One month ahead of a crucial presidential vote, Nigerians are worried over the prospect of electing an ailing candidate who may be unable to perform his official duties.
Fears have risen over the health of Umaru Yar’Adua, the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the April 21 election.
Early this month, Yar’Adua, 55, was flown to Germany for treatment after he collapsed during an arduous countrywide campaign tour.
Many Nigerians wonder why President Olusegun Obasanjo is bent on imposing the little-known Yar’Adua on the party and the nation when he knew that the politician had a kidney ailment.
Yar’Adua told journalists in Lagos on March 12 that he had undergone kidney dialysis in January 2001 but has since been cured of his ailment.
The governor of the northern Sharia Muslim State of Katsina emerged as the PDP flagbearer last December, beating other high-profile candidates in primaries widely believed to have been tilted in his favour.
Even then there was media speculation that he might not be able to withstand a gruelling campaign or perform effectively if elected as head-of-state because of his health.
Last week he was even rumoured to have died in Germany. He came back on Saturday to address a campaign rally in the southwestern town of Ekiti, but another rally billed for nearby Akure the following day had to be cancelled because he needed rest.
“President Obasanjo and the PDP should relieve Yar’Adua of a burden he never sought and look for another standard-bearer,” respected newspaper columnist Olatunji Dare said.
“If they will not, Yar’Adua should tell those who dragooned him into this enervating race that he is not obliged to sacrifice himself to gratify their fancies,” he said.
Dare also questioned Obasanjo’s motives. “Even with Yar’Adua alive and apparently in good health, Obasanjo has to live with the wicked calumny that he had foisted a gravely ill person on the PDP.”
Bayo Onanuga, editor of The News, an independent magazine, said Nigeria may have to contend with another travelling president if Yar’Adua is voted in.
“It’s very unfair for Obasanjo to want to impose Yar’Adua on us because the man is sick. The implication is that Yar’Adua will always abandon state duties to attend to his ailment overseas,” said Onanuga, a critic of the Nigerian leader’s frequent foreign trips since he took office in 1999.
Opposition politician and human rights lawyer Gani Fawehinmi urged the government to make public Yar’Adua’s actual state of health to determine his elgibility for the vote.
“It is important that Nigerians don’t elect someone who is sick .. because the ailment will distract him from performing in office,” he said.
Dare said Yar’Adua’s health is an issue only because he aspires to lead Nigeria and dismissed the Katsina governor’s recent show of bravado over his health as “wildly implausible.”
The PDP candidate, recently challenged critics to a game of squash.
“If they can play 12 straight sets with me, they are welcome,” he said.
Obasanjo also defended his “political son”, saying he had been “miraculously healed” since 2001. He called those who doubt his word people “who do not wish PDP and Nigeria well”.
Before becoming the PDP candidate, Yar’Adua, a quiet and self-effacing man who sometimes seems ill-at-ease at campaign rallies, had virtually no public image.
He was best known as the younger brother of the late politician, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, a retired general who was Obasanjo’s deputy when the president was military ruler between 1976 and 1979.