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!”

we are still not certain that our president is dead until we find out

the issue is not whether he is dead or alive.it is very clear that he is incapacitated, at least for now.So what's the big deal about handing over till he recuperates fully,that is if their story is true anyway.

It is indeed disappointing that the president chose to speak out publicly after 50 days of silence through a foreign media.
This is very bad for the image of our country, not only does the presidency not have confidence in our health system but it also has no confidence in our own media organisations.

It is indeed very sad and degrading.

We must have to make this country a better place , i just lost a loved one to an incident which probably could have been averted if we had a sound health care system in our country.

May God give us the courage, zeal and determination to build our country

ITS SAD, THAT CERTAIN PERSONS IN POWER THINK THAT ALL OF US IN NIGERIA ARE ALL BUT JUST A BUNCH OF ID*OTS AND F&?LS! :'( OTHERWISE THEY WONT BE PULLING ALL THEIR FAILED TRICKS ON US. OR HOW ELSE CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE BACK AND FORTH LIES ABOUT HIS STATE OF HEALTH. ??? IF HIS STILL SO ALIVE, THEN WHY DOESN'T HE GRANT A REPUTABLE MEDIA HOUSE IN NIGERIA AUDIENCE OR ARE THEY SAYING THAT WE DO NOT HAVE THOSE EITHER, JUST AS WE LACK COMPETENT HOSPITALS?. :-[ :-\ >:(

THIS WHOLE MESS IS JUST A BIG LAUGH. ;D THE GREATEST PART OF IT ALL, IS THAT WE ARE GOING ABOUT OUR DAILY LIVES AND DUTIES LIKE NOTHING IS HAPPENING. :o I THANK GOD FOR NIGERIA, AND NIGERIANS, WE ARE REALLY A RELATIVELY PEACEFUL NATION IF YOU COME TO THINK OF IT. :)

The fact is that our nat. asem. and house of rep. does'nt no their ............ :-X
they suppose to hav send delegates to comfirm weda he is still alive :-\ :-\.
If u ask me, i think the wife and some top officials hv sth they ar not telling us which they are waiting to acomplish b4 coming out to the open ??? ???
But he would hav use that strength he used in speaking to the foreign media, to sign a hand over letter to the VP to act on his behalf till he recovers cos we are humanbeing not mumu, for allah's sake
All thesame, i am still praying for him to recover very fast;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

How wont they tink were idiots n fools wen all we do is go about our day 2 day hustling.. Praising the criminals themselves weneva their favour comes into our realm... We stand for what is right regardless of the consequences n put our alone into it if necessary and see if things wont get better

i synthesised the voice obj spoke with during the 2007 elections, and i can say categoricall that the telephone voice was not umorus voice.
with all the high calibre journalist we have in nigeria, that are on first name basis with the president and the fact that there are equipments that can capture the presidents audio and visual, even camera phones,it is sad that the president used a bbc hausa service.......imagine,not even better bbc correspondent.
finally, our journalist and media proprietors have failed.they concentrate on news conference and brown envelope.where are the days of investigative journalism?i miss dele giwa.cant they sponsor some one to saudi, to monitor events discretely?even sleep in the same hotel umoru is sleeping in or get admitted in the same hospital, just to get a glimpse of him and the fools surrounding him.i tire o.

What A Country called NIGERIA! :'(

Well nothing goes for nothing. Let them bar us of the news of Mr. President's living or death but they cannot stop God from doing what He wants to do in this country Nigeria. It will only take a few days or months but the truth shall certainly be made known and shame shall cover the "fools" faces. I am Praying for Nigeria.

This is just like keeping someone in darkness, let us know what is on board. The question is that; is our Mr President (Umaru Musa Yaradu) dead or alive? Save us from this mess, Nigerians are tired of stories. If our President is alive, we pray for quick recovery.

It's a pity we have (or had?) a Predsident that does not respect the peoplehe claims to lead, neither the rule of law he was touting when he was put in power. If it was true, how could he choose to speak to a foreign media when we have our own national carriers? It beats my imagination. And for him not to have respected our Constitution by handing over power to the VP reveals so much about him. It beats my imagination that he doesn't care what hapens to over 140 million people. It's a pity.

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

If no be God e for don bad pass this. make we continue to dey look him face.

It suprises me dt a yaradua cld speak on bbc hausa service when d vast majority of d country speaks english, do they think we r fools, even wit d hausa we detected d voice aint his y do they keep lyin to d masses? D wrath of ALMIGHTY GOD WILL DEFINITELY BE ON THOSE WHO WANT TO DECEIVE US.

where are we heading to
<GOD help us ooooooo :( :(
:'( :'(