Yar’adua: Time to let go?

Despite the challenges he has stoutly and gallantly contended with, despite the fact that he is seen all over the country as personally incorruptible and not given to materialistic inclinations, all indices point to the fact that his absences at critical moments in the country or at other very crucial international engagements, occasioned by his […]

Despite the challenges he has stoutly and gallantly contended with, despite the fact that he is seen all over the country as personally incorruptible and not given to materialistic inclinations, all indices point to the fact that his absences at critical moments in the country or at other very crucial international engagements, occasioned by his ill-health are taking a toll on him and more importantly on the country.

There is no denying the fact that the country has suffered avoidable dislocations, tribulations and fear due mainly to the apprehension which it has had to face. Rumours that have been flying around over the state of his health, his death and the unpalatable implication these rumours have had on the security, democracy and development of the country have all endangered various aspects of our evolution as a nation.

On several occasions, the government has been found wanting on the issue of responding appropriately to douse tension and fear, which have beclouded the country leading to very dangerous insinuations, all in their attempt to cover the truth about the seriousness of the president’s ill-health. That the country is paying dearly in terms of astronomical rise in mindless acts of corruption and graft across board is immaterial to the authorities concerned.

We all know that everyone in authority in the country today is taking advantage of Yar’adua’s absence and the helplessness of Vice President Goodluck Jonathan who has been denied presidential powers to deal with such anti-Nigeria infractions.

Without presidential powers, Jonathan will be without powers to, for example, sack a minister. And the man with such powers is in faraway Saudi Arabia battling with serious ill-health to bother about the fate of the country. Yet, we all know that there is a constitutional leeway for the country to deal with this emergency and move on. Why no one is desirous of applying the provisions of the constitution to save the country from further failure of leadership beats our imagination and comprehension.

There is no doubt anymore that Yar’adua is incapable of running this country, and even if he and his kitchen cabinet members think otherwise, we now have verifiable evidence that the man is incapacitated to run the country without bringing the wheels of governance to a halt. His endless visits to his doctors in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, his failing health as evidenced in his frailness that assaults us on end, his unhealthy carriage and constant coughing on network television, the failed attempts to feign good health and now the confirmation of our worst fear by the Saudi hospital, have convinced us Nigerians that no matter how much we love and want him to cling to his seat, the fact remains that the country can ill-afford tying itself to a seriously sick man who is more likely to compound our problems than solve them.

There are indications already that Nigeria is on auto pilot with every minister or permanent secretary, their hangers-on and their likes helping themselves to our common patrimony in the full knowledge that with Yar’adua out of the way, they are as safe as they come. Madam Waziri and the other man at the ICPC have their hands full; that is, if they are not complicit in the craze to rape a nation that is already down. We have heard that some ministers became ministers by default; some have wars at home to fight; others paid their way through and each of them is eager to amass wealth in order to position himself to fight such local wars in preparation for the 2011 elections.

Section 144 (1) of the constitution of this country which deals with permanent incapacitation of the president or vice president has made room for what to do to ease either of them out. It says inter alia, “the president or vice president shall cease to hold office if, (a) by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all members of the Executive Council of the Federation, it is declared that the president or vice president is incapable of discharging the functions of his office; and (b) the declaration is verified after such medical examination as may be necessary by a medical panel established under subsection (4) of this section in its report to the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives; (2) where the medical panel certifies in the report that in its opinion, the president or vice president is suffering from such infirmity of body or mind as renders him permanently incapable of discharging the functions of his office, a notice thereof signed by the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives shall be published in the official gazette of the government of the federation.

The nocturnal attempts by a group of power-hungry politicians to put their individual and group interests above those of the nation have the potentials to plunge this country in serious chaos, the consequences of which cannot be quantified. The constitution is very clear on this and its provisions must be followed to the letter fairly, timely and consistently.

My position may not ram well with some people, but I am convinced that in the interest of Yar’adua in particular and the nation in general, the president should kindly let go and attend to his failing health while the country moves on to greater heights. I am sure every Nigerian is currently on his knees beseeching God to intervene and give sound health to our president, but we must call a spade by no other name. It is time for Goodluck Jonathan to effectively take over the reins of government.

Ahmed, a public relations consultant, contributed this piece from 114, Kashim Ibrahim Road, Maiduguri.