Leon Usigbe
31 August 2008
Abuja — AS anxiety lingers over President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, the man he defeated in the 2007 general elections, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), wants Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to assume full executive powers so that the nation can move forward in the absence of the ailing number one citizen.
Buhari, the candidate of the All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP, in the 2007 polls, made his position known on the president, who was said to be recuperating in King Fahd Hospital, Saudi Arabia, after successfully undergoing renal transplant surgery, just as many members of the National Assembly declined comments on the president's ill-health on the grounds that they were not aware of the situation.
The only member of the House of Representatives who spoke on the matter, Hon. Leo Ogor, said whereas he was not in the position to confirm Yar'Adua's health condition, there was nothing unusual in the president taking ill as he is a human being.
Uncertainty persisted in the Presidency on the president's health yesterday. Some sources inside the nation's seat of power said Yar'Adua's situation was stable and that he was esponding to treatment after the surgery. But many top government officials preferred to keep mum.
According to Buhari's close associate and director-general of the presidential campaign of the ANPP, Alhaji Sule Hamman, who spoke on telephone with Sunday Vanguard, yesterday, in Abuja, while the Buhari camp sympathised with Yar'Adua over his poor health and wished him quick recovery, it was important for the vice president to take over the responsibility of running the country fully in line with the prescription of the constitution.
"Well, I will like to say that we commiserate with the president on the unfortunate condition that he is in and we wish him successful surgery", Hamman stated.
Chiding the Presidency for concealing Yar'Adua's health status, he said, "But, we obviously condemn in unequivocal terms the irresponsible manner in which the Presidency managed the situation by denying the people of Nigeria information and confusing the people with false stories and reports about the health condition of the president. This should not be a political matter. It is irresponsible politics to play with the health of the leader of the country. So, we regard this as unfortunate".
He explained that the Buhari group hoped that the PDP will accept the constitutional provision whereby the vice president of the federation will exercise full responsibility of leadership in the absence of the president. "So, we hope this will be complied with so that in his absence, the vice president will provide full leadership and take full executive responsibility so that the country can move on with the leadership that is constitutionally designated", he said.
Also reacting, Ogor, representing Isoko Federal Constituency of Delta State, told Sunday Vanguard that even though he could not confirm the report, there was nothing unusual in the president taking ill as he was a human being.
According to him, "We are all human beings and we can fall sick at any given time. If the story is true, we should even be happy that the whole thing went well and he is recuperating. What we need to do is to pray for him and to wish him well. Nobody has control over health. It is something that only God controls".
On the initial denial of the Presidency of the poor state of Yar'Adua's health, he noted that the officials probably did not have accurate information at the time they went public with the denial.
"Probably as at then, the person who was giving the information was not abreast of the situation. He had to go back and re-confirm the story but I really don't see any big deal about it because we don't know when the operation took place and we cannot confirm the story. Even as I speak to you now, I really don't know the true position", the lawmaker said.
He added that it would be too early to speculate over the ability of the president to carry out his constitutional functions as such the decision rested squarely with him.
The former chairman of the House Committee on Inter Governmental Affairs went on: "The man has not told anybody that he cannot perform his functions that he is supposed to be performing constitutionally and that responsibility is purely in line with the constitution.
"The responsibility of saying he does not want to run the affairs of the state is left to him. Nobody can speak on that because you cannot say that if somebody goes through an operation and that would be the end of the man, the answer is no. Anybody can face this kind of predicament. People go through operation and even come out stronger.
"The fact remains that, at this moment, what we should be doing as a nation is to pray for the president. From my own position, I have not been able to confirm it but if it is true and the operation is successful, then it calls for jubilation and we should be excited over it. We should pray to God so that he can recover and go back to his job".
Many other members of the House including the chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Rep, Ita Enang, Rep. CID Maduabum (PDP Anambra), Farouk Lawan (PDP Kano), Ahmed Salik (PDP Kano) and Doris Uboh (PDP Delta) declined comments on the president's health on the grounds that they were not aware of the situation.
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