President Muhammadu Buhari
Today makes it 50 days since President
Muhammadu Buhari left the country for the United Kingdom on a medical
vacation, yet Nigerians still do not know the President’s ailment, the
treatment he travelled for and when he will be back.
Some Nigerians, who spoke to SUNDAY PUNCH
on Saturday, expressed dissatisfaction with the refusal of the
Presidency to update citizens on the President’s health and treatment.
Those who spoke with SUNDAY PUNCH,
including the Yoruba Council of Elders, Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo,
Urhobo Progress Union, the Ijaw National Congress, prominent elder
statesmen, professional and religious bodies, said Nigerians deserved to
know exactly how their president is faring.
Speaking with one of our correspondents,
the Secretary General of the YCE, Dr. Kunle Olajide, who spoke on
behalf of the elders, said the presidency should not have kept Nigerians
in the dark over Buhari’s health. He said, “It is worrisome that
Nigerians are kept in absolute darkness about the whereabouts and
medical status of their president.
“We need periodic information about all
these questions. This will keep Nigerians abreast (of developments) and
make them sympathise with the president. What happens to the president
of a country cannot be kept private or secret.”
The Pan-Igbo group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo,
also said it was wrong of the ‘cabal’ to keep Nigerians in the dark
concerning Buhari’s health.
Reacting to Buhari’s prolonged absence
and the secrecy surrounding his health, the Deputy Publicity Secretary
of Ohanaeze, Mr. Chuks Ibegbu, told one of our correspondents in Enugu
that the silence of the President’s handlers had become a ‘security
threat.’
Ibegbu said, “He (Buhari) is the
president of the country, of all Nigerians, and not the president of the
cabal. Moreover, he is being treated with taxpayers’ money. Nigerians
are picking his bills by virtue of the fact that he is their president,
so his state of health should be made known to all Nigerians.
“The silence and confusion surrounding
Mr. President’s health is a security threat. It is generating tension
and anxiety in the country and already you can see that some elements
are capitalising on the situation to threaten public peace and security.
“Nigerians deserve to know the nature of
the ailment and treatment he is undergoing, the hospital he is
receiving treatment and when to expect him back in the country.
Nigerians deserve to be kept abreast of these issues.
“In the same vein, if Mr. President is
capable of talking, he should douse the tension by talking to Nigerians
from wherever he is and tell us his exact condition of health. We don’t
want a repeat of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s scenario.”
The National Coordinator of the Yoruba
Progressive Movement, Oladosu Oladapo, called on the Senate to be alive
to its responsibility of taking necessary action to ascertain the
President’s ability to continue in office after a certain period of
absence.
He said, “The constitution is clear on
all issues that are causing apprehension among Nigerians. That is why we
have the vice president and the constitution empowers him to act in the
president’s absence.
“The maximum (period) that he
(president) can stay out of office in this case is 60 days, after which
the Senate can make necessary moves to ascertain the president’s
condition.”
An elder statesman and former Kaduna
State Governor, Balarabe Musa, asked Nigerians to approach the National
Assembly to seek necessary information about the President’s health
since his aides were not willing to talk about it.
The Yoruba socio-cultural group,
Afenifere, said it was clear that Buhari did not properly hand over to
Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo.
This, according to the group, had frustrated the execution of some vital developmental projects in the country.
Speaking with SUNDAY PUNCH, Afenifere spokesperson, Yinka Odumakin, urged the president to resign if he could no longer function, owing to his ill health.
The group also advised the President to declare the actual state of his health.
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He said, “ He (Buhari) should be in a
situation to evaluate how long he can continue to meander through this
and take a patriotic decision in terms of letting go of presidential
powers so that the country can move forward.
“The acting president is pretending that
he cannot find the cabal. But Nigerians have seen the cabal in
operation; the fact that he (Osinbajo) cannot swear in ministers after
many days of being cleared speaks volume.”
In the same vein, Afenifere leader,
Chief Ayo Adebanjo, said it was not right to keep Nigerians in suspense
over the state of the President’s health.
He said, “It is now left for the
National Assembly to demand an official medical examination, whether he
is still capable of ruling the country or not. That is the
constitutional procedure. If he is not able to function in that
capacity, he should hand over to the vice-president.
“It is too long a time for us not to
have an official statement about his medical position and other
information about his health. Impeachment is too strong a position to
consider. If they weigh his medical position, and he is unfit to govern,
he should resign. The constitution says, if he is not capable of
performing his duties, he should resign.”
Similarly, the Secretary General of the
group, Chief Sehinde Arogbofa, questioned the secrecy surrounding the
whereabouts of President Buhari.
He said, “It is not new for somebody to
be sick, but our people in Nigeria have forgotten that the President is
public property.”
The National Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress, Gani Adams, expressed similar concerns.
