Posted by By Oluokun Ayorinde/ Abuja & Ebhomele Eromosele on
Activities in Aso Rock, the seat of Federal Government, have been paralysed following the continuous absence of president Umaru Yar'Adua.
Activities in Aso Rock, the seat of Federal Government, have been paralysed following the continuous absence of president Umaru Yar'Adua.
The President has been away in Saudi Arabia, where he is said to be undergoing treatment for an undisclosed ailment. The number of visitors to the sprawling complex has considerably reduced since the president travelled out of the country, about three weeks ago.
Governors and ministers and heads of government departments, who frequently visit the office of Yar'Adua, have been avoiding the Villa since the president travelled out. Activities that were supposed to involve the president have been put on hold. The few ministers that come to the Villa nowadays usually go straight to the office of the Vice President.
Even the number of vehicles coming to the seat of power has also reduced and the once boisterous Villa is now like a ghost town. A security aide confirmed to P.M.News that they have been idle since the president travelled out of the country. Also affected by of the low level of activities in the Villa are State House Correspondents who have been suffering drought of stories.
Unfortunately, the situation may remain like this for some time as nobody can authoritatively say when Yar'Adua will return to the country. Though the Minister of Information, John Odey, told journalists, yesterday, that he will confirm the president's schedule from the Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan, with a view to getting the information about when he returns from Saudi Arabia, he did not fulfil that promise.
The Sultan of Sokoto also told journalists, yesterday, that the President will soon return to the country. He, however, failed to give a specific date the president would return. Meanwhile, Nigerians have been warned to prepare for whatever consequences they would face as a result of any unexpected fate that may befall president Yar'Adua as a result of his illness.
While the Lagos State Chairman of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Afolabi Gbajumoh, accused political office holders of zealously preparing the president for an imminent misfortune, Comrade Debo Adeniran of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) said, 'It was worrisome that due to his illness, president Yar'Adua has held the nation and its citizens hostage as to what accrues to them as democratic dividends.
The NCP chairman who spoke with P.M.News, yersterday, at an event organised by CACOL, said, 'I am not a doctor and I am not God, but as it is, those surrounding him do not love him. If they really love him, they would want him to be alive just like some of us still want him to be alive whether as president or as no president. They should have asked him to resign.
'And again, the 1999 constitution specifies that when the President is incapacitated or even travels, and not even on health grounds, the vice president should act on his behalf, but this is not the case.' According to him, the vice president has the duty of informing Nigerians that he has not been given the opportunity to act fully as Vice President. Vice President Jonathan ought to have resigned.
'He should have also told Nigerians that some faceless magicians who call themselves leaders are the ones governing the nation facelessly,' the politician told P.M.News.
Gbajumoh said everything in the country was at a standstill and that if the president had worked on the energy sector, which would also affect the health sector, he would not have needed to travel abroad for medical care.
The party chairman decried such waste of funds for medical treatment abroad when, according to him, 80 per cent of Nigerians in the street have serious illnessnes than the president and could not afford mere N5,000 for treatment. Therefore, they have to wallow in using paraga or agbo (local medicine) on themselves|.
He said leaders in the northern part of the country were already scheming for the emergence of ex-president Ibrahim Babangida to take over the Presidency if any misfortune should befall President Yar'Adua as Goodluck Jonathan is incapable of leading the nation.
According to him, 'Jonathan does not have what it takes in terms of wisdom and boldness to even come out now and declare the state of issues, let alone becoming the next president,' he told P.M.News, adding that the docile nature of Nigerians was the result of the manipulations of the politicians.
Debo Adeniran, who said President Yar'Adua has been busy taking care of his health for the past one year, added that Nigeria's affair is being run by his subordinates.