Nigerians with a banner at the Abuja rally, asking for the whereabout of the President

By Innocent Anaba

Where is our President, that was the dominant question at the mass rally called by some eminent Nigerians in Abuja during the week, to protest the continued absence of President Umaru Yar”Adua from the country.

Today is actually the 53rd  day, our dear President Yar’Adua has been out of the country for medical treatment, leaving the country with no clear leader for close to two months.

While some Nigerians have gone to court to protest the supposedly vacuum created by his absence,  those in the presidency have continued to insist that government is running.  There were rumours of his death while the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, interview with the President, shortly after the rumour, has even raised more questions.

Reacting to the interview on a foreign media, the opposition Action Congress said, “it is unconscionable and an indication of total disregard for Nigerians the fact that their President chose a foreign medium to address them at such a critical time like this. Will the British Prime Minister address his people  through Radio Nigeria or NTA?

“This vestige of colonial mentality,  a streak that is common with African leaders must stop forthwith. It belittles our people and sells us cheaply”,  the party said, recalling that the President also chose a foreign newspaper, Financial Times, to break his silence on his state of health shortly after assuming office.

“Apparently, the BBC interview was intended by President Yar’Adua to address foreigners. Now, the President must speak to his own people, Nigerians, through any of the national broadcast stations, the News Agency of Nigeria or local newspapers. Anything short of that is totally unacceptable,” the party said. The issue many Nigerians have raised with the President’s absence, is his failure to hand over to his Vice and not that he is sick, because as a human being, falling sick is one of the normal things in nature.

Mohammed Fawehimni, Lagos lawyer and son of late legal and human rights icon, on the absence of the President without handing over to his Vice, had said “his (Yar’Adua) absence has left a constitutional vacuum in our polity and there is no doubt that his illness is of such a proportion as to have permanently incapacitated him from steering the ship of this country.

“Section 146(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 provides that: “146(1) The Vice-President shall hold the office of President if the office of President becomes vacant by reason of death or resignation, impeachment, permanent incapacity or the removal of the President from office for any other reason in accordance with section 143 or 144 of this Constitution.

“From the above provision, it is clear that the constitution (our groundnorm) empowers the Vice-President to act as the President and Commander-in-Chief in the absence of the President as stated in the Section as a result of his permanent incapacity. It does not in anyway remove the President from his position but clearly shows us that if the Vice-President is alive, of sound mind and body, he should be able to act in the stead of the President.

“Therefore, the Vice President,  Dr. Goodluck Jonathan by virtue of Section 146 and in the interest of 160 million Nigerians should automatically assume the position of the Acting President until the President and Commander-in-Chief, Alhaji Yar’ Adua returns from Saudi Arabia where he is currently receiving medical treatment to avoid the vacuum currently created in the position and discharge of the President’s duties as provided under the 1999 constitution.

Adding to the question of the whereabout of the President, despite the BBC interview and the failure of the President to hand over to his Vice, former NBA President, Mr Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, in a  letter entitled “Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, Where is Our President?”, addressed to the VP, had asked Jonathan to tell Nigerians the whereabout of the President.

It is interesting to note that even with the said BBC interview, many Nigerians are still in doubt on the true position of things. The questions raised by the BBC broadcast includes why our dear President decided to address Nigerians through a foreign media and his choice of using Haussa language, rather than English, which is heard and understood my majority of Nigerians.

Agbakoba in his letter to the Vice President had said, “the time has come for you (VP) to speak up on the whereabouts of our President, Alhaji Yar’Adua.  As the Vice President of this country, please note that this is not the time for rhetoric or the Presidency’s usual refrain that ‘he will soon return to the country.’ Jonathan, specifically tell Nigerians the whereabouts of President Yar’Adua”.

“What millions of Nigerians want to hear without any ambiguity now is where our President is. I wish to inform you that in every town, village, hamlet, Motor Park and even under the bridge in this country, there is a leader who usually galvanises the people or exercises the leadership role on behalf of the people. We cannot continue like this and you must agree with me that in the President’s absence, the nation has experienced certain difficulties and challenges in which he (the President) is expected to make decisions.

“Please note that it is dangerous and unhealthy for the country to be awash with all sorts of stories about the status of the President’s health. I also wish to let you know that if the Presidency has been informing the country with adequate and up to date information of the President’s health, it is certain that the country will be spared the agony of hearing different versions of his recovery or otherwise.

“The time has come for you to rise up to the occasion and discharge your constitutional functions by telling us exactly the true state of the President’s health and likely date of his return. Please note that if you fail to heed this advice, you will be giving credence to those who claimed that the President is critically indisposed”, he added.

Even though the letter came before the BBC interview, the issues raised by Agbakoba still occupy the minds of majority of Nigerians. “This makes Nigeria look worse than a banana republic, seriously,” said Chidi Odinkalu of the Open Society Initiative in West Africa. Odinkalu said Yar’Adua’s refusal to step down “trifles with the stability of the Gulf of Guinea and the wider West Africa.” “How do we know it was Yar’Adua?  If someone can arrange a telephone call, why has it been difficult to arrange a current picture or video?” asked Odinkalu.

The rally by some eminent Nigerians in Abuja during the week under the aegis of Save Nigeria Group (SNG), to impress it on our national lawmakers to take action on the issues of the absence of our President and his failure to hand over to his Vice, also raised other concerns,  which include “poverty of performance. Thet noted that the inability to conduct a free and fair election only allows the wrong people to lead us, as the country suffers when we are unabled to change leadership fairly.

On poverty of resource, the group said “water, light, road no ‘dey’. The health of our people is imperiled by lack of care of government. Poverty of hope. Education has collapsed at primary, secondary and university levels. Consequently, there can be no national progress. Not one decent public primary school exists in Nigeria not to talk of secondary schools or universities. There is poverty of honor, that our people don’t even know where in the world a supposedly elected President is or how he is”.

On poverty of the mind, the group said we are governed by an oppressive, corrupt and pitiless clique who consume 95% of national resources and are disdainful of us.

According to the group, “we are embarrassed and diminished in the world community by the abnormal passion of one of us who wanted to murder 300 innocent citizens of 17 nations, internet scammers, money launderers, 419ers, bank fraudsters who  desecrate the value of our ancestors and our nation”.

“We kill each other at home in the name of God because of abnormal religious confusion and passion, which should have no place in the house of God with regards to poverty of spirit, while on poverty of commerce, “majority of our citizens have no food to eat, starvation is rife and common, consuming the commoners who own Nigeria.
Meanwhile unemployment of youths dominates the land”.

It noted further that the cities are dirty, disorderly, crowded, unplanned and crime prone. Insecurity has become the order of the day while leaders condone state power for total self-protection.

Nigerians are asking the President to either come back home and properly govern the country or hand over to his Vice, who will act pending when he fully recovers from his ailing health conditions.