The OPC leader said, “It is a pity that
our president went for a medical trip and nobody knows the name of the
hospital in which he was admitted in the UK.”
A Second Republic lawmaker, Junaid Mohammed, asked Buhari’s cabinet to pronounce him unable to govern.
Mohammed said if the cabinet could not
pronounce him unfit to govern, the National Assembly should commission a
group of medical experts, among whom will be Buhari’s personal
physician, to assess his health and see whether he is fit to govern or
not.
He said, “The responsibility of any
elected official is primarily to govern. The second is to be physically
present and seen to maintain law and order and to guarantee the dignity
of all Nigerians. The moment a president is unable to exercise this
basic function, he has no reason to be there.”
Similarly, the leadership of the Ijaw
National Congress expressed worry over the silence surrounding Buhari’s
health and called on the President’s aides to publish a weekly bulletin
on his health condition.
The INC spokesman, Mr. Miebaka
Tamunomiebi, said, “As Nigerians, we should know. There should be weekly
bulletins about the President’s health. They are spending state’s
money. I heard that the plane that carried President Buhari to London is
still at the airport waiting for him. An online medium published it.”
A chieftain of the Arewa Consultative
Forum and spokesperson for the northern delegates at the 2014 National
Conference, Anthony Sani, however, dismissed the hue and cry about the
President’s health.
He said, “I remember when President
Buhari returned from his first trip, he said he had never been so sick
in his life and that he would be going back for further evaluation,
which he has done and is still there.”
Another chieftain of the ACF, Mohammed Abdulrahman, told SUNDAY PUNCH that there was no need to raise the alarm over President Buhari’s stay in a London hospital.
“I am not bothered about the fact that
President Muhammadu Buhari has been in a London hospital in the United
Kingdom to care for his health. He will not survive if he stays in
Nigeria. To be fair to him, he can stay in that hospital as long as he
can be strong again.”
A former Minister of State for
Education, Professor Jerry Agada, however, asked President Buhari to
disclose his health status to Nigerians if he wanted the country to move
forward.
Agada, who stated this in an interview
with one of our correspondents in Makurdi, the Benue State capital,
explained that either President Buhari’s aides or the President himself
should endeavour to disclose his health status to clear all doubts and
erase the rumours about his well-being.
In a similar vein, the Centre for
Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership urged the Federal Government to
disclose the state of the President’s health to Nigerians.
CACOL Director, Debo Adeniran, in an
interview with one of our correspondents, said although there was no
huge vacuum in governance, Nigerians deserved a “correct and accurate
update” on their president’s health.
He said, “When the president was going
away, he did not give us a definite time he was going to return. And
Nigerians don’t deserve a weak president, who will only be a
figurehead.”
The Director of Muslim Rights Concern, Professor Ishaq Akintola, however, argued that Buhari, was like every other mortal.
“He is a human being like us. President
Buhari is not made of steel or iron. He can fall sick. We’re not
bothered on how long he stays in the United Kingdom as long as he
returns home healthy and strong. He’s not a lazy man. Nigerians love him
and we will continue to pray on his behalf,” Akintola said.
But the President of the Christian
Association of Nigeria, through its Director of Legal and Public
Affairs, Kwamkur Samuel, said Buhari’s absence had led to different
interpretations among Nigerians.
“Nigerians of all faiths have been
praying for the quick recovery and safe return of the President but
worried that the Presidency is still concealing his actual health
condition as against our earlier advice to the government that Nigerians
need to know the medical situation of the President.
“He is our leader, the father of the
land. The long silence and sometimes false presentation of issues on his
health has given room for so much agitation and insinuations on the
ability of the President to lead the nation to the Promised Land. If the
Presidency is open to Nigerians on his health as expected, we would
have been more focused in our prayers and support. As Christians, we
will not stop praying for the recovery of the President.”
Economists also lamented that the
continued absence of President Buhari from the country could adversely
affect Nigeria’s economic development.
A Professor of Economics, Sheriffdeen
Tella, said, “No doubt, there are certain issues which the Acting
President, Yemi Osinbajo, is not aware of that the President’s handlers
want President Buhari to decide on directly. However, we should give
credit to the acting president because of the way he has been handling
the polity. We can’t rule out the fact that taking certain decisions is
beyond Osinbajo.”
Also, speaking on the impact that the 50
days of Buhari’s absence from the country could have on the economy,
another economist, Dr. Shadrack Madlion, said, “Without the President in
town, we are faced with a dire situation.
“There is a serious economic implication
that President Muhammadu Buhari is causing. It is that of food
security. There are two ships out there which should bring in maize. We
need at least 7.5 metric tonnes of that but we are only capable of
producing about two metric tonnes. The Federal Government is running a
campaign that we should grow what we eat. But at the moment, it appears
we don’t have that capacity.”