Yar'adua's health: Nigerians must know the truth: by Joe Igbokwe

I have just read the news in the front page covers of our Newspapers where the Attorney General Chief Micheal Aondokaa of the federation was quoted as saying that President Yar'Adua who left Nigeria since November 23 2009 for medical checkup can rule from anywhere. In another paper, The Vanguard precisely he said that it is “Only Yar'Adua can decide if he's fit to govern” According to Aondokaa in the same Vanguard “what most people do not know is that Yar'Adua will come back. He has done it before, when he was Governor he was away for six months and the death wishers did the same thing….he did not only return to continue his job as Governor, but he went on to have a second term”

First, let me tell Aondokaa that we all know that President Yar'Adua is a human being who can be sick like any other person. Let me also tell Aondokaa that no reasonable person will wish our President dead, because he has added values to Nigeria after the disaster called Obasanjo. Nigerians are interested in the health of their President because they know that things can go wrong if a vacuum is created for too long. Nigerians know that once a person becomes the President of Nigeria he ceases to be the property of any family or any State, he becomes the property of Nigeria.

Yes, President Yar'Adua can decide if he is fit to govern but it depends on whether he is conscious or rather stable enough to take such decision. Criminal officials in the Presidency have denied Nigerians the right to know the real state of our President's health and therefore nobody can say what the true situation is. Nobody knows the truth, all we hear is conflicting statements and blatant lies from the pit of hell. Vice President Jonathan Goodluck has not been in charge. We do not know those who have been taking decisions on behalf of the President since November 23 2009. The fear is that the criminal gang, the congenital liars in the presidency would have been looting the nation to stupor. A day is enough for things to go wrong talkless when Nigeria has been without a president for nearly one month now.

Aondokaa told us that when Yar'Adua was the Governor of Katsina State, he was away for six months and nothing happened. Now Katsina is one of the poorest States in Nigeria, a timid and obscure state that is not fit to be a state if we know what we are doing. To try to compare being a governor of a small State like Katsina with that of being the President of Nigeria is reduce the argument to a ridiculous level. It is apple and orange comparison, a tale for children under two years old. An argument that is too meaningless to be credited to anybody that is privileged to be an Attorney General of any nation. It is absurd. It is foolish. It does not add up. It is kindergarten and at best useless. Aondakaa statement shows at once the kind of people running the affairs of the country in Abuja, and it is unfortunate.

I insist once again that Nigeria is not a banana republic. A president of 150 million is not the same thing as being a governor of 3 million people. I repeat once again that a minute is too precious to sacrifice in this country as things stand now. To allow Nigeria to be without a President for close to one month now is to create room for a big problem. We are busy creating a space for constitutional crisis, we are gradually inviting trouble. Those who are busy creating this problem and playing politics with Yar'Adua's predicaments should look back to history and learn very fast. Only truth and nothing but truth will set Nigeria free. Our leaders in Abuja must make the issue of Yar'Adua health and his condition now public. We need to know what is happening.

As things stand now this nation cannot afford to continue with this hide and seek game. This nonsense must stop now, this rigmarole must cease forthwith. Nigeria is in want of a strong and decisive leader now and we need to look into our constitution and apply the rules as a matter of urgency. We have deceived Nigerians enough since November 23 2009 and this cycle of stupidity must end now. Nigerians deserve to know who has been in charge since Yar'Adua left office for medical checkup. Nigerians deserve to know now the exact state of the President's health crisis, and whether he is capable of continuing with the tedious job. Let us stop deceiving the world. Those who have ears let them hear.

Joe Igbokwe
Lagos