Should Nigerians be kept in the dark about President Umar Yar’Adua’s state of health?

By Ademola Adegbamigbe

President George W. Bush of the United States showed in 2002 that there was no big deal about a country’s leader falling ill. This, in the view of analysts, ought to apply to Nigeria where the Federal Government is mystifying President Umar Yar’Adua’s state of health, leaving room for speculations, some charitable, some alarmist.

In January 2002, Bush choked on a pretzel–a twisted shaped, salt encrusted snack–fell from a couch and fainted. He, thereafter fell ill. Instead of considering it a sacrilege for journalists to report his ill-health, he joked with them, making light of the incident. “My mother always said when you are eating pretzels, chew before you swallow,” he said as he was about to board a helicopter.

His doctor, Dr. Richard Tub did not hide the matter either. He revealed to the public that Bush was ill and lost consciousness “for a short time when his heart rate slowed after he choked with the salty snack”.

Bush explained further that when he hit the deck and woke up, “there were Barney and Spot (his dogs) showing a lot of concern.” The American President, during a bike ride on the grounds of the Scottish hotel hosting the G-8 summit in 2005 collided with a police officer. Bush suffered scrapes on his limbs and was treated by a White House doctor.
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