The Government and PDP must do the right thing on the state of health of the President

The statement attributed to the PDP taken from a release by Dr Akpabio on behalf of the PDP or PDP governors is a blatant corruption of the Nigerian constitution. The Democratic Alternative denounces the plan of the PDP to maintain an indefinite plan of satisfying an internal arrangement of the party for sharing the resources of Nigeria. It is against the constitution of the country to maintain an indefinite period of an Acting Presidency whist the people are ignorant of the true state of health of the elected president. It may be a convenient application of the PDP arrangement for sharing power and national resources whilst Nigerians continue to wallow in deepening poverty. The Nigerian constitution recognises the possible occurrence of an elected president who becomes incapacitated and provides for what to do in such a situation. There is no provision for presidents of a regional or zonal origin. There is equally no provision for the length of time the presidency of the country would be sequestered to a part of Nigeria to the exclusion of other areas. The real issue is that

There is an institutional deceit of the entire country in the concept of office zoning that has been corrupted in the minds of some people as tantamount to development. It is indeed an anti development concept. It is actually a process of cake sharing among the right wing politicians to the sustained detriment of national development.
By all standards of democracy, every one whose name is authentically on the register of voters is entitled, qualified and capable of contesting for political office. Jonathan, Yar’Adua or any other citizen of Nigeria who satisfies the requirements of the constitution and the Electoral Law is free to contest for the office of president. It is unconstitutional for the PDP to surmount its internal arrangement for sharing national offices on the provisions of the Nigerian constitution. The pretence to exhibit the PDP arrangement as the national ethos is wrong and must be condemned.

The PDP plan to hold the president perpetually in office in spite of the wide indications of incapacitation is a continuation of the very disgraceful manner the party has managed his health. The global impression is that Musa Yar’Adua is very ill and may not be able to perform the duties of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There has been a sustained effort to keep the public in ignorance of the truth. It is incumbent on the government, particularly the Executive Council of the Federation to correct the anomaly of keeping the public ignorant. A definite statement has to be made in respect of the true state of health of Mr Musa Yar’Adua. Otherwise, the attempt to perpetuate him in office by the PDP by ignoring the constitutional process is an unwelcome continuation of the sorry manner the party and government have behaved to date.

A continuation of the avoidable confusion that was precipitated by the shoddiness of the party and government is of no use to the people of this country. Let us put the saga behind us and move on with more important issues of national development.