Presidency sources have said that President Muhammadu
Buhari plans to return to Nigeria on Saturday after his test
results came in “fine.” However, Mr. Buhari’s return
remains uncertain as his team of doctors in the United Kingdom
has yet to certify him fit to take on the significant burden of his
office.
SaharaReporters learned that members of Mr. Buhari’s inner circle
were pressuring him to return to Nigeria in order to avoid a power
vacuum that could scale down their influence.
President Buhari caused anxiety amongst Nigerians when he
abruptly left Nigeria on a 10-day vacation late January. He failed
to return to Nigeria last week at the expiration of his vacation,
instead writing to the Senate to indicate he was extending his
leave in order to receive results from certain medical tests.
A variety of conflicting responses from the president’s aides and
associates, including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, helped
deepen the uncertainty about Mr. Buhari’s status. Many Nigerians
and other groups accused the Presidency of hiding the true
status of President Buhari’s health.
The situation was further worsened by fake news websites that
consistently churned out rumors about the president’s
hospitalization in a comatose state and even his death.
SaharaReporters learnt that President Buhari remains in frail health
and requires treatment for an undisclosed ailment that requires
his absence from Nigeria for a prolonged time. However, owing
to the volatile political situation in Nigeria, some members of the
president’s inner circle have been persuading Mr. Buhari that he
cannot afford to take more time off.
Our sources stated that members of the political establishment
surrounding Mr. Buhari are persuading him to accept a piecemeal
medical treatment plan rather than adopt a plan recommended by
his UK doctors that would take several months for treatment and
recovery. The president’s associates are reportedly afraid that a
prolonged tenure as acting President for Mr. Osinbajo could
significantly change the power equation against them.
President Buhari met two top All Progressives Congress (APC)
leaders in an undated photo released yesterday by the
Presidency. APC national leader, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, and the
chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, Bisi Akande, were
seen in photos meeting with a smiling President Buhari.
However, SaharaReporters learned that several APC members,
including Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, who had
booked their flights to London to see Mr. Buhari were told to stay
back in Nigeria and await further instructions from the team of
doctors in the UK who would have some say regarding whether
the president returns tomorrow or later.
One of our sources disclosed that, even if President Buhari
returns to Abuja on Saturday, he would soon have to travel again
to the UK to seek further treatment.
