‘Yar’adua recuperating in royal wing of Saudi hospital’ -He’ll return soon – Envoy

“It is impatience that has brought about all the rumours,” the ambassador said in reference to the controversies that have enveloped the nation over the true status of the health of the president. President Yar’adua has been absent for the past forty-four days, prompting speculations that he is incapacitated and unable to perform the duties […]

“It is impatience that has brought about all the rumours,” the ambassador said in reference to the controversies that have enveloped the nation over the true status of the health of the president. President Yar’adua has been absent for the past forty-four days, prompting speculations that he is incapacitated and unable to perform the duties of his office as the constitution demands. Presidency officials have denied such claims and stated that they are in constant communication with the president, something which had given rise to calls from a broad section of Nigerians for visual evidence of the president’s soundness of health.

“It is the doctors who have the authority to say whether he should talk from his hospital bed or not since he is their patient,” said Ambassador Aminci to the BBC.

Yar’adua’s health condition has been shrouded in secrecy right from the onset when he was plucked from virtual obscurity by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to become the candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the April, 2007 presidential elections. Under the new zoning arrangement introduced by the PDP, it was the north’s turn to produce the president after eight years of Obasanjo’s presidency on a southern ticket.

The president’s health has been a source of trepidation to northern power brokers who fear that should he be unable to perform his functions as a result of his poor health, the presidency would automatically shift to his vice-president, Goodluck Jonathan, as the constitution requires. In Nigeria’s highly-charged political environment where regional sentiments run high, this poses a tricky political situation.

President Yar’adua who had already suffered from a kidney ailment for sometime, something which had twice given rise to rumours of his death during the brief tenure of his three years chequered presidency, was flown to a clinic in Jeddah on November 23rd and has been diagnosed with acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the heart that hampers its function.

The rumour mills became active yet again about the purported demise of the president when regular updates about the president’s state of health were not forthcoming from the presidency or members of his cabinet. Yar’adua’s planned return is coming at the heels of protests from the Nigerian Bar Association at the legality of decisions taken by the government in his absence. There has not been any official handover of the reins of government to the vice-president by the president when he was flown out of the country for treatment.

The absence of a formal handover had largely grounded the vice-president even though he still chairs the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting. This has made the opposition more strident in its charge that the president is unfit and should resign.

However, a more portent war with the opposition looms larger over charges that the president’s signature on the 2009 supplementary budget was forged. The opposition are demanding concrete proof that will show that the president personally signed the supplementary budget.

In a way the affairs of government has come to a virtual halt as in the nature of the Nigerian presidential system where so much power is vested on the executive, key decisions have to await the assent of the president himself. More controversially, a new Chief Justice of the Federation was sworn into office by his predecessor when he had attained the compulsory retirement age, a duty usually performed by the president himself. Other official functions still awaiting the president is the swearing in of new permanent secretaries which has been put on halt for sometime now.

A federal high court is now scheduled on Thursday to hear three separate lawsuits brought against the government which accuse the president of breaching the constitution by staying in power despite his long absence. The suits against the president seek to compel him to hand over power to his vice-president.

There seems to be some sort of fear from government officials in acting on behalf of the president in his absence. In the past when the president’s was absent for sometime due to ill-health, he had returned amidst doubts of his eventual return and sacked the then Secretary to the Federal Government, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, unceremoniously.

Government officials are hard put to indicate that they are in constant communication with the president and he has in a way been attending to his official duties as witnessed by his signing of the supplementary budget. Earlier, government officials have returned from visits to the president on his hospital bed claiming he is sound and healthy and communicating well with them. Attempts to get the National Assembly to wade into the crisis occasioned by the president’s health have not been successful as the legislatures have pitched their support with the president. The opposition on the other hand have continued to scoff at assurances that the president is well and are demanding more concrete evidence. His eventual return should lay all the controversies to rest.