As
groups and individuals continue to claim that President Muhammadu
Buhari’s health is deteriorating while his supporters say he’s getting
better and, with the President’s return to the United Kingdom on an
indefinite sick leave, Bayo Akinloye, writes that not a few people are
experiencing a sense of déjà vu.
Muhammadu Buhari and Umaru Musa Yar'Adua
With a gait less graceful, the gaunt figure dressed in a dark grey
kaftan with a matching cap unhurriedly climbed down from the aircraft. A
momentary, studied smile formed on his face as he made a cursory glance
at those who had come to welcome him after spending 49 days in an
undisclosed London hospital in the United Kingdom.
That was President Muhammadu Buhari returning from his medical
leave since January 23 this year – he got back into the country on March
10.
“I couldn’t recall being so sick since I was a young man,
including in the military with its ups and downs. I couldn’t recall when
last I had blood transfusion. I couldn’t recall honestly; I can say in
my 70 years (sic),” the President had said at a meeting he held
with top government officials led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo
shortly after he arrived the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Today, voices within the ruling party, the All Progressives
Congress, and the opposition, are wary that Buhari’s state of health and
goings-on in the Presidency are more than meet the eye.
Few days ago, the National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party alleged that a cabal is now ruling Nigeria.
Prior to the PDP’s public outburst, members of the Arewa
Consultative Forum and Arewa Youth Consultative Forum also expressed
grave concerns about the possibility of some people in Aso Villa taking
advantage of the President’s ill-health to the detriment of the country.
Prominent personalities like Prof. Wole Soyinka and Femi Falana
have also called the number one citizen to take a break and hand over
power to his deputy, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
Though there is nothing unusual in Buhari being sick, the former
ruling party said what was wrong was his refusal to disclose his true
state of health.
“It is now certain that the country is now being ruled by a
cabal. Members of the cabal are not known. Who is in charge of the
country now? We don’t know. Nigeria is now on autopilot. We don’t know
who is rocking the country and who exactly is churning out orders or
exercising the executive powers of the President anymore.
“This can’t happen in saner climes. We have a President who has
not been seen in public for some days and the government is not
worried,” spokesperson for the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee, Dayo Adeyeye, said.
Mounting pressure on Buhari also is an association of political
pressure groups, under the aegis of Free Nigeria Coalition, who called
on Buhari to “urgently seek medical attention of his doctors in the
United Kingdom and take some deserved rest.”
Just like Buhari, former President Umaru Yar’Adua – who hailed from
Katsina State like the incumbent – was “so sick” in the twilight of his
administration. With a tragic end, the former president lost to death
in a mortal battle over his protracted illness.
Prior to Yar’Adua’s death, not a few people had called for his
resignation or impeachment, among who were the former Governor of Lagos
State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Buhari himself.
Ten years ago, Tinubu, a leading opposition voice, had on January
18, 2010, called on Yar’Adua to step down as the country’s president.
“Now our dear country is living on the edge and hanging
dangerously with FEC adrift, while the National Assembly has lost touch
with reality; and the word ‘national exigency’ has since lost meaning to
the remnants of the ruling party (Peoples Democratic Party). Therefore,
the President (Yar’Adua) must be told, without further delay, to
transmit his authority to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to take
charge of the country, in accordance with Section 145 of the
Constitution.
“I recognise his love for his country but this is the time to
show that love for his country by putting the nation’s interest above
self, and not be misled by those selfish advisers. He has already made
history be being elected as President of Nigeria. So, he must not
destroy that democratic institution from which he has benefitted,” he had said.
About two months after Tinubu’s painstaking statement, specifically
on Tuesday, March 9 – reclined in a couch, in his Kaduna home – playing
host to chieftains of the National Unity Forum, who had paid him a
visit, the former military head of state and then presidential candidate
of the All Nigeria Peoples Party in the 2003 and 2007 presidential
elections, Buhari, made a call that made front-page headlines the
following day.
He had reportedly called for the impeachment of Yar’Adua. According
to Buhari back then, impeaching the former Katsina State governor could
save the country from the political impasse Yar’Adua’s lingering
ill-health had caused.
In sheer fervour, Buhari called on the Federal Executive Council to
save the nation from the political logjam by declaring Yar’Adua
incapacitated, arguing that such declaration would pave the way for his
impeachment by the National Assembly.
