Politics of Yar’Adua’s Sickness
By Mikail Mumuni
Monday, September 08, 2008
It was a game of political intrigues in high places as confusion reigned for two weeks over the state of health of President Umaru Yar’Adua
The call came from Saudi Arabia at about 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 31. The caller is a senior federal government official and the receiver is a senior editor at Newswatch. The official who did not want to be identified was in Saudi Arabia on lesser hajj. He had travelled at the time the controversy over President Umaru Yar’Adua’s whereabouts was just unfolding. He wanted to know if it had been confirmed that the president was indeed in Saudi Arabia. "I am here but I haven’t seen him yet," he told his contact in Lagos.
Back home, the uncertainty lingered on whether Yar’Adua was in Saudi Arabia on religious or medical grounds. Pilgrims for the lesser hajj can worship in either of the two major mosques in Mecca or Medina or both, depending on the time at his disposal. While The Kaabah, Islam’s holiest mosque is located in Mecca, Masjid Nabawi or the prophet’s mosque, which is the second in the order of reverence is in Medina. The two cities are about eight hours apart by road.
The day the official called, incidentally, was the day the rumour mill was agog that the president might have passed on in a hospital in Jeddah, one hour drive from Mecca. The caller was told that the uncertainty at home about the president’s whereabouts had degenerated into confusion and rumour about the president's death and he exclaimed "Allah Sarki!" meaning God is King!. He said he was hearing the news for the first time and promised to call back. He never did. Calls to his telephone, thereafter, did not also go through.
He was not the only very senior official of government who was in the dark about the state of health of the nation’s number one citizen and the actual reasons for which he travelled. Sources told Newswatch that even Goodluck Jonathan, the vice-president, did not know the truth until the controversy broke. He was told that the president was going on pilgrimage and was surprised to discover through the media that it was a medical trip.
Yar’Adua left Abuja for Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, August 20, the same day government announced the replacement of the service chiefs his administration inherited from former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Olusegun Adeniyi, Yar’Adua’s special adviser on communications, in announcing the trip, said the president left "Abuja this evening [Wednesday] to perform the lesser hajj in Saudi Arabia." A day earlier, some foreign based news agencies had hinted that Yar’Adua was due to be in Saudi Arabia for a medical check up at the Saudi- German hospital. That fuelled apprehensions that the president’s health conditions might have deteriorated again.
Yar’Adua has a record of renal problems. He had sought emergency medical attention in Germany at least three times since his condition became public knowledge in 2007.
As PDP presidential candidate, he was flown out of the country during the 2007 electioneering campaigns when he suddenly took ill, raising doubts about his medical fitness for the top job. Party elders said he went to treat catarrh. Obasanjo, then outgoing president and who was largely responsible for the emergence of Yar’Adua as the party’s presidential flagbearer said there was nothing to worry about. He told a skeptical nation that though the man was sick in the past, he was then fit. He accused people of spreading dangerous rumours that Yar’Adua had died in Germany.
Yar’Adua was again rushed to a German hospital on April 14, 2008 shortly after signing the 2008 budget. Adeniyi then said the president went to treat an allergic reaction while John Odey, minister of information declined comments when prodded several times by journalists. Yar’Adua returned home after two weeks of admission at a hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany looking frail. Though reports then said he had a kidney transplant, an Aso Rock villa source told Newswatch that the surgery was deferred till another date.
All along, Yar’Adua had chosen the hospital in Germany for his treatment. He had been going there since his days as Katsina state governor. Why then did he go to Saudi Arabia this time?
Sources said it was part of steps taken to conceal the fact that Yar’Adua had taken ill again. Family members also felt that going back to Germany four months after his visit in April would attract unnecessary public attention. This time around, the family planned to keep the truth away from the public. Saudi Arabia which also has an array of good hospitals with state-of-the-art facilities was chosen. The lesser hajj explanation also became handy and was chosen as explanation to be given to the public.
But even that did not completely erase suspicion in Aso Rock. One reason that almost gave away the fact that the president’s mission was not for Umra was that he did not travel with his media crew. All of the president’s trips are covered by a select section of the media. This time, it was not the case. "Yar’Adua is not the first Muslim president or head of state that would go on Umra. Although religious duties are personal affairs, the president of a country is not a private person. He is the symbol of our nation and all his activities have to be documented for posterity," said a source.
