NEWSPAPER HEADLINES: Good health as condition for 2015 election
In this write-up, JOHN ALECHENU takes a cursory look at the desirability of having candidates eyeing public offices to undergo medical examination before assuming offices
The election season is here again. As it is often the case, those aspiring for political offices have begun to regale the voting public with tales about what they can do to improve the society.
However, none appears to have the courage to let the public know if they have any health issue capable of preventing them from delivering on their promises if elected.
The constitutional crises generated by the unofficial medical leave of absence of elected public officers were a source of concern in the outgoing political dispensation.
In the recent past, Nigerians have helplessly watched a situation where a president and some governors were absent from their duty posts on account of ill health. The late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was known to be battling a serious kidney disease long before he was foisted on Nigerians by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007.
Yar’Adua could not even stand the rigours of the campaign for the election but he trudged on as that was not enough to make him abandon the race. It was public knowledge that his health deteriorated during the campaign, forcing him to take an emergency medical trip to Germany. It was former President Olusegun Obasanjo who told Nigerians that Yar’Adua was “as fit as a fiddle” and was ready to lead Nigeria.
Amid rumours that Yar’Adua was dead, Obasanjo had placed a call to the then presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the infamous “Umoru, Umoru, are you dead?” conversation broadcast to cheering party faithful at the campaign rally in the South-West.
As was to be expected, Umoru said he was alive, following which Obasanjo rained curses on those spreading the rumour that his protégé was dead.
Less than two years into office, the true state of Yar’Adua’s health became public knowledge. It would be recalled that his aides flew him abroad on November 23, 2009 while Nigerians were kept in the dark.
Nigerians were later informed that he was receiving treatment for pericarditis in Saudi Arabia.
President Yar’adua’s long absence and the politics that when into it, threatened the nation’s political stability until the National Assembly rose to the challenge by invoking what is now known as “Doctrine of Necessity” on February 9, 2010 transmitting power to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who was then the Vice President.
He was flown back on February 23, 2010 to Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, where he died on May 5 of the same year.
It was these developments that compelled the federal lawmakers to effect an amendment to the relevant sections of the constitution to forestall a reoccurrence. This perhaps informed the decision of federal lawmakers to amend Sections 145 and 190 of the 1999 Constitution to define the extent of absence of a president and a governor.
The National Assembly argued that the absence of a president or governor from his duty post for more than the required period should never be used to hold the whole country or state to ransom.
Hence, they amended the section to ensure that when a president or governor travels without transmitting a communication to the Senate President or Speaker of the House of Assembly, the concerned parliament shall, after 21 days, pass a resolution empowering either the Vice President or the Deputy Governor to act as President or act as Governor – as the case may be. Before that amendment in 2010, the constitution did not stipulate the length of time a President or Governor could be away.
The affected sections are: Sections 145 and 190, which hitherto simply demanded a President or Governor to transmit a written declaration to the National Assembly and the State House of Assembly, respectively, informing that he/she is proceeding on vacation or that he/she is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his/her office. And until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such functions that he/she is supposed to perform as a President or as a Governor shall be discharged by the Vice President as acting President or the Deputy Governor as acting Governor.
However, Section 145, subsection 2 was altered to read:
“In the event that the President is unable or fails to transmit the written declaration mentioned in subsection (1) of this section within 21 days, the National Assembly shall, by a resolution made by a simple majority of the vote of each House of the National Assembly, mandate the Vice President to perform the functions of the Office of the President as acting President until the President transmits a letter to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives that he is now available to resume his functions as President.”
Section 190, subsection 2 was also amended to read: “In the event that the Governor is unable or fails to transmit the written declaration mentioned in subsection (1) of this section within 21 days, the House of Assembly shall, by a resolution made by a simple majority of the vote of the House, mandate the Deputy Governor to perform the functions of the Office of the Governor as acting Governor until the Governor transmits a letter to the Speaker that he is now available to resume his functions as Governor.”
A public affairs analyst, Mr. Joseph Anuga, argues that the long absence of some state governors from office in some cases for close to six months on health grounds should be taken seriously.
He said, “The amendment to the constitution is not enough to forestall recurrence.” He agrees with those who argue that there should be a system put in place by political parties in conjunction with medical personnel to examine the health records of aspirants seeking election into various offices.
This, according to those who are of the view, will help to determine the mental and physical health conditions of such aspirants and their capacity to hold such offices.
According to him, since the constitution also stipulates that persons seeking political office should not be ex-convicts and that they should be persons of proven integrity, it was only proper that those with serious ailments capable of making them ineffective in office should not get into elective positions, which are naturally competitive.
