Where is Yar’Adua? - el-Rufai, 92 others ask Saudi monarch - Let Yar’Adua address Nigerians live - CNPP, AC

From Taiwo Adisa, Christian Okeke and Kunle Oderemi - 07.01.2010

FORMER Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai, is among 92 other Nigerians who have forwarded a letter to the Saudi monarch, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saoud, asking him to provide them with detailed information on the whereabouts of the Nigerian President, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua.

The eminent Nigerians, who wrote under the aegis of the Nigerian Liberty Forum (NLF), a United Kingdom-based pro-democracy group, said that the letter became imperative in view of the long absence of Yar’Adua from Nigeria and its constitutional implications for the country.

Those who signed the letter included Mallam el-Rufai; the National Publicity Secretary of the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), Mr. Yinka Odumakin, and the NLF coordinator in London, Mr. Yinka Ogundamisi and 90 others.

The group, in the letter dated January 5, 2010, stated that Yar’Adua had been domiciled in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for 44 days and that since the Nigerian President was not an ordinary citizen, his whereabouts and health records could not be treated as private matters.

In a letter, signed by both Nigerian UK-based activists and those in the country, the group said it was constrained to seek the assistance of the Saudi monarch in determining the truth about Yar’Adua, because government officials at home had been less than forthcoming on the true situation.

The group wrote: “We, the under-listed concerned citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, address this open letter of appeal to your government to reveal to Nigerians the exact location and state of health of our president, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who, we believe, has been your guest and patient in one of your hospitals since November 23, 2009.

“This open letter of appeal has become necessary because a nation of nearly 150 million has not seen or heard of its president for six weeks without any credible information.

“Your Royal Highness, Umaru Yar’Adua is not a private patient but our president and an employee accountable to millions of people. Information about his physical and mental well-being cannot be subject to the usual medical confidentiality of any ordinary citizen.

“This information should not be kept secret from the people he leads. Sadly, we must admit that our current government has failed to be truthful and transparent about the extent of infirmity of our president.”

The NFL also stated that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had, by default, become an accomplice in what it called the series of halftruths being dished out to Nigerians at home by government officials and thus needed to clear itself on such insinuations.

“In the eyes of many Nigerians, the Saudi government has by default become part of the conspiracy of secrecy that threatens to destabilise our democracy. Because without information on whether the president is alive or dead, permanently or temporarily infirm, the appropriate provisions of our constitution cannot take effect to deepen and broaden our democracy,” the group stated.

The Liberty Forum also reminded the Saudi king of the fact that the Saudi authorities did not hide information on the health of the Crown Prince, Sultan, when he took ill and went to the United States of America for treatment.

The group further stated that the incumbent king took charge in acting capacity when King Fahd, of blessed memory, took ill, unlike the situation left behind by Yar’Adua, who refused to hand over to his deputy when he embarked on the medical trip to Saudi Arabia.

It stated: “The effect of this leadership vacuum on our nation’s peace, progress and orderliness is self-evident, Your Highness. As Crown Prince of your Kingdom, you took charge of the affairs of state when your elder brother, King Fahd of blessed memory, became ill.

“Also, when Crown Prince, Sultan, departed for the United States for treatment on November 23rd, 2008, the Saudi public was made aware of the progress in his treatment leading to his return to the Kingdom on December 10, 2009. Leadership of nation-states is and must be continuous, and Nigerians need your intervention for our country’s young democracy to survive.”

The group said that by seeking adequate information from the Saudi authorities, the Nigerian people will be in a position to take advantage of the clauses in the constitution “which provide for orderly continuity in government in the event that the president is incapacitated by illness.”

Meanwhile, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has condemned the Senate over its comments that its hands were tied over the ‘disappearance’ of President Umaru Yar’Adua. This came as the group also said it was outraged over the claims by the Governors’ Forum that Yar’Adua spoke to Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan and the leadership of the National Assembly.

The CNPP, in a five-paragraph statement signed by its national publicity secretary, Osita Okechukwu, and made available to the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja on Wednesday, challenged the Governors’ Forum to get President Yar’Adua to publicly address the nation and publish his latest medical report to convince Nigerians that their president was not indisposed.

