Matters of the moment

I wrote some pieces in the last three weeks expressing my anger and disappointment on those managing the President’s health information, because I always believe that the problem Nigerians have with President Yar’adua is not necessarily that he is ill, but more the fact that his aliment, a first-site testimony, has been kept away and […]

I wrote some pieces in the last three weeks expressing my anger and disappointment on those managing the President’s health information, because I always believe that the problem Nigerians have with President Yar’adua is not necessarily that he is ill, but more the fact that his aliment, a first-site testimony, has been kept away and concealed from the Nigerian people thus raising high level of suspicion and scepticism.

The way the health of the president is being badly managed by people who ordinarily should know the implications of such action is alarming and amazing and mainly responsible for this national outrage and debate on the reality of the situation and the next line of action.

I did write last week that the news of the passing away of the president is almost becoming a routine from the time of campaigns to the last. One thing that seems clearer is that several otherwise very healthy people who either rumoured or were part of that mill have since died and the president is still living.

The national debate that the latest rumour ignited was spearheaded by the Punch newspaper which as usual took a not so intellectual and perhaps unprofessional dimension of provoking a national debate on the basis of emotions, pseudo sentiments or sheer mischief. But as usual, the desired result of that particular reportage has been achieved.

Not even the Punch which is thought to be the widest circulating newspaper in Nigeria and for that matter a successful business outfit whose owners are reported to be posting hundreds of millions of naira as profit at the end of every financial year is always right. I was in the course of the week engaged in discussions with some very senior colleagues in the university who not only believed the Punch FALLACY that Vice President Jonathan is under pressure to resign so that Senate President David Mark, who is of Northern Nigerian extraction, could take over to pave way for another election within three months, but in addition went further to argue that the insistence is from Hausa people who are not prepared to make do with a Jonathan presidency.

I had a field day because I was able to prove to my colleagues that indeed one of the tragedies of our nation is that our citadels of learning are havens of several doctors and professors of ignorance who can’t read beyond the surface of such an obvious slander by the Punch newspaper.

The intention was to provoke unnecessary debate in order to know what the thinking of those from the North may be in the event that President Yar’adua is unable to continue as president of Nigeria. I thought education means liberation. The rules are very clear and yet some Nigerians as usual would prefer to go extra mischievous just to achieve certain selfish motifs.

The debate that ensued has at least exposed several weaknesses and strengths of Nigerians. While the North was quick to deny that callous story, another group of Nigerians from all the divides was quick to ask the president to resign for reasons bordering on incapacitation. There have been a lot of denials by those who were purported to have made the call before the outrage by the Governors’ Forum and some selected interest groups across the country.

I hope that call wasn’t a mere imagination of certain groups who find a ready tool to vent their anger on the ailing president. This seems to be the view in some quarters but I for one do not think so. I want to believe the rebuttals from some of these distinguished citizens and equally believe that quite a lot of others mentioned as part of that list might just swallow the allegation without necessarily going to the press to refute it.

The position of the Federal Executive Council taken at its meeting on Wednesday in my view was unnecessary and merely an attempt to reduce the integrity of that very exalted body. I do not expect the Council to come out with any view contrary to that, but the best thing to have done was to keep quiet or otherwise tell the nation graphically what the situation of the president is.

Those who have been pretending over the health status of the president must learn some lessons from the tremendous sympathy by way of prayer, goodwill and sober reflection that Nigerians have expressed since the announcement that the president was proceeding on a medical trip to Saudi Arabia. Did this goodwill not contradict their rural mentality of thinking that cover-up should do the work better?

What the government must do is to ensure that the actual state of the president’s health is not a secret to every Nigerian. We, just like his immediate family, have equal rights to know the true position of what the president is in. The problem that the government is facing today is unfortunately of its own creation.

Henceforth, we must be updated over how the president is faring possibly on an hourly basis if the prayers and sympathy that are required are to flow and if this very dangerous rumour that has since taken over the national political landscape is to be addressed. The world is too dynamic for any prank-playing state official, and the more information flows, the more rumour mills are closed down.

It’s agreed as the FEC announced after its Wednesday meeting last week that the president is not incapacitated and is thus fit to discharge his responsibilities. This is my prayer for the president every minute and for the nation. But how many of these ministers had the actual knowledge of what they were taking resolution on?

The Chairman of the Governors’ Forum and the governors of Bauchi and even Katsina states have seen the president in hospital and reported that he is responding to treatment. This again is our prayer, but the pronouncement is insufficient to possibly reduce the tension than if a daily situation report by the president’s personal physicians is made. Nigerians will feel important and cared for, because they would have been taken into confidence on the health of their president.

While agreeing with the moderation and sober reflection thesis on the health of the president and the nation, it’s equally important to realise that even those who were said to have called for his resignation were only exercising their political freedom to ask those who in their opinion are unfit to represent the people. It mustn’t be unnecessarily celebrated.

This has been one of the major national crises that Nigeria has had to face over time — insincerity. People must be allowed to freely express their views, especially if those views affect those who take decisions on their behalf.

I share the view that there is a constitution in Nigeria that is in operation, but so many other things done are outside the realm of the constitution. Those who are of the view that in the event that the president is unable to continue in office, new elections should be conducted to replace him with another person from the North, are not for that matter out of focus.

They are right because the rotation principle of their party, the PDP though presented as a convenience, is a contravention of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. So, which constitutionality are we talking about? The confusion is enormous. Nigerians should pray that the president gets back to work as soon as possible, so that the impending muscle-flexing can be averted in the interest of the nation and its fragile peace.

My prayer again for the week is: get well soon, Mr President.