The Executive Director of the Civil Societies Legislative and Advocacy Centre, Awual Musa, said a situation where some political office seekers who are known to have terminal ailments are aspiring to take up seats at the National Assembly or as governors of their states should not be a matter to be glossed over considering what Nigerians have passed through within the last six years.
It will be recalled that public debate raged following the unexplained “long absence” from office by a number of state governors some of whom included but not limited to: Governors Liyel Imoke of Cross Rivers State, Sullivan Chime of Enugu State and Jonah Jang of Plateau State.
The case of Taraba State Governor, Danbaba Suntai, is also still fresh. In his own case, he had an accident which some argue has made him incapable of discharging his responsibilities. His supporters disagree. They insist that given the right “atmosphere” he will perform.
After speculations by several citizens, Imoke later explained that he went abroad to seek medical attention for an undisclosed ailment.
The case of Chime, his Enugu State counterpart, was even more challenging. Chime was absent for four months while questions about his whereabouts almost became an issue of public debate.
At some point, his aides told the world the governor was enjoying his accumulated vacation abroad but he (Chime) came back after over four months abroad only to confirm that he was actually battling with cancer in a London hospital.
Beside the governor’s well known long absence from office between 2012 and 2013, The Punch had in a report captioned “Chime attended 17 events in five years – Investigation” published on December 26, 2012 when the controversies over the disappearance of Governor Chime was ragging, stated that “A content analysis of newspapers reports of Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime’s programmes and activities since he became governor on May 29, 2007, on Tuesday, showed that he had attended only 17 events out of a possible 111 physically.”
The report quoted statisticians in Enugu State, who had shown concern for the governor’s failing health following his four months absence as saying that the commissioners in the state had always represented Chime on occasions, and Chime had always come “very late” to the few events he attended.
“It is on record though, that the Enugu State governor attended every of his electioneering rallies and campaigns in 2007 and 2011. He, however, collapsed in March 2011 during a campaign rally in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State. Before collapsing in Nsukka in 2011, he had relapsed twice in Enugu in 2008 and in 2009,” the report said, quoting a protocol officer at the Enugu State Government House.
Executive Director of CISLAC further argued that, “Health checks should be part of the mandatory things for both the Independent National Electoral Commission and political parties to certify the mental and physical wellbeing of candidates before they are elected into public office.”
Culled from The Punch
The election season is here again. As it is often the case, those aspiring for political offices have begun to regale the voting public with tales about what they can do to improve the society.
However, none appears to have the courage to let the public know if they have any health issue capable of preventing them from delivering on their promises if elected.
The constitutional crises generated by the unofficial medical leave of absence of elected public officers were a source of concern in the outgoing political dispensation.
In the recent past, Nigerians have helplessly watched a situation where a president and some governors were absent from their duty posts on account of ill health. The late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was known to be battling a serious kidney disease long before he was foisted on Nigerians by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007.
Yar’Adua could not even stand the rigours of the campaign for the election but he trudged on as that was not enough to make him abandon the race. It was public knowledge that his health deteriorated during the campaign, forcing him to take an emergency medical trip to Germany. It was former President Olusegun Obasanjo who told Nigerians that Yar’Adua was “as fit as a fiddle” and was ready to lead Nigeria.
Amid rumours that Yar’Adua was dead, Obasanjo had placed a call to the then presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the infamous “Umoru, Umoru, are you dead?” conversation broadcast to cheering party faithful at the campaign rally in the South-West.
As was to be expected, Umoru said he was alive, following which Obasanjo rained curses on those spreading the rumour that his protégé was dead.
Less than two years into office, the true state of Yar’Adua’s health became public knowledge. It would be recalled that his aides flew him abroad on November 23, 2009 while Nigerians were kept in the dark.
Nigerians were later informed that he was receiving treatment for pericarditis in Saudi Arabia.
President Yar’adua’s long absence and the politics that when into it, threatened the nation’s political stability until the National Assembly rose to the challenge by invoking what is now known as “Doctrine of Necessity” on February 9, 2010 transmitting power to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who was then the Vice President.
He was flown back on February 23, 2010 to Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, where he died on May 5 of the same year.
It was these developments that compelled the federal lawmakers to effect an amendment to the relevant sections of the constitution to forestall a reoccurrence. This perhaps informed the decision of federal lawmakers to amend Sections 145 and 190 of the 1999 Constitution to define the extent of absence of a president and a governor.
The National Assembly argued that the absence of a president or governor from his duty post for more than the required period should never be used to hold the whole country or state to ransom.
