President Umaru Yar‘Adua has spent at least 109 days for medical reasons in foreign hospitals abroad, since May 29, 2007 when he was inaugurated.

The number of days he has spent in Germany and Saudi Arabia on medical grounds is almost a quarter of the number of working days he has spent as president.

Like every other public office holder and civil servant in the country, the President also enjoyed about 295 days of weekends and public holidays during the same period; which means the President could have spent more than 400 days in total out of office.

The public holidays are New Year, Id-el-Maulud, Easter, May Day, Democracy Day, Id-el- Fitr, National Day, Id-el-Kabir, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Workers enjoy 14 days as public holidays yearly on the average.

In 2009 alone, the President spent almost a quarter of the 146 working days away from his office, having been away for 50 days on two medical trips (August, November and December) and having enjoyed 14 days that were observed as public holidays in the country.

Were Yar‘Adua a Senator or House of Representatives member in 2009, he would have been absent from plenary sessions for more than 50 per cent of the 181 sitting days the National Assembly has in a year.

For being away from office for more than 42 days within one calendar year, the President is believed to have contravened Paragraph 070316, chapter seven of the Public Service Rules 2006.

The chapter states: “Where an officer has been absent from duty on the grounds of ill-health for an aggregate period in excess of 42 calendar days within 12 calendar months, the officer should be made to appear before a medical board with a view to being ascertained whether he or she should be invalidated from service.”

According to paragraph 010101, chapter one of the same rules, the conditions are applicable to the President, vice-president, and other public officers who derive their appointment from the constitution.

Yar’Adua has made only a few official foreign trips since he became President.

In comparison, former United States President George Bush had no record of absence from the White House in Washington DC between May 29, 2007 and January 20, 2009 when he left office.

His successor, Barrack Obama, has also had no cause to be out of office on medical grounds since January 20, 2009 when he was inaugurated as President.

But in terms of travelling outside the US on official duties, Bush and Obama far surpass Yar‘Adua. Their numerous trips to foreign countries on bilateral grounds and for international conferences/summits have not only sustained America’s position as the only surviving super power, but has also strengthened its economy.

The reverse, however, is the case in Nigeria, where Yar’Adua, as a sitting President, has been reluctant to attend major global events, including the 2009 United Nations General Assembly conference in New York, where he would have interacted with fellow heads of states and governments.

The President had, on April 14, 2008, travelled to Germany for a medical check-up, for 10 days.

About four months after, (August 27, 2008), Yar’Adua embarked on yet another medical trip, this time to Saudi Arabia, where he spent 18 days. Like the previous one, the nature of his illness was not made known to Nigerians, giving room to rumours that it was kidney failure. He returned on September 6, 2008.

Almost a year after (August 14, 2009), Yar‘Adua travelled again to Saudi Arabia, where he stayed till August 25 before returning to Nigeria after undergoing another round of treatment. He spent 11 days.

Today marks the 70th day since he travelled on November 23, 2009 to Saudi Arabia, where he is currently undergoing treatment for acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the outer membrane of the heart.

Apart from his rumoured death twice, some reports also had it that he had suffered brain damage and that he was on life support.

Although Presidential spokesman, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi; the Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Dr. Tanimu Yakubu; and the Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alhaji Abdullah Aminchi, denounced all the reports as false, intrigues by members of the Federal Executive Council and the National Assembly, as well as legal fireworks over Yar‘Adua‘s continued absence from the country have heightened.

In the Federal Executive Council, some members of Yar‘Adua‘s kitchen cabinet, including the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, are alleged to be the brains behind the ailing President‘s reluctance to make Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan the acting President.

Yet, Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution provides that, “whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such functions shall be discharged by the vice-president as acting President.”



http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201002015134781

Naija 4 life

asha 80:

Naija 4 life

I also understand the man spent 6 months away while he was governor of Katsina . That itself should have been a signal that the man get serious issues

Impeachement on health grounds. dereliction of duty and disobedience of the constitution. period

The man even if he comes back tommorrow cannot function properly, moreso that it appears that his brains aren't working properly otherwise he would have transmit or gave authority to his deputy after at least maximum of 30 days, to make the country wait for him is the height of contempt. It is like a average citizen making noise in a court of law.

Where is his medical records? 109s day is a third of the year. and those are the ones on record formally not counting 'less hajj, and opening of University' in Saudi Arabia

YAR A'CLUELESS is also a LIAR and does not command respect of the citizens of this country. He also see fit to call BBC Hausa service for diversion, is he the President of Hausa people?

vigasimple:

The man even if he comes back tommorrow cannot function properly

@ Vigasimple

The question is has he ever functioned properly before?

A pity that a man with serious health challenges could not
add health infrastructure related issues in his seven turned zero point agenda.

i don't think we need him,