48 days after President Muhammadu Buhari announced he was leaving
the shores of the country for London, United Kingdom for a follow-up
medical treatment on the 7th of March, 2017, he has refused to
communicate directly with Nigerians.
Everything about the President who is a ‘public property’ by virtue
of the responsibilities bestowed on him as a leader has been shrouded
in secrecy by a powerful cabal as rumoured.Regular pictures of a fragile
Buhari attending to special guests at the prestigious Abuja House in
London have refused to surface like we had it when he was initially on
medical exile the last time for 49 days.
The mainstream media has remained loudly quiet about the health
status or actual location of the First Man of Nigeria who appears to
have literally lost the strength to fight corruption which he was
railroaded into office to battle. Foremost Nigerian newspaper, The
Guardian summoned courage to sponsor a correspondent to the Abuja House
on a fact-finding mission but security operatives almost engaged him
militarily to abort his journalistic work.
The alternative media again has risen up to play on the
sensibilities of Nigerians in the absence of a viable and trusted
channel of information/communication to reveal Buhari’s true health
status concealed expertly for egoistic and thoughtless political
reasons. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed
who is the spokesman of the Federal Government appears to be speaking to
himself alone due to trust issues borne out of thousands of incoherent
and unverifiable ‘Tales by Moonlight’ credited to his person in the
cause of laundering the image of this present administration.
The Kwara State native had sacrificed his credibility and integrity
during the heated 2015 general elections when he was accused of feeding
Nigerians with intelligently crafted and spontaneous lies for cheap
political ratings. The former National Publicity Secretary of the All
Progressives Congress appears to be gaining felicitous attention from
Nigerians patronizing satirical and comedy social media pages just to
laugh off the scathing hassles of economic recession which is putting
citizens at the risk of depression. A recent statement by the Chief
Consultant and Head of Behavioural Medicine, Karu General Hospital, Dr
Daramola Tayo, posits that an estimated nine million Nigerians may be
suffering from depression and by my understanding, we can’t separate the
abysmal economic realities of the country from the nationwide
disconsolation and despondency.
There are reports that Nigeria is being ruled by a cabal in the
name of Buhari who has been rumoured to be bed-ridden. Online news
platform, Sahara Reporters claims the 74 year old leader of Fulani
descent suffers speech impairment due to the side-effects of medical
treatments and he has not spoken to anyone in a while.
Aisha Buhari, his wife as well as the embattled former governor of
Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu have doused the mental tension faced by
sympathizers of Buhari by bringing suspected fabricated goodwill
messages of London from Buhari. On arrival, they have revealed the
President is recuperating and will be returning to Nigeria soon. The
golden question remains how soon? Can this be as soon as the coming of
Jesus Christ as revealed by the Holy Bible?
Some legal practitioners are of the opinion that Mr. Buhari can
afford to stay ‘forever’ in the Abuja House, London or anywhere in the
world to attend to his debilitating illness as far as he has
relinquished power to his deputy -Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo who was
handed the controversial ‘co-ordinating’ power as stated in a letter
sent to the National Assembly by Buhari to communicate his indefinite
leave and power transmission.
A constitutional lawyer and former Chairman of Public Interest
Lawyers League – PILL, Dr Abdul Mahmud, affirmed that there is no
specified number of days the President can spend on vacation. He cited
section 145 of the Constitution to back up his argument:
“When the President transmits to the President of the Senate
and the Speaker of the House of Representative a written declaration
that he is proceeding on a vacation or that he is otherwise unable to
discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a
written declaration to the contrary such functions shall be discharged
by the Vice President as Acting President”.
Buhari who spent 16 years fantasizing and jostling for the seat of
the President has being constantly appealed to in good and ill-health to
resign as Nigeria takes abode in recession and insecurity from Boko
Haram terrorists, killer Fulani herdsmen and high-profile kidnappers
like Chukwudi Dumeme Onwuamadike aka Evans – the celebrity criminal.
In Buhari’s absence, the National Bureau of Statistics revealed 5.5
Nigerians lost their jobs under him in two years as against his
campaign promise of creating 3 million jobs per year. A recent attack by
suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers in Borno State claimed the lives
of 17 people with 24 others injured. Gradually, the fear of terrorist
attacks is returning to Borno State as the Buhari administration
celebrates the “technical defeat” over Boko Haram.
Nigeria is also yet to recover from its worst economic recession
although the Naira is recovering against the Dollar in the parallel
market courtesy of the regular interventions by the Central Bank of
Nigeria.
The anti-corruption team has been firing blank following the loss
of high profile cases like that of Justice Adeniyi Ademola and his wife
Olabowale, Senate President Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct
Tribunal and the six suspended judges have been recalled by the National
Judicial Commission. The national budget of 2017 which is the blueprint
of development in the state for the year was dramatically passed in the
middle of the year. There are also the threats that Buhari might not
meet Nigeria as a united nation following the unbridled showboating
between the coalition of Arewa Youth Organizations, Ohaneze Ndigbo and
the Independent People of Biafra, IPOB.
