8 February 2010
editorial
Nigeria's President Umar Musa Yar'Adua should not wait until he is forced out. After all, he has been out of the country for almost four months, reportedly in a Saudi hospital receiving treatment for a critical heart condition.
This enforced absence has given rise to frustration among admirers and foes alike, and given rise to tensions over his succession.
There are important reasons why President Yar'Adua should not hang on to power any more. First, Nigeria, for all its internal problems, is a political and economic power-house.
With its oil-wealth, a population of 150 million, highly-enterprising human capital, Nigeria is a natural leader in Black Africa.
The country has had its share of problems raging from coups and counter-coups, disillusion due to unequal distribution of oil wealth, a raging insurrection in the Delta region, religious pogroms and even a full-fledged civil war in which millions died.
But it has time and again risen from the ashes, and now the prolonged illness of its leader threatens to unravel all the gains made. There must be reasons why Mr Yar'Adua wants to hang on, but surely, even he must know that he may never be healthy enough to rule his country again.
If he wants to ensure the right man takes power after him, then he is making a mistake which may turn out to be very costly for his country.
The President should hand over power to his deputy who will rule until elections are held. All he is doing right now is fomenting a leadership struggle that might end up harming his country.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2010 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Over the past couple of months, enough had been said and written about the unwillingness of President Usman Yar'Adua to hand over power in a civilized and acceptable manner, but it all fell on deaf hear. In the context of western civilisation, and the replica of the U.S. democracy that we profess of practising in Nigeria, this is a clear mockery of what actually democracy is all about. We now have what could be regarded as autocracy- Yar'Adua version. The dimension he added to it, is very fascinating to students of political science, and the unprecedented attention, Nigerians and the entire World have given to this imbrogrilo, leaves little to be desired, and if as the events are unfolding right now, detrimental as they seem, posterity will not forgive its actors, and those who perpetrate these unpleasantness. On the flip side, the foreign investors are equally watching this scenario. In the context of governance, no rule of law is adhered to anymore than the orchestrated dictatorial misgivings, that breeds mistrusts, shame and recklessness to a nation that is multi-ethnic, culturally-diversed like Nigeria, as we try to exprience and experiment Yar'Aduanism, typically of other isms, we have seen in history. People need to remember nothing lasts forever. Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria... Eben Dairo Ph.D