The current rumours of President Yar’Adua’s ill-health or death followed his two-week trip to Germany for medical attention. Prior to the journey, the Special Adviser to the President on Communications, Mr. Segun Adeniyi, had issued a public statement, saying that the President’s indisposition had to do with “allergic reaction”. And, when there was a slight delay on the date initially planned for the President’s return, the same Aide issued another public statement from Germany . Since then, there have been all kinds of speculations by unscrupulous politicians, aided by some media houses, which have chosen to peddle destructive rumours about the President’s state of health. Some have, infact, alleged that he was bed-ridden, incapacitated and unable to run the affairs of state.

An editorial by the Punch of Tuesday, May 6, 2008, even went as far as rejecting the reason given by the President’s Adviser for the medical trip to Germany . Instead, it opted for a contrary report credited to some unnamed media house that, in fact, the President’s ailment was “Churg Strauss Syndrome, a rare condition that causes inflamanation of blood vessels in the lungs, skin, nervous system and abdomen”. The same newspaper even drew public attention to the existence of “schemes by some powerful Nigerians to reorder the nation’s political equation in the event of the President’s incapacitation or death”. The Punch regards this editorial speculation as an act of patriotism! But every professional journalist would agree that it is irresponsible journalism and recklessness at its highest level. Are there no constitutional provisions relating to succession should anything happen to the President? Of course, any process outside such provisions amounts to a coup de tat. Other national newspapers (Headline of the Tribune of Monday, 5 May, 2008), opinion and feature writers, have followed the same direction in speculating that President Yar’Adua was either dead or had been incapacitated from performing official duties.

Politicians are the greatest opportunists and they, too, have capitalized on media speculations in fuelling the rumours on Yar’Adua’s ailment. In a statement credited to the Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress (AC), Alhaji Lai Mohammed, published in THISDAY newspapers of 21st April, 2008, the party accused Government and the ruling PDP of mismanaging information on the President’s state of health. Alhaji Mohammed described the explanation by Segun Adeniyi as a “spin” rather than a true representation of the situation. With such unfounded speculations coming from those who ought to know, you can imagine the perceptions of the man on the street.

It does not need much wisdom to know that unfounded speculations about the health of a nation’s President are capable of creating anxiety and social insecurity. In many ways, the fate of our President is tied to the fate of the country; the national security, the economy and other critical aspects of our national life depend on the well-being of the President and others in leadership position. That is why we must exercise utmost extreme caution in matters relating to the health of the President.

Not only is the death of a President capable of plunging a nation into a severe crisis situation, it can generate anxiety over leadership succession which, in turn, can lead to social and political instability. Nigeria ’s success in political transition from one civilian administration to another is an achievement that ought to be consolidated. That, precisely, is what President Yar’Adua is seeking to do by his mission of making Nigeria one of the 20 developed nations of the world in the year 2020. This transformation is possible only if the economy attracts investments, both local and foreign. Of course, investors, especially foreign ones, would not invest their funds in an unstable social system or one marked by uncertainty. Therefore, individuals, groups and corporate organisations, including media institutions, must know the colossal damaged they are doing to the collective well-being of our nation. They must rise above the vindictive cloak-and-dagger kind of politics that we now experience.

It is sad that in the last few weeks, Nigerian politicians and journalists have displayed the morbid tendency of seeking excitement in the misfortunes of others. They have been very eager to make capital out of President Yar’Adua’s ailment, as if they themselves are in a perfect state of health. They fail to realize that no individual has the monopoly of good, nor of evil, joy, sadness, health or ill-health. They ought to know that things are not always what they seem; that an apparently healthy person today may drop dead tomorrow, or the day after.

So, indeed, it was during the 2007 election campaigns when an Ex-Governor who was also a Presidential candidate, was quoted as saying that Yar’Adua’s health would not even take him through the election period. Less than a month after that, the man died. To our rumour-mongering politicians and journalists, this can only be a lesson in humility, especially in matters relating to life and death.

Unfounded speculations about the ill-health of the President can only fuel the activities of unscrupulous politicians who do not have the interest of the nation at heart. Anything that gives the impression of a weak President encourages criminality, lawlessness and anti-social activities. For a government that is committed to the rule of law, transparency and fight against corruption, the office of the President must be made to command awe and respect. That is not possible if the President is portrayed as a weakling, either politically, morally, spiritually or even physically.

Any portrayal of a weak government tends to create a fragile political system that is unable to withstand pressures. That has always been a major source of worry to well-meaning Nigerians about the cynical speculation by some rumour-mongers that former President Olusegun Obasanjo might have knowingly given us an ailing President who would be incapacitated so that he (Obasanjo) could continue his grip on power. That knowledge belongs to no one else, except God.

While urging Nigerians to show restraint, civility and respect in matters relating to the President’s health, let it be made abundantly clear that ill-health, whether of Presidents or ordinary persons, is not an offence in itself. Presidents are human beings and as such they, too, have health problems like everyone else. Even if President Yar’Adua’s ailment were what our rumour-mongers claim it is, he would not be the first in the history of mankind. Nor would his condition be the most precarious. To cite one out of numerous examples, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the United States of America , suffered from poliomyelitis and was paralysed at the age of 39. Yet, he remains one of the greatest Presidents in the world, indeed, the only President to have been elected for four consecutive terms by Americans.

There can be no doubt that good health is desirable. But, it is by no means the determinant of good or even effective governance. Otherwise, our search for political leaders would be exclusively directed at those that are physically fittest among men and women. Nigerians must dispel their biases against whatever indisposition President Yar’Adua may or may not have, and focus their minds on his vision and mission, his philosophy of leadership, his programmes and achievements since assumption of office as President.