Lagos — Sincerely speaking, the people hiding away President Umaru Yar' Adua from the affection and admiration of his fellow party members, friends and his country men and women are simply demeaning his intrinsic personal worth and violating his fundamental human rights. I repeat: the agents of darkness shielding Presidential Yar'Adua from light, under the pretext of protecting him or under any pretext whatsoever, are simply taking advantage of his illness to treat him with contempt. I think this is very unfair. To begin with, the man doesn't deserve all these contemptuous treatments and abuses of his fundamental rights. Here is a President whose ailment grew worse in Nigeria a couple of months ago.

Consequently he was flown to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment. Throughout the man's one month stay in Saudi Arabia he was hidden in one obscure hospital away from his admirers who had thronged the hospital to cheer him up.

If that was understandable because he needed a very serene atmosphere to recuperate very fast, what about the numerous abuses which his presidential incapacity has garnered over the months. Whilst he was in a Saudi Arabia hospital some Nigerian politicians and government officials were using his name to tell many lies. Others equally used his name as political bait or for cheap political blackmail. On many occasions they lied to Nigerians at home that the man was performing his presidential functions from his sick bed in Saudi Arabia . They alleged that he signed the Supplementary budget; that he wrote a letter of resignation; that he spoke to the BBC and that he sent a goodwill message to the Super Eagles and so on and so forth.

Despite the complaint of members of the civil society that the country cannot be in limbo whilst the President was being hidden away in few away Saudi, the people holding the body of Yar'Adua refused to release it. Instead of releasing it, they engaged the members of the civil society in open free-for-all altercation. To cut the long regrettable story short, one dark night, unknown to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, many members of Federal Executive Council and PDP chieftains, the faceless mafia that seized the body of Yar' Adua smuggled it into the country amid secrecy and darkness. The whole thing was strange: as soon as the body of the President touched the airport run-way, the airport light was switched off to make way for darkness. Later President Yar'Adua was whisked away in an ambulance. To date, nobody knows where they have kept him. Until the time of writing, Acting President Jonathan had not been allowed to see the man with whom he had closely worked together before he was flown to Saudi Arabia .

While some speculate that they kept the President in an ambulance, others speculate that they kept him on a life-supporting machine at Aso Rock. The pertinent questions are: do these people hiding Yar'Adua really understand that they are dealing with a human being with intrinsic worth? Do they know that they are maltreating the body of a helpless sick person? I hear that Yar'Adua's married daughters are complaining bitterly about the way the body of their father is being tossed up and down from one place to the other. Why won't the poor ladies complain? Who will not complain seeing his father being used as bait to score cheap political point? Who will not complain seeing his father being used as a mere instrument of power negotiation? Were President Yar'Adua disposed to challenge the people presenting concealing his body under lock, he would have told them: "Please leave me alone. Enough is enough".

Some argue that the hiding away of the President from public view or keeping him away from his friends and admirers is part and parcel of political intrigues in this country. I beg to disagree. It is no politics at all: it is self-seeking human pride, egoism and selfishness that are at work.

It is human nature exploiting an unjust situation for personal benefits. But even if the handlers of Yar'Adua are well-intentioned in concealing him from the public, they cannot deny him access to his political associates, party faithful and acquaintances whose friendly affection and warmth which he badly needs at the moment. Besides a human being is different from an animal. Whereas an animal can be put in a cage, or kept in a pen or a zoo, a human being is kept in a house surrounded by the affections of fellow human beings.

Even dead bodies are treated with reverence and respect. More importantly, a person's self-worth cannot be measured by his physical ability or disability. A person is ontologically worth his/her dignity, the values he/she cherishes and the services he/she renders to his fellow men. President Yar' Adua's ill-health might have greatly impaired his physical look. It might have consigned him on a permanent life-supporting machine. But what is shameful about all that? Why should a sick President be hidden away from his friends? History is replete with so many sick Presidents who were allowed unimpeded access to their people. Their physical health condition was common knowledge.

Visiting the sick is a religious duty of all Muslims. Visiting the sick is one of the ways of expressing love, fraternity and concern for them. A visit to the sick helps the sick to feel better and strengthens them to bear their illness patiently. One of the six obligations which a Muslim has to another Muslim is to visit him when he/she is sick and to his/her funeral when he/she dies (Figh us-Sunnah Vol. 4. No. 3). During the visit, the visitor should sit close to the sick and ask him/her how he/she feels. Besides, Allah's Apostle said: "The one who visits the sick is in fact like one in the fruit garden of Paradise until he returns. (Sahil Muslim. No. 1171).

Why is President Yar'Adua denied this great religious value? Lest we forget, life transcends banal politics. Yar'Adua's visitors are probably not going to discuss Jonathan and handover power with him: they are likely going to express their love and affection for him. The "prayer warriors" among them will probably declare a-three week dry fasting and prayer for his miraculous recovery. The traditional medicine and herbal practitioners might come up with a traditional therapy that will cure the President. Concern for the President expressed in this way elicits hope. On the contrary, shielding the President from the visitors who will show him love and affection spells death and hopelessness.

At the time of writing, some lawyers had gone to court to challenge the continued hiding away of the President from the public. I listened to the argument on telly of frontline lawyer and politician Chief Richard Akinjide SAN that President Yar' Adua is bound by the Constitution to show himself to the Nigerian people. Without commenting on the merit or otherwise of this matter since it is tsill sub judice, I think it is one matter that transcends mere constitutionalism and legalism and zeros down to the human angle. As I said earlier, President Yar' Adua is, first of all, a human being with intrinsic worth and dignity. Therefore he should be treated as such: he should be treated with respect and dignity. A few people intoxicated with power should not seize his body and use it to be playing politics. That belittles the man.

Finally I suggest to the First Lady Hajia Turai Yar' Adua to sit down for a moment and think over this matter philosophically. What is power that a loving wife is prepared to sacrifice religious and family values just to secure it? What is power, power that flickers today for a moment and fades away tomorrow, that someone is prepared to sacrifice perennial values just to grab it?