Topic: Umaru, Where Are You? Nigerians Slam Yar’Adua Over BBC Interview

Despite allegedly speaking through the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) radio service in the early hours of yesterday, Nigerians have continued to express their disbelief that the country’s President, Umar Musa Yar’Adua, is still alive.

While some have maintained that he is as good as dead as widely claimed in both local and foreign media, others believe that his voice must have been manipulated as they claimed that the foreign medium through which it was aired is up to some mischief.

The president had yesterday, the 50th day of his absence from the country, allegedly told the BBC that he was fast recuperating and hoped to be in the country as soon as possible.

Prior to this, various groups including civil rights campaigners and political parties in the country had called for either his resignation or hand over to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan.

They cited section 145 of the 1999 Constitution which makes provision for the Vice President to act on behalf of the president in the event that the latter is on vacation.

Yesterday the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) led by Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka and Dr. Tunde Bakare of the Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos, with thousands of Nigerians, took to the streets of Abuja partially disrupting activities at the National Assembly.

Bakare, who was dressed like one prepared for combat, while speaking to the crowd, asked President Yar’Adua to immediately vacate the seat as he was not fit for the presidency.

According to him, the seat was not meant for sick people and since the president has refused to hand over to his deputy, he should be sent packing. “Umaru go home. The presidency is not a birthright”, Bakare intoned.

The protesters also carried placard with various inscriptions, some asking the president where he is and others demanding for the rule of law to take its course.

But in what many Nigerians now see as propaganda by the president’s loyalists, Yar’Adua surprisingly spoke through the BBC. In a weak and frail voice which was constantly replayed in various media, President Yar’Adua said: “At the moment I am undergoing treatment, and I’m getting better from the treatment. I hope that very soon there will be tremendous progress, which will allow me to get back home.

“I wish, at this stage, to thank Nigerians for their prayers for my good health, and for their prayers for the nation.”

He was said to have spoken to the foreign radio station through the telephone.

However, rather than douse the tension in the country, the interview has generated more reactions which some people termed a ‘comedy’.

Speaking with P.M.NEWS this morning, former governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, said the issue was not whether he was alive or dead.

According to Alhaji Musa, the president was supposed to hand over to the Vice President before leaving the country.

“From what I saw it was not clear that he gave an interview. The impression is that BBC reported that he was virtually alive and not in coma but seriously sick.

“Having said so, it wasn’t clear to me that the speech reported by BBC was recorded now. Therefore, our principal demand still stands. Even if he is around now, he should still hand over to the Vice President till he is fine,” Musa said.

He said the decision by the National Assembly to send a delegation to Saudi Arabia to assess the president’s condition is good “even if belated. But he should hand over to the Vice President in acting capacity since that would give peace a chance.”

Asked to comment, the National Chairman, Africa Democratic Congress, Ralph Nwosu, only laughed and said, “I would rather say no comment. That our leaders should speak to us through a foreign media is degrading but I wish him good health.”

The head of the Transition Monitoring Group, Moshood Erubami, who maintained the earlier stand of the majority of Nigerians added: “the fact that he spoke through a foreign media shows that Nigerians have been vindicated”.

He said some hoodlums in the government have seized the opportunity of the president’s absence to loot the nation’s treasury and toy with the destiny of the country’s citizens.

Comrade Debo Ademiran also termed the controversial interview a systematic propaganda, adding that the president should tell Nigerians if he is still capable or not.

“Why should the president be kept away for over 50 days and by the time he allegedly spoke, he did through a foreign media which has the propensity of stage-managing things?” he asked, adding that someone must have been made to mimic the president’s voice on the telephone.

“We are not convinced,” he maintained, adding, “if he can say that he is recuperating, why can’t he say then and there that the vice president should take charge?

“Look at Obama, he had to come from Hawaii to address the issue of terrorism, but where is our president? Obama cannot speak to Aaondoakaa. He cannot even speak to the VP who has not been mandated to act and whose duties are not to be welcoming the winner of the Big Brother Africa,” Debo said.

Yerima Shettima, National President, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum believes anybody who wants the president to continue in office despite his illness is an enemy of the state.

He said that within the 50 days of the president’s absence the spate of looting in Aso Rock far exceeds the one perpetrated during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s eight-year rule. “Posterity will judge them,” he said.

As at this morning, over 136 reactions have greeted the yesterday’s edition of P.M.NEWS in which we reported that the president had spoken through the BBC.

Those who reacted through the internet doubted the controversial speech by the president and called for his resignation while others said it was a ploy to further deceive Nigerians to believe that the president was still alive.

Dr. Oriola Akinola, one of such readers said, “As far as I am concerned, Yar’Adua Musa speaking to BBC is another gimmick of the ruling party to blindfold Nigerians.

“The voice I heard this evening is not that of Mr. President.

“Stop this deception; we are not fools like the plotters.

“If he is true and a man of integrity, he should resign immediately or must he die in power in order to get a state burial? Yar’Adua, stop being a willing tool to promote northern agenda. Shikena!”

All we Pray is for GOD'S intervention in Nigeria.