In the statement, CNPP said it had expected the Governors’ Forum and the National Assembly, being elective organs, unlike the Federal Executive Council (FEC), to, without fear or favour, rise to the challenge and admonish President Yar’Adua to avail himself of Section 145 of the Constitution for the overall good of the country’s fledgling democracy.

The group said that those who were conducting what it called the orchestra of deception with the president’s health were the greatest enemy of the country’s democracy, which, it noted, was sliding into quasi-dictatorship.

It argued that it was incomprehensible how those who swore on oath to defend and protect the constitution were deliberately flouting same.

The group further wondered what was wrong with the vice-president from the same political party, acting for and on behalf of the president pending his recovery, which could have protected the president from distraction and saved the country from the constitutional crisis.

CNPP said “we are outraged that the Governors’ Forum and the Senate met on Tuesday and wittingly or unwittingly were drumming orchestra of deception, instead of prevailing on President Yar’Adua to avail himself of Section 145 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“CNPP is not impressed with the bland statement from the Governors’ Forum that President Yar’Adua spoke to the vice-president and others. We had expected the Governors’ Forum and the National Assembly, being elective organs, unlike the Federal Executive Council (FEC), to, without fear or favour, rise up to the challenge and admonish President Yar’Adua to avail himself of Section 145 of the constitution for the overall good of our fledgling democracy, our dear country and his speedy recovery.

“We wish to place it on record that those who are drumming orchestra of deception with the president’s health are the greatest enemy of our fledgling democracy that is dangerously sliding into quasi-dictatorship. It is incomprehensible how those who swore on oath to defend and protect the constitution are deliberately flouting it.

“Otherwise, what is wrong with the vice-president from the same political party acting for and on behalf of the president, pending his recovery; which could have protected the president from distraction of state duties and save us the constitutional crisis that led to a sitting Chief Justice of Nigeria swearing in his successor and the controversy surrounding the doubt over the president’s signature of 2009 supplementary budget.

“We challenge the Governors’ Forum to get President Yar’Adua forthwith to publicly address the nation and publish his latest medical report to convince Nigerians that their president is not indisposed,” it added.

Also, the Action Congress (AC), on Wednesday, said President Yar’Adua should hold a live phone-in on the electronic media where Nigerians could speak with him to lend credence to official claims that his health had improved.

According to the party, such an event would also confirm that he actually spoke with some key government officials and top lawmakers on phone.

In a statement issued in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the AC said Nigerians would like to hear directly from him to assure them that he was, indeed, recovering.

“It is good that President Yar’Adua has spoken to Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, Senator David Mark and Honourable Bankole. But these people do not constitute Nigeria, they are not the ones who voted him into office. The president must speak directly to the remaining 149,999,997 Nigerians, using the dated video recording format that we suggested in our earlier statement on Monday.

“Alternatively, the president could also do a live phone-in to the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) or Radio Nigeria to enable him to speak directly to his compatriots and convince them of his increasing well-being, instead of the current situation where the people have to depend on confused spin doctors to get an update on the health of their president who has been away for over 44 days.

“Besides, some of these people the president was said to have spoken with are no longer credible in the eyes of Nigerians, since they have given a lot of inaccurate information on the issue of the president’s illness, including that they had been in touch with him when we are aware they have not,” AC said.

The party repeated its earlier assertion that the health of the country’s first citizen was too important to be toyed with and demanded daily update on the his recovery in Saudi Arabia.

PRESUMED DEAD BY WELL MEANING NIGERIANS UNTIL HE CAN 'SURFACE'

We all know that the man is dead, awaiting some bad news to be sneak into the country ad buried in the dead of the night, ask IBB about maryam, he is an expert or middle of the night burial.

Even saudi crown prince went to America for treatment, Yar A'liar is looking fo marabout to prayed for him not medical treatment. Yar a'clueless want to go to heaven via Mecca, or medina, or jeddah. Al Am amin