By Adeola Aderounmu

Officially Mr. Umaru Yar’Adua died on 5th of May 2010, exactly 3 years after being declared as the winner of the worst presidential (s)election ever in Nigeria.

Mr. Yar’ Adua has a history of ailment ranging from severe kidney disorders to lung malfunctioning and pericardis. May his soul rest in peace. His death will be an issue for discussions months and even years from now. This is because of the roles played by his wife and fair weather political associates. These people toyed with Umaru’s life and history will not be kind to them.

“Do not speak evil or bad of the dead”. Says who? Whatever! The truth must be told. Death is a debt owned by all living things and nobody will leave this planet alive. The things that will benefit posterity must be mentioned even if we decide to continue in our known deception and foolery.

Mr. Yar Adua shot himself in the foot the moment he accepted to mount the number one position on such a huge controversial ground. His health problems were well concealed when he was a governor in Katsina State from 1999-2006. They came to the front during the campaigns in 2006/7 when he fainted while on the trails. At that point some of us were convinced that the last thing a sick country needed is a sick leader.

At that time when reasoning should have prevailed, Mr. Yar Adua lost control of his reasoning. He never regained it. From the moment he was sworn in, his battles multiplied and magnified. He didn’t find peace until he died. He left Nigeria in November 2009 and was never seen or heard again in public.

My take is that if he didn’t become a controversial ruler (as tempting as that was), he would be alive today in Katsina, managing his fragile health and running his family’s dynasty. My take could be erroneous or seriously faulted. I accept that. Still, power, absolute power corrupts. Even the brightest and keenest of mind are not spared!

Mr Yar Adua’s health was enough reason for concern. To add the worries of 150m Nigerians on that was a suicide mission from day one. Mr Obasanjo and Mrs Turai Yar’ Adua pushed Umaru to his grave, too early. Mr. Yar Adua’s death was highly preventable. He was used by Mr. Obasanjo and by his own wife Turai. Obasanjo dumped him while his wife used him as a national bait in the last days. His political partners aggravated the scenario and he refused to see beyond his nose, blinded by faith or foolishness or a combination of both.

The truth must be told. This Obituary is the least of shocks. Mr. Yar Adua had been declared dead before now on not less than 3 occasions. The secrecy of his last days made this final announcement very trivial. Turai Yar Adua ripped Nigerians of this shock since November 2009. Those who benefited from Yar Adua’s occupancy of Aso Rock took away the sympathy of millions of Nigerians long before the 5th of May 2010. I have a friend who was too convinced that Yar Adua died last year in Saudi Arabia. No amount of evidence pointing otherwise can convince him to change his mind.

Early this year an acquaintance of mine who lives in Dubai and Nigeria told me that he knew something I didn’t know. Then my friend mentioned above told me that: Ade, just wait and see, one day they will just announced that Yar Adua is ________. Then you will say that I told you that this man died since_________.

Right now I don’t know what to believe. I am not a journalist. I do limited investigation that time and space permits me. I react and reflect to news and information. I write what I think. I don’t know when Yar Adua died but I doubt that he died on May 5th 2010. What does that matter now? May His soul rest in peace.

Concerning the presidency of Mr. Yar Adua, it is the worst regime by any president or head of state. It was the dullest and the most inactive in the history of Nigeria. No matter what-truth must always be told. The election that brought him to the number one in Nigeria was the worst in the history of man. It was masterminded by Mr. Obasanjo, perfected by Mr. Maurice Iwu and protected like the Holy Grail by the PDP fraternity. The PDD is the most evil party in Nigeria.

With Monies stolen by the likes of Mr. Ibori and other corrupt politicians in Nigeria, the PDP perpetrated the worst disenfranchisement process ever seen in Africa. Apartheid and colonial eras became child’s play. Nigeria never saw anything that cruel since (in)dependence in 1960.

The story of the Obasanjo-Yar Adua era will be insatiable to students of history and political science. They will never be able to get out all they want and the more they get the more they will find intriguing. The emergence of Yar Adua was plainly orchestrated not by the evil machinery of the PDP but with the sound cooperation of the EFCC headed by Nuhu Ribadu.

Ribadu cooked the lies and fabrications that shut Nigerians in the dark while Yar Adua was being smuggled in. The details are too extensive for the scope of this essay. There are no saints and heroes in Nigeria. Our politics encourages a certain form of compromise that will blow away any sane mind in the twinkle of an eye.

Ibori’s role in the emergence and perpetration of Yar Adua are well documented. The roles of Aondoanka and Farida Waziri under the regime are well documented. In short, evil reign supreme in Nigeria. But even with death and sound knowledge that life has an end, looters and thieves in Nigerian political and public life don’t think twice before doing their thing.

Some Nigerians are mourning but take it or leave it the death of Yar Adua is good news to those whose turn it is to loot and steal. Some associates are already smiling to secret banks at home and abroad because we will never find out all the deals made by Yar Adua and these associates get to keep the money designated for some projects or some unknown transactions. Welcome to Nigeria..!

In all, you can ask: what would it take to learn some lessons in Nigeria? What would it take to have people in public service who will really serve? These are some of my worries and concerns over the decades.

My concerns are about the quality of life that we live. My concerns are about good governance and the spread of prosperity instead of poverty and war. How are we going to move this country forward? How can we as 150m Nigerians enjoy our lives with the short stay we have on this planet?

Yar Adua professed to help Nigeria but some of us knew that with his precedents, there was almost nothing he could do to impact our lives positively. Just like Babangida whose wife died in a US hospital recently, Yar Adua himself did not also see the need to build reputable hospital in Nigeria that could cater for his health problems.

Babangida was a dictator for 8 years during which he stole more than 12 billion dollars and he didn’t have any idea that a good hospital could save his wife’s life in the years ahead. He preferred to go abroad. Death has no address. We will all leave this planet, it doesn’t matter if we are rich or poor.

Yar Adua made the same mistake. He was governor for 8 years and ruler of Nigeria for 2½ years. He preferred to fly abroad for treatment. If he didn’t fly abroad so often, who knows what could have happened? No one knows!

Life remains a passage. Nothing last forever. Why loot? Why steal? Why acquire ill wealth? Why possess a mandate that is acquired by violence, evil and blood? The best way to pass through life is to live and let’s live.

In 2011, we’ll see if our votes count and if someone in Nigeria has learned any lesson that it is appointed unto man to die once. That vote-that we die, no man can change or alter.

May the soul of Umaru Yar Adua find peace, at last..!