He said the practice was that a president travels with a press team even when going on a private mission such as the main hajj or lesser hajj. "Even if his press secretary is a non-Muslim, an officer in his office who is a Muslim ought to have travelled with him if he was going on hajj. He should also have gone with at least a lean media team comprising the state house correspondents, the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, Radio Nigeria and the Federal film unit of the federal ministry of information. Even if he did not go with others, the federal film unit representative ought to have travelled with him if he actually went on Umra. That media correspondents and others did not go with him showed that the trip was not for hajj and some of us got suspicious immediately," he noted.
Another official of government, however, disagreed with insinuations that the lesser hajj claim was a decoy to allow Yar’Adua get medical treatment in Jeddah secretly. He recalled that the president had a scheduled official visit to Brazil and that he was billed to take off for that country after the Umra. "His advance party was already in Brazil awaiting his arrival but was recalled home when it dawned on the presidency and the ministry of external affairs that Yar’Adua would stay in Saudi Arabia longer than expected," he said. The source argued that an advanced party would not have been sent to Brazil if the president had actually contemplated surgery in Saudi Arabia. "It is likely that his health problem which is not new, any way, degenerated while he was on lesser hajj and he had to be rushed to the hospital," he added. The Brazilian authorities said Yar’Adua’s scheduled trip to the country was cancelled at the instance of Nigeria, but Ojo Madueke, minister of external affairs insisted it was only postponed.
On Wednesday last week, Odey, minister of information and communications still affirmed that Yar’Adua was in Saudi Arabia to perform the lesser hajj. Odey spoke at a press conference after the end of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, in Abuja. When newshounds would not let go, the minister tacitly agreed that the president might have ended up in hospital afterwards. "The official position is that he went for lesser hajj. That is true. Of course, I must tell you that he is free to take that opportunity to undertake medical check-up," he said with a voice that betrayed nervousness.
That was the first time, after two weeks of confusing signals, that an official of government would publicly reframe the official mantra that Yar’Adua was away on pilgrimage and nothing else. Odey asked journalists and by extension, other Nigerians, to exercise patience regarding the president’s absence from home.
But rather than clear the confusion over Yar’Adua’s condition, the minister’s press briefings added to it.As a matter of fact, the information machinery of the federal government collapsed when speculations about the death of the President Yar’Adua broke out. All that the media and the populace could get out of the confusing situation was a terse statement from Odey, on Sunday, August 31. Odey said: "The federal government wishes to appreciate the concern that has been raised in the newspapers and some sections of the media over the past few days on the state of health of Mr. President, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua.The federal government wishes to reiterate here that Mr President is very well and healthy. He is in good health to steer the affairs of the state to bring about better livelihood for the generality of the people of Nigeria. He is expected back in Nigeria soon after his trip to Saudi Arabia where he has gone on lesser hajj."
Later, as each day passed and the nation groped in the dark, Odey became incommunicado. A request by Newswatch for an interview was turned down. Rotimi Ajayi, special assistant, media, to Odey who promised to arrange the interview with the minister failed. Adeniyi, special adviser to the President on media, did not help matters either. After his first announcement that Yar’Adua went on Umra, Adeniyi kept mum and failed to provide answers on how well the president, who was reported to have undergone surgery, was doing.
The uncertainty about the exact condition of the president in Saudi Arabia and the rumours of his death which it fueled caused panic in several quarters. It did much more among the northern political elites. It caused jitters. Yar’Adua’s health has been a source of worry in that part of the country because it is felt that his death before the end of his tenure would rob the region of the presidency.
The presidency of the country is rotated between North and South. Yar’Adua came on board in May 2007 after eight ears of Obasanjo, a Yoruba from the South-West. Each time Yar’Adua took ill and went to hospital abroad, the Northern political elites got worried. A source told Newswatch that some political leaders from the North met in Abuja when the rumour about Yar’Adua’s death became widespread and examined how they would react to the political challenges that would result.
One of such challenges is the provision of the constitution on succession to the office of president in the event of his demise. Section 146, sub section 1 of the 1999 constitution provides that "The vice-president shall hold office of President if the office of President becomes vacant by reason of death or resignation, impeachment, permanent disability or removal of the President from office for any other reason in accordance with section 143 or 144 of this constitution."
The feeling among Northern political leaders is that if the provision of that section is applied, Goodluck Jonathan would take over as president. What that means is that the North which had been in the cold politically for the eight years that Obasanjo was in power would be denied its opportunity. Their wish is that such situation does not arise at all.
