Thirty-six governors have unanimously agree to dumping of President Umaru Yar'Adua.

In fact, it was a fait accompli. Right from Jan. 8, following the continued absence of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua from office, some state governors had visited VP Jonathan with a view to working him as acting president.

The governors were said to have agreed on Friday that if President Yar'Adua would not return to the country before the middle of January, the vice president should be allowed to act as president.

Chairman Governors' Forum, Dr. Bukola Saraki responding to questions from State House Correspondents after a crucial meeting by a delegation of the Governors' Forum and the Vice President at the State House, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida

They were said to have said that Yar'Adua's continued absence makes people feel that there is a vacuum, which could be exploited by anti-democracy elements.

And that if they continued to insist that there was no need for an acting president and some people capitalized on this and truncate democracy, all of them would lose out.

The governors therefore wanted Jonathan to be made acting president, pending the return of Yar'Adua.

The governors were also disturbed by the diplomatic row between the United States and Nigeria over the blacklisting of the country because of the attempted bombing of a US aircraft by a Nigerian man.

It was learnt that based on this, the governors paid a solidarity visit on Jonathan, and were to have assured him that they would do everything within their power to ensure that executive power is transferred to him in acting capacity, pending when Yar'Adua returned to work.

To achieve this, the governors were said to have vowed to lobby members of the National Assembly from their states and that each of the governors was to talk to federal lawmakers from their states on the implication of presidential vacuum.

"Soon, the governor would be discretely meeting with members of the National Assembly to press it on them that there is the need to have an acting president. If the meetings go well, soon you would be hearing members of the federal legislature demanding that power be transferred to Jonathan," the source said.

Chairman of the Governors' Forum and Governor of Kwara State, Dr Saraki, who led 20 other governors to a meeting with Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, after they have met said the Forum has scheduled a meeting for next week with the leadership of the National Assembly with a view to passing a resolution that will declare the VP Acting President.