The National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN ) yesterday declared that Nigeria would fare better if President Yar’Adua formally relinquished power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan while he attended to his health abroad.

The union also described the President’s comments on the state of his health in an interview he granted on Monday to the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) “an assault on the national sensibility” of Nigerians.

General Secretary of NUTGTWN, Mr. Issa Aremu who spoke yesterday at a news conference in Kaduna maintained that Yar’Adua by his preference to speak to Nigerians for the first time in 50 days after he left the country for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia through a foreign radio station, had further legitimized Nigeria’s slide into dependency after about five decades of independence from her British colonial masters.

He said it was hearten warming and reassuring to hear the president’s voice on the BBC, noting however that the terse statement he made raised more questions than needed urgent answers for the crisis of governance his long absence from the country had continued to generate.

Aremu lashed at the decision of the president’s aides to organize his short broadcast through only the BBC on such a matter of national importance, instead of giving priority to the Nigerian print and electronic media, stressing that the action of the president’s aides had put a question mark on their competence and patriotism.

“For one, the president’s voice was heard so late, so little. However, better late than never. But we have a problem with the medium used by the president to address anxious Nigerians, namely BBC. Addressing Nigerians through foreign media on the eve of a mass protest calls to question the competence and much more the patriotism of the president’s handlers. Millions of ordinary Nigerians have been praying feverishly for the president in mosques, churches, and workplaces, state government houses throughout the country here in Nigeria.

“But if the president must seek help abroad as he is already hospitalized in Saudi Arabia for more than 50 days, it is quite  uncharitable for the president’s men to make him casually address us through telephone broadcast through BBC not NTA, FRCN and scores of local Nigerian electronic and print media.. The promise of independence is that our president 50 years after will not talk to us through London.

“This is one incompetence and unpatriotic act carried too far. Wives of high profile leaders now shamelessly deliver babies abroad. High profile leaders send their children abroad for studies which sometimes result in disaster and terror as in the case of Farouk Mutallab that in turn puts 150million persons in a mess. For Mr. President to further legitimize this slide towards dependency by talking to us from his sick bed from a foreign country through a foreign media is an assault on the national sensibility of those of us who had been feverishly praying for him here in Nigeria. One good turn definitely deserves another.

“The president’s handlers must help him through frank talk and good advice in a way that all the good jobs he had done within these few years would not be jeopardized and wasted,” Aremu said.

The union further noted that although Yar’Adua’s casual address on the BBC was aimed at convincing Nigerians that he was still alive, the ailing leader failed to betray the slightest concern about any of the pressing outstanding national issues during the BBC broadcast.

He urged him to hand over power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, arguing that if he did that the country would fare better.

Aremu added that it had become imperative that the Nigerian nation moved on while President Yar’Adua attended to his health abroad.

“It is clear (and the BBC correspondent confirmed it) that the president was legitimately sympathetically battling with his personal health. That is why the president must look at the bigger issues. While attending to his personal health, he must remember he has done so much as president during the past few years and for which he must sustain.

“It is sad that the Nigerian state has been without a president these past 50 days. The president’s predecessor, Obasanjo was well and healthy but we lost a decade under him in terms of power failure, factory closures, job losses. If a healthy president worked so poorly, the one sick abroad can hardly be helpful. President Yar’Adua’s achievements from the rule of law, civility in governance, Niger Delta etc were recorded when he was on duty.

“The president should not give room to mischief makers and political opportunists who want to rubbish all the good jobs he has done  for this country on account of his alleged disregard for due process. The president has actually ‘resigned’ to attend to his health and the country goes on rather badly. The country can do better if he formally mandates the VP to continue from where he stopped. Nigerians need somebody to talk to on minimum wage, factory closures, energy crisis and other critical issues of governance. The best way for the president to consolidate is to attend to his health and make sure the health of the country does not suffer.

“We urge President Yar’Adua to discard self-serving politicians around him by handing over to the vice president and put Nigeria on a sound pedestal for the challenges of governance in 2010. Once he recovers he can resume his good work” Aremu said.

ENDS