President Umaru Yar‘Adua has spent at least 109 days for medical reasons in foreign hospitals abroad, since May 29, 2007 when he was inaugurated.
The number of days he has spent in Germany and Saudi Arabia on medical grounds is almost a quarter of the number of working days he has spent as president.
Like every other public office holder and civil servant in the country, the President also enjoyed about 295 days of weekends and public holidays during the same period; which means the President could have spent more than 400 days in total out of office.
The public holidays are New Year, Id-el-Maulud, Easter, May Day, Democracy Day, Id-el- Fitr, National Day, Id-el-Kabir, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Workers enjoy 14 days as public holidays yearly on the average.
In 2009 alone, the President spent almost a quarter of the 146 working days away from his office, having been away for 50 days on two medical trips (August, November and December) and having enjoyed 14 days that were observed as public holidays in the country.
Were Yar‘Adua a Senator or House of Representatives member in 2009, he would have been absent from plenary sessions for more than 50 per cent of the 181 sitting days the National Assembly has in a year.
For being away from office for more than 42 days within one calendar year, the President is believed to have contravened Paragraph 070316, chapter seven of the Public Service Rules 2006.
The chapter states: “Where an officer has been absent from duty on the grounds of ill-health for an aggregate period in excess of 42 calendar days within 12 calendar months, the officer should be made to appear before a medical board with a view to being ascertained whether he or she should be invalidated from service.”
According to paragraph 010101, chapter one of the same rules, the conditions are applicable to the President, vice-president, and other public officers who derive their appointment from the constitution.
Yar’Adua has made only a few official foreign trips since he became President.
In comparison, former United States President George Bush had no record of absence from the White House in Washington DC between May 29, 2007 and January 20, 2009 when he left office.
His successor, Barrack Obama, has also had no cause to be out of office on medical grounds since January 20, 2009 when he was inaugurated as President.
But in terms of travelling outside the US on official duties, Bush and Obama far surpass Yar‘Adua. Their numerous trips to foreign countries on bilateral grounds and for international conferences/summits have not only sustained America’s position as the only surviving super power, but has also strengthened its economy.
The reverse, however, is the case in Nigeria, where Yar’Adua, as a sitting President, has been reluctant to attend major global events, including the 2009 United Nations General Assembly conference in New York, where he would have interacted with fellow heads of states and governments.
The President had, on April 14, 2008, travelled to Germany for a medical check-up, for 10 days.
About four months after, (August 27, 2008), Yar’Adua embarked on yet another medical trip, this time to Saudi Arabia, where he spent 18 days. Like the previous one, the nature of his illness was not made known to Nigerians, giving room to rumours that it was kidney failure. He returned on September 6, 2008.
Almost a year after (August 14, 2009), Yar‘Adua travelled again to Saudi Arabia, where he stayed till August 25 before returning to Nigeria after undergoing another round of treatment. He spent 11 days.
Today marks the 70th day since he travelled on November 23, 2009 to Saudi Arabia, where he is currently undergoing treatment for acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the outer membrane of the heart.
Apart from his rumoured death twice, some reports also had it that he had suffered brain damage and that he was on life support.
Although Presidential spokesman, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi; the Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Dr. Tanimu Yakubu; and the Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alhaji Abdullah Aminchi, denounced all the reports as false, intrigues by members of the Federal Executive Council and the National Assembly, as well as legal fireworks over Yar‘Adua‘s continued absence from the country have heightened.
In the Federal Executive Council, some members of Yar‘Adua‘s kitchen cabinet, including the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, are alleged to be the brains behind the ailing President‘s reluctance to make Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan the acting President.
Yet, Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution provides that, “whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such functions shall be discharged by the vice-president as acting President.”
Reacting, the Nigerian Medical Association, Lagos State branch, expressed dismay over the total 109 days that Yar‘Adua had so far spent on foreign medical trips.
The association, on Sunday, reiterated its call for the setting up of a medical team to assess the capability of the President to continue to govern the country.
The Chairman of the branch, Dr. Adedamola Dada, in an interview with one of our correspondents, also faulted the President for not handing overpower to Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan before leaving the country on November 23, 2009.
According to him, the long absence of the President without handing over power to his deputy is also an indication of the Nigerian ruling class‘ contempt for the people.
He said, “They are not ideal. The trips show that something is fundamentally wrong with the system that allows that kind of situation. The ruling class has contempt for the people.
“Any human being can be ill. What is wrong is for the country to be left without direction. What we are advocating is for Mr. Yar‘Adua to hand overpower to Mr. Jonathan in a short term. When Mr. Yar‘Adua recovers, the power can revert to him.
“Since he has spent more than three months on foreign medical trips since assumption of office, a medical team should, in the medium term, be set up to evaluate his capability to continue in office.”
Also reacting, the Nigerian Bar Association said going by the number of days Yar’Adua “has been away from his duty post, Nigeria had no President legally.”
The President of the association, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), told one of our correspondents on Sunday that the leadership vacuum in the country prompted the NBA trustees to file a suit before a Federal High Court in Abuja.
He said, ”Of course, the claim that he has spent one quarter of his tenure outside his seat will be difficult to fault. Here is a President who has always been on the move for one thing, medical attention.
“Unfortunately, some people are benefitting from this development to the detriment of the people.
“The Nigerian state is auto-piloted. We now have a President whom we are told can rule from anywhere. But the President himself has announced through the BBC that he is in a hospital, indisposed and unable to perform his functions.
“And this development prompted the trustees of the NBA to file the suit because we feel that what is going on is not right and may lead to constitutional crisis.
“Nigeria, at present, has no President legally speaking, since it is now confirmed, via the British Broadcasting Corporation interview, that Yar‘Adua is incapacitated. Until Vice -President Jonathan takes over as the acting President in the absence of Yar’Adua, we shall remain sheep without a shepherd.”