The Secretary General of the apex Igbo Social Cultural Organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nduka Eya , has called for immediate swearing-in of Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as acting president of Nigeria pending the full recovery of president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Chief Eya, who made the call Wednesday while speaking to newsmen on the state of the nation at the Secretariat of Ohanaeze in Enugu, also urged the National Assembly to peruse into the constitution and invoke any section that empowered it to swear in the vice president in the event of incapacitation or long absence of the president.

The Ohanaeze chieftain disclosed that the frail voice of president Umaru Yar’Adua during his interview with BBC was a serious indication that the president was still sick, insisting that the country could no longer continue to exist without a leader.

Using the forum to fault  the recent plenary session of the National Assembly over the long absence of the president, Chief Eya insisted that the lawmakers came into the “show very late despite the sensitive nature of the matter”

He called on the National Assembly to summon President Yar’Adua’s physicians with a view to knowing when their patient would be discharged, adding that “I don’t know why some people are playing politics with the health of the president when  the constitution is very clear. The senate came into the show very late, where have they been since? The Senate intervened very late considering the sensitive nature of the matter”, he insisted.

Continuing, chief Eya further said “I listened to the statement of the president on BBC, his voice was very frail. So how long will the country wait till his doctors discharge him? How long will Nigeria continue to wait without a leader? The man is still ill. The National assembly should as matter of urgency summon Yar’Adua’s doctors to know when he will be discharged . The constitution made it clear that the vice should take over in acting capacity if the president stays outside for long. I don’t know why they are playing politics with this”.

According to him, the constitution made it clear that there should be no vacuum ., by implication, when the president is out, the vice president acts , stressing,  I don’t know why the vice president should not take over or are some political hawks trying to force him to do certain things when he has not been sworn-in,  to pave way for his impeachment?”

 He regretted that the nation was gradually drifting to a turbulent situation over the president’s health, warning that protests and counter protest over long absence of the president was not the best for the country.

On the forthcoming governorship election in Ananmbra State , the Ohanaeze scribe advised the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC,  to conduct a free and fair election, warning that Ohanaeze would  not tolerate imposition of any candidate on the people of the state.