We have also been exposed to the possibility of that unmentionable alternative from those adventurists who will always address us as fellows but will not treat us as such! We should cry even more because our shamelessness has been internationalised; we now dance naked in the global market square. ECOWAS cannot hold its presidential summit because of Yar'Adua; Nigeria has no ambassador in Washington and the Mutallab issue is festering because Obama has no one to speak with - and now, our president's security and protocol are being managed by another country! The question has changed from 'Umaru, are you dead' to 'Umaru, where are you' because the president is nowhere to be found-even those who claim to know where and how he is are lying!
But I think we have cried, wept and wailed enough. We should wipe our tears and do something about the national disaster which our leadership has become over the years, and of which the current self-inflicted quagmire is only a symptom. Even then, we should thank God that the president has by this single act rebranded Nigeria immensely. He has showcased the infinite capabilities of ICT by ruling (not leading) the country from Saudi Arabia (or wherever) through telecommuting, videoconferencing and the adoption of flexible working months (others adopt flexible working hours!).
Even President Obama, with all the famed scientific advancements of the US, has not achieved that feat! For a start, we (yes; we the people) must insist that the health conditions of our leaders become public properties.
When President Yar'Adua indulged in a minor health-induced disappearance act in 2008, Usman Bugaje discussed the matter by reviewing the book: 'Ailing Presidents in Power 1914-1994' (Professor Hugh L'Etang, Royal Society of Medicine Press, London, 1995). The author reviewed the medical histories and lives of several world leaders and contended that "public interest in the health of the leaders should be encouraged because our fate is in the hands, hearts, glands, blood and brains of our leaders."
He wondered why a pilot who is occasionally responsible for a few hundred passengers is subjected to periodic medical checks; while the political leader responsible for millions is spared - insisting that those in public life but who are disabled must think or be made to think beyond their own or party's ambitions.
Bugaje sumarises the message of the book to be that ailing leaders are dangerous to their countries and citizens, and that measures must be taken to stop them from destroying their countries. He laments then that "140million Nigerians are taken hostage by a cabal who know only how to serve themselves and our future in the hands of a man whose health is a mystery" - and that governance by secrecy had become a state policy (See Guardian, 4/12/08, p8). Poor Bugaje did not know he was writing when the going was still very good; that a day would come when the president would disappear for months and we would be bold-facedly told that all is well!
In the short run, since all sorts of moral suasion have failed to force the president to write the letter (or force the person hiding it to present it), the NASS should back its words with action and commence impeachment proceedings.
The heavens will not fall! But there is another smart option. When Alex Haig's megalomaniac tendencies became unbearable, President Reagan gave him a letter on June 25, 1986 accepting his letter of resignation as the secretary of state - a letter which the bossy bureaucrat neither wrote nor submitted. So the NASS can write to the president accepting his letter which informs the House that he had gone on medical leave!
In the medium term, the NASS should amend the constitution so that the president, governor or the LG chairmen must hand over to their deputies whenever they would be away for five working days at a stretch, or would be going for medical treatment, even if for a day. If this is not done, the Senate and other appropriate houses will cause the deputy to be sworn in on the sixth day or on the next day for medical travel. Secondly, anybody contesting for executive position in the three tiers of government must undergo comprehensive medical, psychiatric and psychological examination.
The same goes for those seeking to be heads of the legislature or are appointed to head the judiciary and the MDAs. Psychological and psychiatric examinations are critical because megalomaniac, IGODIP (I Go Die In Power) tendencies and inner circle syndrome are more harmful to the economy and polity than some forms of medical ailments
So what shall we do in the long run? I admit that in the long run, we are all dead but before then, the process of whatever we have to do to retrieve our sovereignty from those who have hijacked it must be commenced and passed on from one generation to another. Biodun Jeyifo, in his Talakawa Courier number 127, projected four unpalatable scenarios. The first is the' frying pan' option in which the present uncertainty and vacuum lasts long. Yar'Adua's men benefit from the situation while the nation is like a fish being fried in the pan. Then there is the 'fire' option in which the president returns and manages to complete his tenure.
His people will try to consolidate power and the country slides further into the doldrums. Then comes the 'molten acid lake' option in which Vice President Goodluck completes the president's tenure and his government will be a pawn in the hands of northern conservatives and their allies, and there will be increasing militant/irredentist movements. Finally, we have the 'bottomless pit of asphyxiating fume' options when none of the above three happens and there will be mass mobilisation and civil disobedience to wake up the people from their present stupor.
While he forecasts that the last option will lead to a backlash and some form of repression, I believe it is what will ultimately set Nigeria and Nigerians free. Thus, whether Yar'Adua returns or not, whether Goodluck takes over or not, it is time for Nigerians to act as the principals they are and wrest power from these agents who no longer hear their masters' voices.
That is the ultimate way out of the leadership crises we have been facing since 1960 - and more since the 1980s, in which Nigeria becomes richer while Nigerians become poorer. We must learn to say enough is enough and all of us must be involved. Wole Soyinka, Falana and Umar will not always be there. Where is Gani Fawehinmi? Where is Kuti? Even Oshiomhole who is alive has been lost to the system.
As for those manipulating the system, lobbying, bribing, and lying on behalf of the sick president, their sins shall find them out! if not today, definitely tomorrow.