Condemning the failure of the FEC and federal legislative body to
impeach Yar’Adua, Buhari said, “Political expediency won’t remedy this
kind of problem because if the FEC had acted in accordance with the
constitution, by invoking the necessary sections to declare the
President incapacitated, we would not have found ourselves in this
present situation.
“As you can see, adopting extra-constitutional measures have
not addressed the problem. If it had, we would not have been subjected
to the raging debates and controversy going on. So, we must go back to
the constitution. FEC must do the right thing, because once we start
moving away from the constitution, then we are inviting anarchy.”
A prominent member and ex-spokesman for the ACF, Anthony Sani, told
SUNDAY PUNCH that what occurred in 2010 concerning Yar’Adua is
different from what is playing out in the Villa at the moment.
“President Buhari cannot resign or be impeached as he advised
President Yar’Adua to do. This is because when the same Buhari asked
Yar’Adua to resign or be impeached, it was because Yar’Adua had breached
the constitution by not writing to the National Assembly notifying them
of his health challenges.
“As a result, there was no acting president while the president
was not on seat. Most of all, Jonathan, the FEC and the NASS were kept
in the dark of what happened in the seat of power. It was against this
backdrop that Buhari asked President Yar’Adua to resign or be
impeached,” Sani argued.
Last Tuesday, the media was awash with a chieftain of the ruling
party, Chief Bisi Akande’s ominous statement warning of such anarchy in
view of Buhari’s failing health.
In the statement, Akande had said, “These are two great red
flag dangers that have the potential of plunging the country into
unprecedented chaos and of destabilising the gains of democracy since
1999. The greatest danger, however, is for political interests at the
corridor of power attempting to feast on the health of Mr. President in a
dangerous manner that may aggravate the problems between the executive
and the National Assembly without realising if, in the end, it could
drag the entire country into avoidable doom.
“Let me warn today that those who wish to harvest political
gains out of the health of the president are mistaken. This is not
Nigeria of 1993. My greatest fear, however, is that the country should
not be allowed to slide into anarchy and disorder of a ‘monumental
proportion.’”
The ACF chieftain does not think there any cause for alarm. He
feels that since Buhari had already put the National Assembly and the
nation on notice concerning his deteriorating health, it is fair that
everyone allow the President to rest.
Sani added, “While I appreciate the sympathy and the concern of
Chief Akande which comes with past experiences when a group called
‘cabal’ in the Presidency kept the nation in the dark about health
challenges of President Yar’Adua, and what happened in the seat of power
which resulted in the introduction of doctrine of necessity to overcome
the problems by making Jonathan acting president in the absence of a
letter from Yar’Adua, it is very important to note that the situations
are not the same. Also, Akande’s reference to 1993 is misplaced. I do
not think there is cause for alarm.”
A president who wrote and handed power to Osinbajo, and who on
return told the nation that he had never been “so sick” in his life, the
northern elder argued, is not the kind of person who will allow some
people to take advantage of his sickness and manage the presidency by
proxy.
In January, the President had left Nigeria for the United Kingdom
for what the Presidency described as “a short leave” during which he was
to undergo “routine medical check-up.”
He was expected to resume work on February 6 – that medical
check-up was the third by Buhari in one year; the President had earlier
embarked on a six-day leave in London between February 5 and 10, 2016;
following that, on June 6, 2016, he jetted out of the country for
another 10 days allegedly to treat an ear infection.
The last public event attended by Buhari was the grand finale of
the 2017 Armed Forces Remembrance Day held at the National Arcade,
Abuja. Since his return in March also, the President has hardly appeared
in public.
Buhari may not listen to those calling for his resignation, or take
a pill he had offered Yar’Adua in 2010, but he promised that, “The best
way for me to repay you all is to rededicate myself to serving you,
protecting your interests and keeping your trust. I am feeling much
better now; there may, however, be need to have further follow-ups
within some weeks.”
That assurance was re-echoed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, when he said, “He
(the President) is following his doctor’s advice. Mr. President himself
told the nation he has never been this sick and he is going to take it
easy. He said it from day one when he came back from the UK.
“So, I don’t think there is anything that is out of place from
what he said. He has been quite transparent and upfront in the matter
concerning his health.”
As the controversy concerning Buhari’s health rages on, the
President has left Nigeria again, for the UK for treatment— this time
around he gave no date of his return.
“The length of the President’s stay in London will be determined by the doctors,” a statement issued by his Special Adivser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, had said.
*****
Via The Punch
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