It was for this reason that Yar’Adua choice as successor by Obasanjo did not initially appeal to them. The fact about Yar’Adua's ill-health was known to many political leaders in the region before he became PDP’s flagbearer and Obasanjo was accused of forcing on the nation a man who was unlikely to serve out his term because of his health condition in order to ensure that the South gets another opportunity to rule soon after him. These thinking in the North is not hidden to political leaders in other parts of country, particularly in the South-South where Jonathan hails from.
The question, however, is how can the provisions of the constitution on succession which say the vice-president should take over in case the president dies or becomes incapacitated to an extent that he is unable to perform the functions of his office be discarded? One notable politician from the South who spoke to Newswatch on condition of anonymity said he was still at a loss as to how the North planned to achieve what they were planning, that is to dump Jonathan and pick a fresh northerner. "You mean, Jonathan would be sidelined in favour of a Northerner. Will that not amount to stoking the fire of rebellion that is already burning in the Niger Delta?" A foreign diplomat whose opinion Newswatch sought on this dilemma also said: "I don’t envy you guys at all. You need all the political wisdom you can muster to avoid crisis if Yar’Adua is unable to finish his tenure."
As discussions gained grounds on what the North was likely to do in the event of a confirmed death of the President, a feature article appeared on the back page of the pro-North Daily Trust newspaper of September 2, 2008, titled If the President Dies. The article, widely believed to represent the mind of the North x-rayed the likely scenario to look out for.
The article reads in part: "Therefore, if the president should die tomorrow, it will only trigger a chain of events which nobody in his right senses can foretell; certainly not even those allegedly shopping for a suitable vice-president. The only assured thing is that the president will be buried in an unmarked grave within hours if he dies before sunset, or the morning after if it occurred in the dead of the night. Thereafter, it will be left to the legendary resilience of Nigerians themselves to make sure the country stays glued together."
The article also looked at the likely position of the South-South zone where the vice-president comes from. "If the South-South, aided by the much of South, elevates its parasitic allegations against the North to the point of provocation, it will ultimately lead to a backlash and the hardening of positions even possibly, tension … If there is decorum and responsibility in their agitations for resource control, it will lead to mutual understanding because only a blind man can deny that the situation in the Niger Delta is a national embarrassment even if its own leaders have not helped matters. But one thing we are sure of, is this: as a genuine son of the soil, if Jonathan Goodluck succeeds Yar’Adua, he will come under tremendous pressure from his own people to deliver. A lot will depend on how he goes about the process. Whatever he eventually does, the people of the North in particular have every reason to be apprehensive."
Throughout the time the rumour on the president subsisted, the vice-president was said to have remained uncomfortable. Newswatch learnt that Jonathan received several calls from many leaders of the South-South. They called to restate their solidarity with him. An aide of a governor from the South-South said his boss made a phone call to Jonathan and told him to remain "strong, steadfast and courageous at this trying moment."
By press time last week, Yar’Adua was yet to return. His likely date of return remained speculative. And so, two weeks after the president of Nigeria was rumoured to have died in far away Saudi Arabia, and the rumour was refuted, majority of Nigerians were yet to have a clear picture of how healthy their number one citizen is.
The absence of the president from home took its toll on governance. A source said Jonathan was "lying low" in order not to been seen as being eager and ambitious. The source who is a minister from the South-West also scoffed at suggestion that Babagana Kingibe, the the secretary to the government of the Federation might be the one running the government in the absence of Yar’Adua. "Kingibe is an outsider in this government. He has been marginalised long before now based on the suspicions that he is ambitious and may undermine Yar’Adua’s presidency," he pionted out.
He said nobody is in control in the absence of the president. "The chief of staff, COS, would have acted as the coordinating centre between the Presidency and other segments of the federal government, but the office was scrapped recently by the president. The COS is the linchpin of governance," he explained. Yar’Adua scrapped the office and the office of the deputy chief of staff two days before he appointed the new service chiefs.
Until the scrapping, Gbolade Osinowo was the acting chief of staff following the disengagement, on June 2 of Gen Abdullahi Mohammed who served Obasanjo in the same capacity for eight years and was retained by Yar’Adua to help stabilise the new government. Mohammed is from Ilorin, Kwara State, North-Central. The deputy chief of staff before the two offices were scrapped was Mike Oghiadomhe. Both Osinowo and Oghiadomhe are southerners. The president and some political hawks from the North were said to be uncomfortable having southerners occupying the two powerful positions. It was learnt that Yar’Adua toyed with the idea of appointing another retired general from the North as the substantive chief of staff but he later dropped the idea when criticisms became strident in the South that he was pursuing a northernisation policy.
