his position of authority when he was dying in a Saudi hospital.
In actuality, though, the Doctrine of Necessity was put out by Saraki’s NGF and approved by the National Assembly, opening the door for Jonathan’s official appointment as interim president.
“When Governor Saraki called from Abuja and asked me to draft a statement to propose it to the National Assembly, that’s when I first learned about the term ‘Doctrine of Necessity.'”
In response to the allegations, Mark, the Senate’s then-president, rejected any connection between the doctrine and Kwara State or Saraki.
“The mission to rescue Nigeria is collective,” he declared. He is a direct individual, and I always followed his counsel even when I didn’t agree with him. He is deeply patriotic and devoted to Nigeria. Personal benefits are of interest to the majority of Nigerians. He has done his best and paid his dues.
The Senate alone is in charge of the Doctrine of Necessity, which has nothing to do with Kwara State or its citizens. The senators at the time were solely in charge of it.
