Reacting to a recent reported visit of religious leaders to ailing Nigerian president Yar' Adua, Wole Soyinka alleged that the president was a victim of spousal abuse. The Nobel laureate made the remarks while talking to reporters after delivering a lecture titled ‘Leadership and Follower-ship as shared responsibility’ at an event organized by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG). The president was last seen in public late in 2009 and a lot has been written about his illness and probable incapacitation as well as the role of his wife, Turai in the ensuing political struggles. However not to my knowledge has anyone really looked at the relationship of the "first" couple in the context of spousal abuse. Wole Soyinka's analysis really got me thinking.

Spousal abuse can be broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, friends or cohabitation. There are two common misconceptions about this topic. Firstly, spousal abuse is not limited in any way to physical abuse and goes much further than physical beatings. There are other abuses that are just as damaging and serious including verbal and emotional abuse, psychological abuse, financial abuse, and sexual abuse. Secondly, women, although in the majority, are not the only victims of physical or emotional abuse. Spousal abuse is committed by both males and females in relationships. Spousal abuse involving men is often overlooked or ignored by society due to the stigma. In the United States for example, where spousal abuse has been studied extensively as a public health problem, it is estimated that men are 32 percent less likely than women to report any form of violent victimization. Studies also show that women are far more likely to enlist help and to use weapons in abusing their spouses. So is Yar' Adua a victim of spousal abuse?

Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, the elder brother to President Yar'Adua was reported to have told the people of Katsina (before Umaru Yar' Adua became governor) that any vote for his younger brother was a vote for Turai. This was a tacit acknowledgement of Turai’s influence in the Yar'Adua household. There is also a general belief that for his wife, Turai Yar'Adua, President Umaru Yar'Adua most likely would not have contested the 2007 presidential election, in consideration of his failing health.

Such is the commanding influence of Turai who has been Nigeria's first lady since 2007 and who has been likened to Eva Peron of Argentina. Strong-willed, cold-blooded and calculating, she is alleged to have commanded the loyalty of erstwhile cabinet ministers and state governors. Political wannabes continually flocked to her patronage.

Her husband, President Yar' Adua is known to have chronic kidney problems as a result of a medical condition called Churg-Strauss syndrome. His kidneys having failed, he had been on dialysis for quite some time, necessitating several medical visits overseas, even while he was still governor of Katsina state. In November 2009, he was rushed to Saudi Arabia for treatment, having taken ill due to an inflammation of the membrane that surrounds the heart, a condition called acute pericarditis. This condition is a known complication of end-stage kidney failure. While in Saudi, his hospital course was complicated by severe respiratory problems, necessitating his placement on a mechanical ventilator (life support machine). It is also strongly suspected that he also suffered a massive stroke, which left him severely debilitated and incapacitated.

Running a government is no child play. More so, running the federal government of a country like Nigeria. Prior to the president’s evacuation to Saudi, the process of government got so stalled that practically everything came to a halt. A return to power for the ailing president was therefore not only morally wrong but also impractical. In such circumstances, a wife, loving of her husband and her country would have removed her husband from national limelight by championing his immediate resignation, thereby moving the country forward and optimizing conditions for the sick man’s eventual recovery.

Turai however did not reckon as such. She enlisted the help of the much touted cabal and manipulated the apparatus of state, including the judiciary and the military - weapons that she utilized to maximum effect in her attempts to usurp her husband's throne and hold unto power at all costs. She continually deceived Nigerian's about the true state of health of her husband. At a time when the image of the country was being rubbished by civil unrest and a terror plot involving a Nigerian, her actions tarnished whatever good image that was left of her husband while further casting the nation in bad light. In her cunning and scheming, she even stopped the president's mother and family from visiting him thereby depriving her husband of essential ingredients that may have aided his psychological healing. Poor Yar' Adua! If only he could talk.

So much has since happened. Goodluck Jonathan is now Acting President and a semblance of normalcy has returned to government. Reported visits to the president by Islamic clerics and Christian religious leaders have not shed additional light on the president's circumstances. Was Wole Soyinka right in his assertion? Probably so. This is spousal abuse, presidential style!


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