The Federal Government should declare the true health status of President Umaru Yar�adua as demanded by the public because it is a national issue, former Head of State retired General Muhammadu Buhari has said.
Yar�adua reportedly underwent medical checkup in Saudi Arabia while he was there for lesser pilgrimage. His stay for over two weeks in the Holy Land fuelled speculations that the president was very ill. Though the government denied the speculations, there have been calls on the president to state the true condition of his health.
Buhari, who was the presidential candidate of the All Nigeria People�s Party (ANPP) in last year�s election, said yesterday in Kaduna after he paid a courtesy visit to the Kaduna-based weekly newspaper, The Liberator, that the public has the right to know the true state of the president�s health.
He said he too has been reading about the state of the president�s health in the media but like most Nigerians, he does not know the nature of the ailment.
Buhari also took a swipe on his party and its leadership, describing them as dishonest, materialistic and lacking in principle and patriotism in tackling the affairs of ANPP.
He said shortly after the 2007 presidential election, he decided not to seek legal redress but the ANPP�s leadership insisted that he must go to court. But sensing that the party was not sincere, Buhari also said, he decided to raise a parallel legal team.
He said later events vindicated him. “When the case was going on in the Court of Appeal they decided to withdraw their own case. If we had raised a single legal team, I would have no stand constitutionally to be in court.”
Buhari said that all the while he suspected he was dealing “with people that lack principle, that are totally materialistic, lack patriotism, and services is not in their vocabularies.”
He declined comments on his on-going legal tussle against the election. “Whatever has been happening between 28th of June last year when I issued a written statement to the press to now and up to the Supreme Court�s judgement, there will be no further comment.”
He also called on his supporters to be patient until after the verdict by the Supreme Court after which he will decide on the way forward.
“We are thinking very hard of all the happenings between the end of the election up to the end of the Supreme Court�s judgement, then we will have a stakeholders brainstorming session and then we will come out with a position,” he said.
Earlier, the editorial consultant of the newspaper, Muhammad Suleiman Tola, said The Liberator was established to promote good governance based on fairness, justice and equity.
“We want to reassure you that our team cherishes these ideals, and pledge to die promoting and defending them, no matter the odds, until positive and progressive development is entrenched in our dear country,” Tola said.