The President is dead! After a long and turbulent journey of ill health, Nigeria’s President Malam Umaru Musa Yar’Adua died on May 5, 2010. Until his death, Malam Umaru had not been seen in public since 23rd November 2009. That last day was when he flew to Saudi Arabia, where at that point, he was meant to perform the lesser Hajj as well as see his doctors.
However a few days after his arrival to Saudi, story leaked that Malam Umaru had been checked into a hospital. That was the beginning of Nigeria’s bewildering political expedition. The events that followed 23rd November were the most bizarre, confusing, shocking, disrespectful and pitiful in the contemporary history of Nigeria’s democracy.
Section 144 of the 1998 constitution stipulates that the President makes a written submission to the National Assembly informing them of his absence from duty. Before Malam Umaru left for Saudi no such letter was sent. That was the basis upon which all the intrigues and evil drama were scripted and played out. A constitutional crisis broke out.
Some called for Umaru to be impeached, others resisted. Some called for the Vice President to be automatically sworn in as substantive President, other kicked against it. The plot thickened with clandestine meetings held in the most unexpected places and destinations within and outside the country. The rumour mills frantically churned out unsubstantiated stories.
No one however is under any illusion that Nigeria is a complex country to rule. Neither is the notion of the non-shortage of talents disputed. So Nigeria does sometimes get to have visionary leaders.
Apparently Umaru was one of them. Some say his presidency held great potentials for the transformation of Nigeria but the success of his programmes and policies never came to fruition as he was continually hindered by ill health. Nonetheless Yaradua did make some measured gains. The main one being the Amnesty Programme of the Niger Delta which brought relative calm to the region that produces Nigeria’s cash.
In my interview with Nigeria’s new President Goodluck Jonathan (he was Acting President then) some 2 weeks ago in Washington DC, he admitted that the months that followed Umaru’s sick leave were the most challenging of his political career.
Goodluck Jonathan was not the only senior politician who owned up to the difficult and turbulent times Nigeria faced. The country’s then foreign minister Ojo Maduekwe told the BBC that Nigeria they might not have followed the right ways of tackling some of the issues that confronted the country. He too admitted that things were not going well for Nigeria.
Nigeria escaped being torn into shreds following a 1 minute BBC interview with ailing Umaru Yaradua. That interview effectively became the much needed “Section 144” of Nigeria’s constitution. Goodluck Jonathan became the Acting President. The action relatively doused political tension.
Journalism and journalists faced the greatest challenge in the country's recent history as information was outrightly denied, dubiously fabricated, maliciously manipulated and un-ingeniously managed. Special Media Advisers and PR Guru's misled Nigerians. The worst of the culprits were said to be those charged with the responsibility of managing President Umaru ‘Yaradua’s publicity.
All publicity surrounding President Umaru backfired as they were most unprofessionally handled. In the end the whole issue turned into a PR disaster, indeed a catastrophe. The victim was of course the bed-ridden, helpless man – the President.
But on Wednesday 5th May, He whom in whose hands Umaru’s life was, brought to a final end the suffering of the helpless President. Immediately after it happened, text messages flew across the world: The President is dead!
Veteran politician, former Lagos governor, AKA Baba Kekere, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, is quoted as having said that “the death of Yar’Adua is sad and I hope it will teach all of us a good lesson. He is a good man but unfortunately his political associates used his illness to play on the intelligence of Nigerians”.
Umaru’s remains was laid to rest in his own town, Kastina. The last 6 months must not be swept under the carpet. Some people should not only hold down their heads in absolute shame, but they must be disgusted with themselves for their outrages and unforgiving immature behavior.
I personally see everything surrounding late President Umaru’s illness and death as a personal tragedy. Personal tragedy for him in the sense that a “good, quiet, humble, unassuming” fellow had been turned into a political pawn by some mean, selfish individuals. At one point Umaru had even become a “hate-figure”.
Clearly, any decent human being will be engaged in deep reflection over all the unfortunate incidents that happened from 23rd November 2009 to 6th May 2010. Lessons must be learnt.
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