Pardon me if I am appropriating the words of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which he used in utter frustration with this much loved but troubled country. Obasanjo’s frustrations have to do with the shenanigans which have trailed the illness of President Umaru Yar’Adua and the obsession of his handlers to keep him out of the view of Nigerians who “voted” him to power. By saying this could happen “only in Nigeria” the former leader isn’t really telling us anything new.  After all, this is a country that stands either reason or logic on its head. It is a country where the mathematical certainty that two plus two would make four is illogical. Nigeria is just an incredibly insufferable nation. Problems that seem so easy to solve elsewhere are herculean tasks here in Nigeria. Little wonder that it is easy to wake up and be optimistic about this country and in the next minute fall into pitch dark depression after reading our newspapers or listening to the news.

If you have been following recent happenings in Aso Rock Villa, then you would have seen how annoying and incomprehensible things can get in Nigeria. There is indeed a macabre circus show going on at the seat of power. On March 25, the Abuja rumour mill went into the overdrive as it peddled some fantastical news about ailing President Yar’Adua being well enough to attend the March 26 Jumat service at the National Mosque in the city. The politicos were in utter confusion as the “news” spread. Some of them even started plotting how to worm their way back into the Yar’Adua camp if indeed he was well enough to attend the service. Some of them, according to sources, made frantic calls to those close to the president to register their worry about his health. It was as if to say: “Let him know we are for him and that we’ve always shown our concern about his health.” Hypocrites!

Yar’Adua not only did not attend the service, it became clear that the reason his handlers were peddling the fantasy was to remind Acting President Goodluck Jonathan that his Oga dey for house and as such he should tread carefully. They didn’t want him to have full presidential powers anyway so they were ready to do anything to slow down the government.

Of course the ploy didn’t work. Then the Senate confirmed Jonathan’s cabinet. But just before the new cabinet was sworn in, two things happened. On April 1, Yar’Adua reportedly met four Islamic clerics, including the Chief Imam of the Abuja National Mosque, Ustaz Musa Mohammed. They prayed for the president’s speedy recovery.  The Imams said the president shook the hands of the visitors upon their arrival and when they departed. He even held out his hands in supplication. But Nigerians weren’t still any the wiser about the true state of his health.

To balance Nigeria’s religious equation, Christian leaders, a few days later, went on their own visit to pray “for the Lord to perfect his (Yar’Adua’s) healing.” This time around, the man could only “grunt” Amen. But the Christian leader refused to talk about his health except to say the man “is ill and needs our prayers.” As if we don’t know that already. One of them David Oyedepo of Winner’s Chapel even said he owed Nigerians no explanations on the visit because he had a private invitation to see the president and pray for him. Of course, he forgot that he was only invited because he was representing a sizeable number of Christians. Were it not for his position in the church, he would have been of no consequence to the gathering.

While the president is being made spectacle of by his confidants just for the sake of political power, Jonathan, the man who should really matter and who should see him is still waiting to be invited in by Turai and the inner circle around the ailing leader. Jonathan cut a pathetic figure during his interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour last week, almost like someone begging for sympathy.

Amanpour: Have you seen him since he has come back from his medical absence in Saudi Arabia?

Jonathan: I have not seen him

Amanpour: Why Not?

Jonathan: The thinking of the family is that they should isolate him from most of the key actors in government. I have not seen him. The senate president has not seen him...

Amanpour: Doesn’t that cause anxiety amongst the people?

Jonathan: Yes it does. It does; obviously it does but we cannot influence his family’s thinking.

Amanpour: Would you prefer that the family allowed you to visit him?

Jonathan: Yes of course. But I will not want to force...

The question is if the Imams and the Christian leaders can see the ailing president, why can’t Jonathan, the man who’s been doing his job? It is inexplicable. I understand the decency inherent in not disgracing the president by impeaching him, but I am sure that were he in good shape to understand what is going on around him to react accordingly, he certainly would not have wanted to make himself an object of pity and ridicule. The decent man he is, he probably would have resigned and gone home to continue his recuperation.

I do not expect the Barnum and Bailey circus show in Aso Rock to end soon and I expect it to continue to polarise the nation along the lines of those who want the president to be declared incapacitated and those few who want access to power by keeping him in Aso Rock. For me, what is most important now is the fact that Jonathan has full presidential power and he must use it as if Yar’Adua would not return. He should stop looking pathetic and just concentrate on doing the right thing for Nigeria. Nigerians won’t forgive him if he turns  out to be an ineffectual leader whose eyes are only fixed on keeping himself in power post 2011.

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