Averting a grave constitutional crisis: An open letter to the FEC

President Umaru Yar'Adua has been a patient in a foreign hospital since 23 November 2009. The day before he left, a public statement by the Presidency announced the President would travel to Saudi Arabia for a medical review.
48 hours later, the President was rumored dead. In response to the rumor, the President’s personal physician informed Nigerians he was being treated for “acute Pericarditis”. This is how Nigerians learnt that the President had, in fact, been evacuated for medical attention abroad.
No one has yet credibly confirmed to Nigerians the diagnosis that detains our President overseas. His prognosis is undisclosed. No one is sure when or how he will return.

Since the President was medically evacuated, the public officials that he left behind have served him and Nigerians disreputably. Some of them have claimed that they are in regular contact with him in hospital. Others have claimed knowledge of when he will return.
These claims are false. It is now reasonably clear that no one except the attending medical professionals and the President's closest family members have had access to him since his medical evacuation. Their relationship with him is confidential.
The prolonged absence of the President from the country and the mismanagement of public communication on his health by the federal government undermine the principles of constitutional and accountable governance.