allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Yar'Adua's Embattled Presidency (Page 1 of 2)

Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua would probably never have applied for the job of Chief Executive of a major industrial or commercial conglomerate in Nigeria, even if he had ample idle time on his hands.

He would be aware that if the qualifications of competitive candidates were evaluated on a level playing field, the selection panel would base its choice on certain criteria which would include that intangible quality called drive and evidence of superlative performance of the chosen candidate in similar positions elsewhere.

It is to the credit of Yar'Adua that he quickly recognized his own personality traits and appropriately chose a career in academics and intellectual research.

However, a combination of fate and circumstances particularly with regard to his lineage and kinship with his late brother Musa, a one-time member of a military triumvirate and consummate politician, thrust on him a leadership role which Umaru still appears to be rather uncomfortable with.

Umaru was never formally evaluated by any panel for the position of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, but we are informed that his sense of probity and personal discipline endeared him to former President Obasanjo who also probably felt he owed an obligation to Musa who had not only served as his second in command in his first coming as Head of State, but also shared the scourge of vindictive imprisonment and ultimate death under the infamous despotic regime of the goggled general.

Umaru became the personal choice of Obasanjo and at a macabre event in Abuja emerged the Presidential candidate of the 'largest' political party in Africa by a wide margin.

There are no published records of how many more people in Katsina State where Umoru was Governor for eight years, became beneficiaries of pipe borne water, or how far the health care delivery system penetrated the rural areas, or how many more schools or desks were added to the state educational base or indeed, how many more Katsinans benefited from a housing scheme, or what percentage were rescued from poverty through job creation schemes!

It is, however, reported that the state's capital city received a facelift and Umaru was a rare breed Governor who did not loot the state treasury, but actually left some money in the coffers when he left office. We are told that Katsinans were happy with his stewardship.

It is possible that Umaru may have been encouraged to accept the more turbulent and demanding position of President when it was offered on a platter because of the apparent gratitude of Katsinans in spite of the minimal value that he added to their lives and welfare.

However, after 15 months on the job, President Yar'Adua probably now worries that Obasanjo may just have presented him with a Greek gift and maybe Umaru should have looked his gift horse in the mouth when it was offered late in 2006.

Nigerians in general are obviously not as accommodating as their countrymen in Katsina. They demand jobs, increased power supply, improved and extensive educational and health facilities for their families, lower petrol prices, more available and cheaper food supplies, better roads, etc, etc.

After years of oppression and deprivation, Nigerians want all these benefits and don't care if Yar'Adua inherited these failings or not; after all, he agreed to be President in the full knowledge of the Herculean task ahead, even if he did not win the election.

Unfortunately for President Yar'Adua, no INEC nor any other government sponsored agency can conjure up paper success in the critical areas of deprivations; most Nigerians, who live on less than $1 a day do not even have the luxury of shoes to know where it pinches!

If Yar'Adua expected his role as President to be a bed of roses, accolades and honour, he must now have second thoughts as he appears to stumble from day to day, from one major problem to the other without viable solutions or progress in sight.

An extensive competitive campaign in State primaries such as currently witnessed in the US presidential race, would have acquainted Umoru with the thorny road ahead as president and also helped Nigerians to gauge the capabilities, potential strategies and inner strength of each candidate.

In retrospect, it is unlikely that Umaru's health which apparently requires constant professional management would have sustained the whistle stop rigours of the campaign trail and it would have been inexplicable if a surrogate became the arrowhead of a Presidential hopeful. In this event, Umaru would have taken a sensible decision to subsume his ambitions to be President (if it was not imposed) and gracefully bowed out of the race and quietly retired to his farm or classrooms where his natural demeanour and inclinations find a better fit!

But no, Umaru instead became a victim of incongruent ambition to be President of Nigeria, in spite of the heavy collateral burden on his integrity, capabilities and health.

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