AT times like these, we can hold unto straws in the  absence of anything more substantial.

Therefore the good news that ailing President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua spoke “countless times” the previous weeks with a least four high ranking government officials deserves more celebrations than the muted admission of this incident.

Mallam Tanimu Yakubu, the President’s Chief Economic Adviser attested to the President’s improving health with the news that he spoke with the President “countless times in the last one week.”

If there were any doubts about the claims, he mentioned the Vice-President, Jonathan Ebele Goodluck, Senate President, David Bonaventure Achelenu Mark and Speaker of the Houses of Representatives, Dimeji Sabiu Bankole among the quartet that conversed with the President.

Nigerians would be glad to hear this. Here was a great improvement on the 49-day absence of the President. However, doubts have doused this high point of presidential engagement with Nigerians.

Of the four parties to the conversations, only Yakubu went public with the event. What could account for this? Did the President tell the others not to mention the conversations? Were the others unconvinced that they spoke to the President?

Was Yakubu telling the public about this incident to show the ingratitude of the trio who had the privilege of being among the few who have spoken to the President since his departure last November?

Few Nigerians are pleased about the state of affairs. For some to think that the President’s affairs are their personal issues to be treated the way they please is one of the biggest insults being sold to Nigerians. Those who have refused to buy the duplicity about the Constitution and how to run the country during the temporary absence of the President are being treated as if they are unpatriotic.

After skirting through the swearing-in of the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeal, other constitutional challenges are popping up.

Fifteen permanent secretaries that were supposed to have assumed office since last October are awaiting the presidential approval of their briefs, as well as their own swearing-in, which apparently no one but the President can carry out.

In this season of legal exploration, it has been discovered that someone else can perform this task.

Who can approve our military’s defence of the country, if there is an invasion? Who can declare a state of emergency if there is trouble in any state?

Who would take all those executive decisions that the Constitution specifically reserves for the President? If we search deeper, there must be laws that can relieve the President of these burdens.

Have we got to a stage we do not need a President? As we cannibalise the powers of the office, more tasking situations will exert more pressure on the Constitution. Finally, the President needs to speak to Nigerians.