THE Action Congress (AC) has urged the Federal Government to provide concrete evidence to show that the health of President Umaru Yar'Adua is indeed improving as being claimed by some of his aides. Also, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Gen. Jerry Useni (rtd), has asked government officials to stop hiding information from Nigerians over the health of the president but come out with an update on his health.
The AC said yesterday that the unclear condition of the health of the president was detrimental to national well-being.
In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said such evidence could be in form of a dated video recording of the President, sitting or standing, in his hospital room in Saudi Arabia.
It said the President could also use the opportunity to assure Nigerians that he was indeed recovering from his illness, and that he was actually capable of signing the 2009 Supplementary Budget that he was said to have signed last week.
On the potency of such video evidence, the party recalled that when former Cuban President Fidel Castro was recovering from the illness that eventually ended his long presidency, he appeared in a video to show he was still alive, contrary to rumours making the rounds at the time. That video appearance ended the rumours for good.
``It is necessary for President Yar'Adua, if indeed he is recovering as Nigerians have been praying he does, to move fast to reassure his compatriots that the rumours surrounding his ill-health are unfounded. Daily, we are bombarded with scary rumours of the President's health continuing to deteriorate in Saudi Arabia, even as his aides assure us that he is indeed recovering.
``Since the President left these shores over 40 days ago, we do not know who has really seen him or who has not. Information on the state of health of the President should not be left in the hands of unscrupulous spin doctors, the Aondoakaas and the PDPs of this world, who have been muddling the waters just to serve their own selfish purposes,'' AC said.
The party said while the President was recuperating as being claimed, he should immediately act to show that his administration's rule of law mantra was not a fluke by legally transferring power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan - in line with constitutional stipulation.
Also, it said the Federal Executive Council (FEC) should live up to its constitutional responsibilities - and put national interest above parochial considerations - by kick-starting the process of determining the suitability of the President to continue in office on the basis of his health.
``We hope the President and his advisers will stop taking Nigerians for granted, and treating the Presidency as a personal fiefdom. While it may indeed be true that Nigerians are patient, long suffering and very understanding that should not be taken to mean that they are foolish. We do not know for how long a cabal can continue to fool a whole people,'' AC added.
Also, Useni, who addressed journalists yesterday at his residence in Jos, said what was demanded of the government officials was not for them to continue giving false assurance that the President would be back anytime, but that they should come and give Nigerians a daily update about the condition of the President's health.
The former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) said: "This is what is obtainable in other civilised democracies where the citizens are constantly updated about their President's health whenever he has a cause to seek medical attention."
He continued: "Everyday, they say the President is doing very well and that he will be coming soon. But the 'soon' has become so many that they don't know what to say again. So, the government officials are not being fair to Nigerians. They should tell us what is happening to our President."
Useni said it would, however, be wrong to force the President to resign as resignation should come willingly from an individual, saying the constitution had made that very clear and that those calling on the President to resign should realise this.
According to him, if however the President decides to resign on his own, the constitution has made it clear that the vice president should take over and that it does not matter where the vice president comes from, since it is a constitutional matter.
Meanwhile, a group has called on the National Assembly to declare the President missing. The group also wants the lawmakers at the National Assembly to order a search team to locate the precise whereabouts of the President and report back to Nigerians with verifiable video evidence.
Human Rights Writers' Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), which made the plea to the National Assembly in a statement by its National Coordinator Emmanuel Onwubiko yesterday, said: "The search team to be made up of top government officials, National Assembly leaders and some leaders of the organised civil society including Nigerian Medical Association and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) should ensure that when located, the ailing president should respect Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution by transmitting Presidential power temporarily pending his full recuperation to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to fill the leadership vacuum currently existing in Nigeria occasioned by President Yar'Adua's absence."
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