The shadow of confusion and secrecy round the state of health of President Muhammadu Buhari just got murkier with the announcement that his return from the United Kingdom postponed indefinitely and that he has written to notify the National Assembly.
Femi Adesina, the president’s spokesperson in a statement on Sunday, announced the new development.
Mr. Adesina said the President wrote the National Assembly “today, February 5, informing of his desire to extend his leave in order to complete and receive the results of a series of tests recommended by his doctors.”
The President had planned to return to Abuja this evening, but was advised to complete the test cycle before returning, said Mr. Adesina.
“The notice has since been dispatched to the Senate President, and Speaker, House of Representatives,” Mr. Adesina said of the new development.
Nigerians were told the president was going on 14-day holiday in London but rumours of his ill health and death rent the airwaves. This is the third time Mr. Osinbajo will be leading Nigeria in acting capacity since he and Mr. Buhari were inaugurated in May 2015.
Nigerians need to know what is wrong with the president, this secrecy and unnecessary anxiety must end. Mr. Adesina in the new notice of extension did not state when the president will be returning to the country and resume work.
It’s like the president is on absence without official leave, AWOL on health ground while his information managers kept spinning different lies to the nation. I don’t think it is malicious or insensitive the call by some people to the president to resign if he’s incapacitated by ill health or can’t carry out his constitutional duties because of falling health.
The president is not the first person guilt of this deed, a number of governors have left their states for months while seeking medical treatment abroad. This is inimical to our democracy and development. Why contest for the highest and most coveted offices in the land when you know you have health challenges? The National Assembly must urgently enact a law that will make it mandatory for contestants into such offices as that of the president, vice president, governors and the deputy governors to submit themselves for health certification before contesting an election.
We can’t afford to have a sick or an ineffectual president running the affairs of the country at this junction. The country is at precipice, every sector and every section of the country is yearning for attention. A president or governor on AWOL on health or whatever grounds is not what we need.
Government in Nigeria is being run like a journey in a dark alley; we need light and transparency on where we are going. This administration must stop blinking in the dark.
