I have little doubt that Yaradua was rushed back from Saudi Arabia to avoid the process of Section 144, which would have been triggered, were the ministerial delegation sent by the Federal Govt to see him in the vegetative state that he was in. The Saudi Govt must have told Turai and her cohorts that there was no way they could prevent the delegation from seeing Umaru, since they were backed by a request from the highest level of Govt in Nigeria. The stone-walling which had prevailed for three months would no longer work; the game was over. Hence the disingenious decision to bundle him out of there, literarily within a few hours, as the delegation was on its way to Jeddah to see him. Ironically, by bringing Umaru to Nigeria, his supporters may have actually hastened the course of implementation of Section 144.

As you all know, Section 144 has two prongs. The declaration of the Fed Exec Council by 2/3 majority that the Prez is permanently incapacitated is only the first step. The second step requires the confirmation, by a medical panel, that the Prez is indeed incapacitated. This is where Turai and co. miscalculated. It would have been more cumbersome for the medical panel to complete its work in far away foreign soil, especially with the Saudi Govt co-operating with the Turai group in shrouding everything in secrecy. Now, it would be impossible to continue the facade in Nigeria: people will talk -- from maids, to cleaners, to security guards. Dem go talk! Words are already filtering out that Umaru is incommunicado and essentially comatose in his mobile intensive care ambulance residence. Eventually, the cat will be let out of the bag, and the medical panel will get to examine him in his mobile home. The showdown is inevitable.

Hopefully, this whole saga will come to an end soon, for the sake of the motherland. But I must confess that the drama has been very interesting. Its stranger than fiction: a head of state bundled into an air-ambulance in the middle of the night, endotracheal tube in throat, in order to elude ministers sent from his own Government to check on his health. His plane taxiing to a stop in total darkness in a remote section of the airport in Abuja, his evacuation to a mobile intensive care over a period of ninety minutes, soldiers emptying out the airport and lining the route to the Presidential Villa to prevent the citizenry from catching a glimpse of him; the continued care in the mobile ambulance parked on his lawn, instead of the hospital, to ensure secrecy -- yes, you cannot make this stuff up. As I told someone, aren't we lucky to be Nigerians at this time, and alive to witness all this drama? It is almost like the Akintola - Awolowo saga all over again; hopefully, for everyone's sake, I hope that we will have a better outcome this time around.

Best regards,


Olusegun Fashakin

Nice narration. I still don't think Yaradua returned to Nigeria sha.

It is so amazing that 72hrs since arrival of the (then presido) into the country in the most unusual manner, the senate of this great country has kept mute. A lot of artrocity was commited; the smuggling in of the president without the knowledge of both the senate and the acting president, the deployment of troops without the orders originating from the acting president who is the comander-in-chief, the decision to keep the nigerian elected leaders comprising the governors, senators, house of rep members, ministers, and even the acting president himself from seeing the president. All these are enough to activate the provisions of our constitution and pronounce the presido incapable. If he is not incapable, there will not be need for all these drama. I expect the senate to act now and save us all from this shame as a few greedy souls cannot hold a country of over 150 million on the jogular. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. THE GAME IS UP AND THE CHARADE UNMASKED.

I agree with you, Blustreak. The situation must not be allowed to continue. However, the best way is via Section 144 for the FEd Exc Co to declare him incapacitated. The only recourse for the National Assembly is to commence impeachment proceedings, which I personally think is inappropriate in this situation.
It is not an impeachable offense to be comatose from illness, but it is a cause for change of leadership by invoking sec 144

mdfash:

I agree with you, Blustreak. The situation must not be allowed to continue. However, the best way is via Section 144 for the FEd Exc Co to declare him incapacitated. The only recourse for the National Assembly is to commence impeachment proceedings, which I personally think is inappropriate in this situation.
It is not an impeachable offense to be comatose from illness, but it is a cause for change of leadership by invoking sec 144

That will take them another 90 days. In total Nigeria would have spent half-a-year to resolve what should have taken a couple of hours to resolve!

babapupa:

I still don't think Yaradua returned to Nigeria sha.

Me too.