There is no legal or statutory requirement for political aspirants in Nigeria to submit a clean bill of health prior to contesting elections in the country. Even the recently signed electoral amendment act did not mandate this. Therefore, strictly speaking, the law permits any politician with a terminal ailment to contest for elective positions. Apparently we did not learn anything from the late President Yar’adua scenario.

As Katsina state governor, Yar’adua already knew he was very unwell, and perhaps terminally ill. But he accepted Obasanjo’s (who also knew he was unwell) offer to become his successor. Three years into his tenure he died, but not without causing a lot of drama in Aso rock as a desperate cabal tried to foist his corpse on the country.

In Taraba state, then governor Danbaba Suntai, a trained pharmacist and private pilot, was involved in an unfortunate plane crash which he was piloting, in October 2012. He sustained severe, perhaps permanent brain injury and was unable to function independently. But the powers that be insisted he remains governor of the state. When the acting governor, Garba Umar, tried to usurp his powers, he was quickly ferried back into the country from the US where he was recuperating, in a near-vegetative state and propped up for the press. He remained as governor of the state in that condition until the end of his tenure in 2015. He died two years later.

In both cases above, both leaders and their handlers insisted they were medically fit to rule. Since there is no legal requirement to scrutinize these assertions beyond face value, they both had the legal right to rule. 2023 is near and has thrown up all sorts of candidates, the young, the old, the well and the unwell. Some pictures and videos of some presidential aspirants have surfaced online recently which should give any well-meaning Nigerian a cause for serious concerns. The most recent of these being a video of Mr Tinubu visibly tremulous and coughing repeatedly while addressing his supporters.

Do citizens have the right to question the health of their prospective leaders? Obviously they do but the contentious issue is how to ascertain their health statuses. Asking for a medical certificate will be fruitless, not in a country with many medical practitioners hawking their signatures. Perhaps a more feasible solution is an independent panel of seasoned physicians, impeccable and incorruptible, set up by INEC to medically certify political aspitrants (especially presidential) as fit or unfit for office. The issue of confidentiality comes in but their findings do not need to be made public.

The country needs strong leadership and stability at this time and cannot afford another Yar’adua moment, especially not after moving from one weak president to another who spends a chunk of his time camped overseas for medical treatment. Ill health is perceived as a sign of weakness in Nigeria (and perhaps Africa). Hence a typical Nigerian politician will do everything within his/her power to shroud his/her health status in secrecy even in the face of the obvious.

As 2023 approaches, there is absolutely no shame in politicians admitting their mortality. Would a sickly president be foisted on us yet again? The electoral law must protect Nigerians from such.