In place of Osinowo, Yar’Adua appointed B.K Kaigama, a civil servant as permanent secretary, and head, State House administration and its chief accounting officer. Sources said the new arrangement has created "a power vacuum in the villa and in government as a civil servant cannot command the same influence as a retired general." "He cannot summon a minister not to talk of a service chief. Is it the service chiefs or ministers that will defer to a civil servant? No," one of the magazine's sources said.
He also noted that the present administration, unlike that of Obasanjo does not have individual cabinet members who command the respect of their colleagues and can act as rallying point. "Before Obasanjo and Atiku Abubabakar, the former vice-president fell apart, you could say the vice-president was in power whenever the president was away. You could also rely on General T.Y.Danjuma rtd, former minister of defence and Anthony Anenih, former minister of works to provide leadership. They could also look the president in the face and tell him he was wrong. But nobody in the present administration has such clouts. They are all tagging along. Just to keep their jobs," he said.
Newswatch learnt that Odey’s press briefing on Wednesday was intended to salvage the credibility of government and erase the impression that governance under Yar’Adua is a one man show. Government had no option than owning up, albeit tacitly, that the president was not in the best of health. This was as a result of fresh reports that the president might be transferred to a German hospital to spend more weeks away from home rather than return soon as some government officials had earlier hinted.
A report said the president would have had a kidney transplant in Jeddah but that Turai, his wife was against it. The first lady reportedly insisted that Yar’Adua be flown to Germany where he had hitherto received treatment. Many Nigerians are not happy about the management of information on the president’s ill-health by his spokespersons.
Gani Fawehinmi, radical Lagos lawyer said the handling was sloppy and poor. Fawehinmi who himself is undergoing treatment for cancer said there was no crime in being sick and called on Nigerians to pray for the quick recovery of Yar’Adua.
Lai Mohammed, the National publicity secretary of Action Congress, AC, in his own reaction condemned the Federal Executive Council, FEC, for "feeding the public with lies" over the health of the president. "What should have earned the President the sympathy and prayers of his country men and women has again become a matter for wild speculations, no thanks to an inept information machinery. The state of the president’s health is an important issue. It should neither be politicised nor trivialised," he said in a press statement.
Yinka Odumakin, publicity secretary of Afenifere said "the mismanagement of information on Yar"Adua shows that ours is not an open society. The health of a president is a public concern and the right information should .be given." Tony Momoh, former minister of Information told Newswatch that those who manage information for government and its officials must always be alive to their responsibilities. He advised that even when those in authority were reluctant to make vital information available to the public, "the information managers must persuade them on the need to do so."
Femi Falana, chairman of West African Bar Association, WABA , brought a legal and constitutional angle to the whole issue by asking David Mark, the senate president to set up a medical panel which will examine whether Yar’Adua can still perform his roles as president in the light of his current state of health. In a letter dated September 1, 2008 and titled: "For Medical Examination of the State of President Yar’Adua’s Health," Falana said his demand was pursuant to section 144 (1) of the 1999 constitution. Falana, who said he was acting on behalf of his client, Farouk Adamu Aliyu, a former minority leader of the House of Representatives threatened that if this was not done within seven days, he would file an application for an Order of Mandamus to compel the senate president to do so.
He said "Two weeks ago, the federal government announced that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had gone to Saudi Arabia for the lesser hajj, otherwise called Hummrah. "Contrary to such false claims, it has since been confirmed by local and foreign media that Mr. President is currently recuperating after undergoing surgery at the Dr. Soliman Fakeeh Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He said instead of passing a resolution declaring that the President was incapable of discharging the functions of his office as required by Section 144 (1) of the Constitution, the executive council of the federation claimed, after its meeting last week, that the President was hale and hearty,"he added.
Falana said the confusion over the health of the nation’s president has security implications and asked Mark to act now. "Having regard to the security implications of the rumour surrounding the health of the President, it is hoped that you will not hesitate to carry out your constitutional responsibility in the circumstances. Take notice that if you fail to accede to our client’s request within seven days upon the receipt of this letter, we have our client’s instructions to file a mandamus application with a view to compelling you to set up the said medical panel," he said.
Reported by Chris Ajaero, Tobs Agbaegbu, Kazeem Akintunde, Anza Phillips and Dike Onwuamaeze.
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