Nigeria: Points We Must Ponder

15 March 2007
opinion

The health of Nigerian leaders became a major issue of political discourse over the last one week. First was the rumoured collapse of the governor of Katsina State and presidential candidate of the ruling PDP, Alhaji Umar Yar'Adua. The story broke late on Tuesday night and by Wednesday afternoon, all manners of speculation, permutations and prognosis had taken over Nigeria. Happily, the worst that many people feared did not take place. So like a tired donkey, overburdened by a peasant's farm products, the political process trudged on.

Just as we were settling down to digesting the implications of the ill-health of leaders, early this week, the media reported that Vice President Atiku Abubakar had been flown out of the country to the United Kingdom for medical attention, after he tore a ligament in the gym. Atiku's media consultant, Garba Shehu, was quoted by DAILY TRUST of Monday, March 12, 2007, as saying that "Atiku was taken to the State House Clinic but could not be attended to for lack of equipment". He was further quoted to have said that "the vice president therefore has to travel abroad for a THIRTY MINUTES surgery (emphasis mine)".

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