Wednesday 24 February 2010

Nigeria: Yar'Adua returns unfit to be seen

We did not see him

Eventually the global newswires will carry the news that the Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua [1] has returned home [2] after three months of absence due to illness.

The sad part of the news is nuanced in the fact that he was transported rather than a traveller, he was carried rather than walking, he arrived unseen, unwelcomed, unheralded, un-ushered and absent from press coverage under the cloak of darkness.

Again as one has continually stressed, the man is unfit to be seen, in no condition for a public and basically incapable of basic autonomous functions talk less of the burden of office.

We could not see him

To have been carted away by ambulance might just excite the deepest premonitions of doctors having done what they could do and now he has been offered the dignity of closure back at home.

The aura of Presidency has been swiped away with the basic realities of our frail humanity; presidents return home with a coterie of staff and admirers, they strut with triumphant aplomb down the stairs of presidential jets waving to their people with smiles and energy.

He could not be seen

Especially after a long time of absence, the least the lead would expect of their leaders would be to see the leader returning having recovered from whatever ailment no matter how terminal the prognosis might have been a foretime.

Sadly, it cannot be said that President Yar’Adua arrived ready to resume anything without stretching our imaginations to the incredulous.

Maybe he would never be seen

In all, we still wish the man very best for health and a recovery, prayerfully and wishfully, there might well be something to hope for but apart from the political upheaval that might ensue we might be closer to an Ariel Sharon [3] situation, since we cannot expect the miracle of an FDR concealment [4] but at best a Fidel Castro [5] transition.

The fact is, if the man had the slightest amount of strength to do anything, he would have walked down the stairs of that presidential jet even if at the bottom of those stairs he fell down and died.

Beyond this, we must begin to see

Hopefully, he would do the right and constitutional thing allowing for the country to continue and the goodwill of all good people to follow him to a better condition in the future, if not, let us be ready to mourn an honourable man at the very least.

God help the President but more so, God bless Nigeria and bless us indeed with ready able leaders and leadership.

Sources

[1] Umaru Yar'Adua - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[2] BBC News - Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua 'returns home'

[3] Ariel Sharon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[4] Franklin D. Roosevelt's paralytic illness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[5] Fidel Castro - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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