AS human beings, it is natural for us to fall sick once in a while. The wear and tear of everyday living cannot but adversely affect our state of health every once in a while. But a president is not just another guy, hence the brouhaha that the reported ill health of President Umar Musa Yar’Adua has generated.
Even before he took over as Nigeria’s President on May 29, 2007, the state of health of the one former President Olusegun Obasanjo bequeathed to the country as his successor had been a subject of speculation and denial. And even during the presidential campaigns, the rumours were rife about his fitness or lack of it. Yet, there were no clear answers, as further denials fuelled the speculations and apprehension. But the President had trudged on, like a withered tree expected to fall.
Since assuming office, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has left no one in doubt that all was not well with his health. His frequent travels abroad for medical attention lent credence to the speculation about his true state of health.
On one occasion, performing the Moslem hajj in Saudi Arabia was used as a smokescreen when the President suddenly disappeared from public radar. And when it misfired, so many government officials were blamed for several reasons. But full disclosures were not made regarding his ailment and disease weighing him down until it got out of hand last week, as officials scrambled to douse speculation regarding his condidition.
That was when it was finally disclosed that President Yar’Adua, who was admitted into the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia penultimate Monday, has been diagnosed of acute pericarditis (an inflammatory condition of the coverings of the heart).
Since he is hospitalized without officially handing over to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, the nation has been uneasy, at best, even as government officials and his associates struggle to assure bemused and alarmed citizens that there is ‘no cause for alarm as everything is under control.’
But Yar’Adua’s spokesman, Olusegun Adeniyi, has assured that governance is going on smoothly in his absence.
“The Vice President is now acting on behalf of the President. He takes charge in the absence of the President,” he told a bewildered nation. But many believe the Vee Pee is acting but not in charge or full grip of the situation without the necessary power and authority, which is only possible with a formal handover of reign.
Yet, the big question remains- at what stage or point in a sickness or ailment can one, including a political leader, become unable to discharge his or her official/constitutional responsibilities and hand over, temporarily or permanently, to his or her deputy? And can Yar’Adua continue to function at the highest risk to his health and the nation?
In the last dispensation in the United States (US), for instance, then President George W. Bush officially handed over power and authority to Vice President Dick Cheney when he was to be wheeled into the theatre for a major operation, which was not life threatening.
By Nigeria’s constitution, the process of determining whether or not the President is capable of discharging his official functions can only be initiated by members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), who are all his appointees and loyalists, and who may want him to hang on to power, even at his own peril, more because of what they stand to gain than national interest or patriotism.