Hence, they amended the section to ensure that when a president or governor travels without transmitting a communication to the Senate President or Speaker of the House of Assembly, the concerned parliament shall, after 21 days, pass a resolution empowering either the Vice President or the Deputy Governor to act as President or act as Governor – as the case may be. Before that amendment in 2010, the constitution did not stipulate the length of time a President or Governor could be away.
The affected sections are: Sections 145 and 190, which hitherto simply demanded a President or Governor to transmit a written declaration to the National Assembly and the State House of Assembly, respectively, informing that he/she is proceeding on vacation or that he/she is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his/her office. And until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such functions that he/she is supposed to perform as a President or as a Governor shall be discharged by the Vice President as acting President or the Deputy Governor as acting Governor.
However, Section 145, subsection 2 was altered to read:
“In the event that the President is unable or fails to transmit the written declaration mentioned in subsection (1) of this section within 21 days, the National Assembly shall, by a resolution made by a simple majority of the vote of each House of the National Assembly, mandate the Vice President to perform the functions of the Office of the President as acting President until the President transmits a letter to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives that he is now available to resume his functions as President.”
Section 190, subsection 2 was also amended to read: “In the event that the Governor is unable or fails to transmit the written declaration mentioned in subsection (1) of this section within 21 days, the House of Assembly shall, by a resolution made by a simple majority of the vote of the House, mandate the Deputy Governor to perform the functions of the Office of the Governor as acting Governor until the Governor transmits a letter to the Speaker that he is now available to resume his functions as Governor.”
A public affairs analyst, Mr. Joseph Anuga, argues that the long absence of some state governors from office in some cases for close to six months on health grounds should be taken seriously.
He said, “The amendment to the constitution is not enough to forestall recurrence.” He agrees with those who argue that there should be a system put in place by political parties in conjunction with medical personnel to examine the health records of aspirants seeking election into various offices.
This, according to those who are of the view, will help to determine the mental and physical health conditions of such aspirants and their capacity to hold such offices.
According to him, since the constitution also stipulates that persons seeking political office should not be ex-convicts and that they should be persons of proven integrity, it was only proper that those with serious ailments capable of making them ineffective in office should not get into elective positions, which are naturally competitive.
The Executive Director of the Civil Societies Legislative and Advocacy Centre, Awual Musa, said a situation where some political office seekers who are known to have terminal ailments are aspiring to take up seats at the National Assembly or as governors of their states should not be a matter to be glossed over considering what Nigerians have passed through within the last six years.
It will be recalled that public debate raged following the unexplained “long absence” from office by a number of state governors some of whom included but not limited to: Governors Liyel Imoke of Cross Rivers State, Sullivan Chime of Enugu State and Jonah Jang of Plateau State.
The case of Taraba State Governor, Danbaba Suntai, is also still fresh. In his own case, he had an accident which some argue has made him incapable of discharging his responsibilities. His supporters disagree. They insist that given the right “atmosphere” he will perform.
After speculations by several citizens, Imoke later explained that he went abroad to seek medical attention for an undisclosed ailment.
The case of Chime, his Enugu State counterpart, was even more challenging. Chime was absent for four months while questions about his whereabouts almost became an issue of public debate.
At some point, his aides told the world the governor was enjoying his accumulated vacation abroad but he (Chime) came back after over four months abroad only to confirm that he was actually battling with cancer in a London hospital.
Beside the governor’s well known long absence from office between 2012 and 2013, The Punch had in a report captioned “Chime attended 17 events in five years – Investigation” published on December 26, 2012 when the controversies over the disappearance of Governor Chime was ragging, stated that “A content analysis of newspapers reports of Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime’s programmes and activities since he became governor on May 29, 2007, on Tuesday, showed that he had attended only 17 events out of a possible 111 physically.”
The report quoted statisticians in Enugu State, who had shown concern for the governor’s failing health following his four months absence as saying that the commissioners in the state had always represented Chime on occasions, and Chime had always come “very late” to the few events he attended.
“It is on record though, that the Enugu State governor attended every of his electioneering rallies and campaigns in 2007 and 2011. He, however, collapsed in March 2011 during a campaign rally in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State. Before collapsing in Nsukka in 2011, he had relapsed twice in Enugu in 2008 and in 2009,” the report said, quoting a protocol officer at the Enugu State Government House.
Executive Director of CISLAC further argued that, “Health checks should be part of the mandatory things for both the Independent National Electoral Commission and political parties to certify the mental and physical wellbeing of candidates before they are elected into public office.”
Culled from The Punch
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