That we deserve to be told the Truth! - By Joshua Ocheja
This piece is not another exposition of the many Nigerian problems, but rather this piece is a deviation from the old order that we have so embraced in recent times. I sat and summarized the whole happenings in the polity since the President left for urgent medical attention and I could not help but nod in utmost disbelief. A disbelief that is occasioned by the great cover up, web of lies been propagated by allies of Turai and the Katsina Mafia and a host of other unspeakable things.
I asked myself a very strong question and that same question I ask you reading this piece. Are we all fools? Now in fairness to humanity, I wish Mr. President speedy recovery, wherever he is at the moment. Mr. President is human and deserves our prayers in as much as his loyalists have done him a great disservice by shrouding his health status in secrecy.
Common sense demands that we as citizens of this country ought to have been kept informed about our President, this same common sense has become uncommon in the corridors of power in Nigeria. I stand to be corrected, a situation where sycophants, manifest in members of the inner or Kitchen cabinet and even toilet cabinet if there is any word like that, will deem it pertinent to insult our sensibilities by telling us blatant lies about our President, is totally and morally unjustifiable in all ramification.
Only this morning, I was jolted when a text message found its way into my phone stating that our president has passed away! It didn't stop there, as there was an accompanying link that referred me to the webpage of an American Newspaper named American chronicle or something that appears like that.
What I read there was not pleasant to say the least, I was furious in my sprit body and soul. What the hell is the meaning of this? I yelled out. For you reading this piece to have a feel of what I felt, I decided to replicate the exact words of the report “Nigerian President, His Excellency Umaru Yaradua is dead according to authoritative sources at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre.
He died on the 10th of December at 3.30pm at an Intensive Care Unit at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Jeddah Saudi-Arabia. Sources at the Hospital say that the First lady wants to keep the news secret for the next few days for personal reasons.
At the time of his death he was surrounded by his wife, Turai and a childhood friend, Nigerian Member of Parliament,
The president left Nigeria fifty days ago after complaining of Chest pains. Sources at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Jeddah say that the president suffered among many other things, kidney failure, stroke and massive brain damage. The President has been bedridden ever since. Nigerian officials had previously lied to the country that the president's health was getting better while his situation got worse. The president was conspicuously silent regarding the Christmas day bombing in which a 23-year-old Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate a bomb on an aircraft that carried nearly 300 people. Source: American chronicle newspaper.
This is what our dear and beloved country has been reduced to. I really want you reading this piece to read in between the line carefully to get the message, or rather to completely assimilate the severity of the words used to express or describe Nigerians, whether at home or in the Diaspora.
Before I begin to dissect and highlight the veiled content of the news report, I say this in unequivocal term that, Yar'Adua's undoing was surrounding himself with selfish and unrepentant people, that have continued to further increase his unpopularity with the citizenry, I mean, how else can one possibly describe a situation where majority of Nigerians are eagerly waiting to hear that the President is dead?
This is so sad, so sad that hours after a foreign newspaper reported this item; no government official has deemed it pertinent to clear the air, definitely not Segun Adeniyi, and obviously not Madam Dora, because they are as ignorant and clueless as me and you.
What do they have to say? Absolutely nothing if you ask me, as Members of his inner caucus, in active connivance with Turai, have so isolated everybody, including the Vice President from having an insight into the true picture.
Mum is the watch word, anxieties is the order of the day, and don't we the citizens of Nigeria, deserve to be told the truth at this point?
Back the rumored death of the president, the report stated that our president died on the 10th of December 2009 at about 3:30pm, and that the first Lady wants to keep it secret for a while for “PERSONAL'' reasons.
Using Nigerian local parlance, “this is see finish” them don see us finish! The irony and stark reality of the above description is that Personal interest towers above national interest in Nigeria.
The report didn't stop there; as it went further to highlight the spate of lawlessness in the Nigerian society by stating that the president left the country about 50days ago, and the entire nation has been kept in the dark about his state of health.
The truth is that we can hardly believe anything from these people anymore, as it has been a case of lies and lies, whenever the president travels out of the country, either to perform hajj or to commission a university and even seek medical attention.
The report also stated that Nigerian government officials had previously lied and are still lying that the president is getting better, while he was actually getting worse.
I can only but wonder why government propagandist resorted to this mode of information dissemination as it concerns the health of the president in the first place. The implication is that the disenchantment for the administration has actually enveloped the personality of the president. The president is calm and nice as a person, he actually meant well for the country and I repeat his greatest undoing was surrounding himself with the wrong sets of people.
As it stands, God forbid that the inevitable happens; I see a larger chunk of the population, rejoice instead of mourn. Yes this is what the so called aides that are intellectually bankrupt have caused the personality of Yar'adua. It is even more pathetic that the first lady did not help matters in any way, but rather, she complicated matters. Her popularity has increased to the negative, a reasonable portion of the populace, if asked, will not have anything pleasant to say about her.
I am really tired of all of these lies and rumors making the rounds, I believe every sensible being ought to know that the citizens have an inalienable right to know the health status of the president at any given point in time and progress recorded. We are not that bad as a people to wish the President dead, but we have been compelled to wait in anxiety, and this anxiety has actually developed into anger.
Bad communication strategy, is at heart of the disillusion been felt in the polity. ordinarily, I expected a situation where the nation will be united in prayers for the president, just imagine a situation that President Obama is hospitalized for any reason, the American nation will stand still praying for his recovery and not wish him dead, that is what it means to carry the citizens along, that is what it means to respect the feelings of the ordinary citizen on the street and that is what it means to be united we stand and divided we fall.
It's really distressing that things turned out this way, I still pray and wish the president quick recovery and I employ well meaning Nigerians to join me in praying for the president, for if we go by the mess his aides have caused we will never get to the promise land, after all, Yar'adua is not entirely a bad person. He is human like every one of us and the best we can do for him in his capacity as Umaru Musa Yar'adua is to pray and wish him well.
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