The recent ethnic clashes between the Fulani community and the
Mambila tribe in Sardauna Local Government Area of Taraba State has
reportedly claimed 200 lives, 4,000 cattle, precious properties
destroyed, thousands displaced with many injured people in just four
days. And also, there have been incidents of r*pe and murder by irate
Fulani herdsmen who have also invaded schools with their animals thereby
disrupting educational activities as recorded in Edo State.
This anomaly has further divided Nigeria as victims in the
geopolitical zones seek justice against their tormentors in futility.
The popular notion is that Buhari is sympathetic to the violent cause of
his Fulani brothers. All these are just highlights of despicable events
engulfing Nigeria as Buhari is distracted with the combat for his life
on foreign soil.
But what is actually wrong with President Buhari who has kept us in
the dark about the ailment that has necessitated a blood transfusion as
well as a temporary vacation from his highly coveted seat of power? Is
this a playback of the incident of former President Shehu Musa Yar’Adua
of Katsina, northern part of Nigeria who passed away in office in 2010?
There are similarities between both cases if we desist from being
sentimental, emotional, partisan and economical with the truth. The
alternative media is suggesting with utmost credence that Buhari might
be battling with Crohn’s disease as well as cancer as he has allegedly
become incapacitated including suffering from incidents of dementia.
With Buhari 14 years above the official retirement age, one doesn’t
expect a rosy recovery.
As a man of integrity and honour that Buhari is believed to be, why
can’t he respect the trust given to him by over 15 million Nigerians
during the 2015 presidential election by coming out clean with the
actual status of his health?
Benin President Patrice Talon, 59 underwent two surgeries during a
prolonged stay in Paris, France. His spokesman broke the African jinx by
publicly admitting on Monday, 19th of June, 2017 that doctors found a
lesion (related to cancer) in his prostate. Talon’s case is very similar
to that of Buhari as he was also mysteriously away from his country for
almost a month thereby compounding the menace of medical tourism at the
expense of his local economy.
In as much as most of us still love and believe Buhari could govern
the affairs of this country from a sick bed in Europe (similar to the
case of 93-year old Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe) courtesy of our unfounded
and uncanny loyalty to him, we should remind ourselves that being
heavily drunk doesn’t translate to blindness. It’s time to tell some
bitter truths in pursuance of the general will of the people.
Mr. Eric Stuart Joyce, the well-known British ex-military,
ex-Member of Parliament and serving MI6 operative who has alleged Buhari
is dead without being confronted with hard facts and figures has
described the leader of a country as a “public property” that should be
accurately and promptly accounted for on public demand.
In his words:
“And so, a top tip for Nigerians. Insist that, like most
democracies, it is a strict requirement of being president that your
people know exactly what your physical condition is at all times. This
practice is not historically confined to democracies, of course. Kings
of old were routinely watched in their bedchambers; Queens were watched
as they gave birth to heirs. This was all to ensure that things were as
they seemed. Requiring a president to show he is capable of running his
country, and is definitely not dead, is a simple and practical extension
of this.”
Buhari’s health status has become a taboo topic in Nigeria while
the country faces its worst fear of disintegration. This is the chain
reaction of having a faulty head in any setting. Nobody will be shocked
if a drunken man leads his beautiful body adorned with ostentatious
attires and jewelleries into the dirty gutters of Oshodi, Lagos because
something vital is missing in his head.
Once there is a problem with the head, the other attached units
will struggle and falter. Fate has reduced the almighty Buhari – the
messiah of Nigeria two years ago to a sickly man that can hardly save
himself not to talk of the sinking ship of Nigeria conveying about 180
million people who are backwardly divided among primordial lines
courtesy of the cancerous antics of politicians. Buhari’s effectiveness
as a leader has become a wild fantasy and a masturbatory feeling
Nigerians have to wipe their eyes and recover from because an indisposed
man cannot heal a sick country. Some Nigerians are already drafting
their condolence messages for the anticipated news of Buhari’s demise
just like Yar’Adua. God forbid!
Since the main opposition party in Nigeria – People’s Democratic
Party, PDP has failed to serve as a viable watchdog to the ruling All
Progressives Congress as democracy entails, the onus is on the Nigerian
masses to rise up and take the country back from the hands of
self-seeking elites through vibrant and peaceful advocacies.
It’s time for us Nigerians to wake up and ask questions regardless
of our political affiliation or other attachments to the ruling class.
Borrowing a leaf from the political movement of a former PMAN
(Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria) president, Charles ‘Charly
Boy’ Oputa, ‘our mumu don do
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