President Yar

President Yar-Adua and Short Memories of Nigerians

Ralph Zaiyol Karl

As the debate over the Yar-Adua hospitalization in a Saudi hospital rages, political opportunists have totally misplaced the concerns of Nigerians and the impacts of his absence on the society. While there are practically no foreseeable impacts of his absence on the society, there is a legitimate concern to Nigerians. But this concern is not about constitutional crisis as has been mischievously speculated by pundits, political predators, and a myriad of corrupt politicians seeking headlines; rather, the concern to many Nigerians is the attitudes of Nigerian leaders towards health care system in Nigeria. Our self-acclaimed leaders rely wholly on medical services available in other countries for their personal health care needs while ignoring the health care needs of the very taxpayers whose money they squander in overseas hospitals and hotels.

Yar-Adua, as one who came to office with multiple health problems, was expected to dramatically improve health care system in the country, so that all Nigerians may take advantage of his personal situation and have access to world-class health care facilities and services right at home; instead he opted, first, to patronize Germany hospitals, and then, Saudi hospitals. One might ask: is there no land in Nigeria for Nigerian leaders to build world-class hospitals right on Nigeria soil? And given world-class facilities, are there no qualified Nigerian medical doctors and nurses to provide the same quality of health services our corrupt politicians receive overseas? Given that Yar-Adua was a governor for eight years and did not build a single standard hospital in his home state to take care of his personal health care needs, and now, president of Nigeria for two years, and still has not built or even considered building a standard hospital in Nigeria to render services specifically to people with his kind of ailment(s), is not just disappointing, it is a testament to the quality of leaders we have in Nigeria.

Both the Saudis and the Jordanians ended-up with specialist hospitals in their countries because their Kings became tired of been flown to other countries for medical services so they decided to build world-class hospitals in their own countries. Both King Husain of Jordan and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia were routinely flown to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in the United States for medical services, but before they passed away, they ordered that, Mayo Clinic with all services provided thereto, be duplicated in their countries to serve their citizens. If King Fahd did not build specialist hospitals in Saudi Arabia, where would the Nigerian president be receiving his medical treatment right now?

Before she passed on, Babangida’s wife was said to have received treatment for her ovarian cancer at a Los Angeles hospital in the United States, and Obasanjo’s wife, we are told, died in the process of surgically reconstructing her highly overfed body in a European clinic. Both men have ruled Nigeria for eight and eleven years respectively, yet they were too selfish and too busy looting public treasury, so had no time to build or upgrade hospitals in Nigeria to world-class standard. Rather than become tired of being flown overseas for medical services as was the case with the Arab Kings, the so-called Nigerian leaders whom by every known definition of a thief, are thieves, seize on the overseas medical check-up opportunity to deposit stolen wealth in their overseas accounts.

To those pontificating that the absence of President Yar-Adua from office or his ill-health constitutes some kind of constitutional crisis or crises, I ask: where were they four years ago? I call them hypocrites. Are constitutional crises arising because Yar-Adua is sick or are they arising because he is out of the country? While the constitution talks about presidential incapacitation, it does not say, the president shall not be sick. And if the argument is about the president’s being out of the country for 44 days as of today, then where were these later day constitutional experts in 2004 when Mr. Obasanjo spent 189 days overseas? There was no single comment neither from the legal experts nor political activists regarding constitutional crises Obasanjo’s absences from the country were creating, and the national assembly was equally mute over the acerbic travel habits of the president. Are we no longer operating under the same 1999 constitution as was the case in 2004? If so, what is the reason for the hullabaloo surrounding hospitalization of President Yar-Adua in a Saudi hospital?

Attempts have been made by some ignorant politicians to fool Nigerians into believing that, the 1999 constitution has somehow empowered the national assembly to remove the president from office given his ill-health situation. These people have variously cited sections 145 and 146 of the 1999 constitution to buttress their arguments. But the fact of the matter remains that, it is only section 144 that stipulates grounds and procedures for the removal of a president under incapacitation clause. But the section can only be invoked by a two-third resolution of members of the executive council declaring the president incapacitated. This first step in removing the president can only be taken by the executive council, not the house of representatives, the senate, nor the courts. Is there any normal person out there that expects any minister who was appointed by President Yar-Adua to turn around and contend that Yar-Adua is incapable of discharging functions of his office as stipulated under Section 144 (1) (a)?

The second step in removing a president under incapacitation clause requires the senate president to set up a medical panel to certify the declaration by the executive council that the president is incapacitated. Note that, the Saudi doctors who are currently treating the president cannot substitute for this medical panel as pundits would want you to believe. All of the arguments being advanced in favor of removing the president from office are centered on sporadic speculations emanating from his Saudi doctors who are not recognized by the Nigerian constitution. Even among Nigerian doctors, they must be distinguished professionals with specializations in the specific ailment(s) debilitating the president before they would qualify to be on the medical panel to certify that the president is incapacitated. As long as the executive council does not see any reason(s) to pass a resolution declaring the president incapable of discharging functions of his office, there is nothing the national assembly or the courts can do to remove the president from office. Therefore, the journey to the courts by disgruntled politicians and lawyers to force the removal of the president from office may be borne out of legal ignorance.

Others have argued that Yar-Adua should either officially hand-over to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan or be removed for refusing to hand-over to his deputy. These later day do-gooders are equally synonymous with hypocrites. These are the very people who cheered as Mr. Obasanjo stripped Vice President Atiku of all VP duties and then fired all his advisers in 2005 now citing constitutional authority of the vice president to act as president in the absence of the president. Since when has this been the norm in Nigeria? In 2004 lone, Mr. Obasanjo spent 189 days out of the country, and there was no single day that he officially handed over presidential powers to Mr. Atiku. Why did Nigerian lawyers and pundits not go to courts to force constitutional authority of Mr. Atiku to assume presidential powers in any of those189 days? By refusing to officially hand over presidential powers to Mr. Goodluck Jonathan while in a Saudi hospital, Mr. Yar-Adua is simply following the precedence that was clearly set by his predecessor – the policy that was acceptable and hailed by the crop of social nihilists now inundating Nigerian courts with legal actions against the person of the President. Please, give Mr. President a break!!!