- Constitutional crisis looms again
The current political configuration in the country over the health status of President Muhammadu Buhari has hypothetically crashed the propaganda machine of the ruling All Progressives Congress Government.
Some stakeholders in the polity told National Daily that they are of the view that the empirical manifestations from the seat of power and the functioning of governance in relation to the health status of President Muhammadu Buhari have exposed the limits of falsehood, deception and misinformation.
They cautioned that governance is gradually being halted, adding that at different times of critical national issues the information engine of the federal government in the Presidency and Information Ministry often come out with contradicting statements.
They recalled that at the point President Buhari was unable to attend three consecutive meetings of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), variegated reasons were given by the Information Minister and the media managers in the Presidency. The last was when the Minster of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that the President can work from home and has ordered that all files be moved to his residence ‘for actions’. Few days later, the media aides to the President came out to admit that though the President has health challenges but there is no cause for alarm.
The corollary is, however, that the APC-controlled federal government is at crossroads of what constitutes incapacitation of an elected executive. This is more so when the party in government has been thrown into deep disharmony of interests over the power equation of the country with regard to class relations between the ruling elite.
The epi-phenomenon of the health status of President Buhari, which ordinary ought not to generate any controversy, has been precipitating disquiets across the country. Some of the actors involved in the disquiets may be doing so out of genuine concerns for patriotic articulation for national interest while some others may be generating unnecessary controversies to pursue parochial and subjective interests.
Some actors in civil society who include Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim, Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer in Lagos; Debo Adeniran, an anti-corruption crusader; Dr. Chris Kwaja, Y. Z. Ya’u, Chom Bagu, Olanrewaju Suraju, Ezenwa Nwagwu, Anwal Musa Rafsanjani, David Ugolor, ‘Sina Odugbemi, Muhammed Attah and Adetokunbo Mumuni, had in a statement on Monday decried the inconsistencies in the statements made by the media managers of the President.
They observed that: “When President Muhammadu Buhari was recently in the United Kingdom on a medical vacation, which lasted 49 days, many public officers said that he was ‘hale and hearty.’ But, upon his return to the country, President Buhari disclosed that he had never been that sick in his entire life.”
They articulated further that, “Even though the president did not disclose the nature of his ailment, he revealed that he went through blood transfusion. While thanking the Nigerian people for their prayers, the president announced that he might soon travel back for further medical treatment.”
The advocates also noted that, “A few weeks ago, Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, urged Nigerians to give President Buhari time to recover from his sickness. The plea was made after the governor had visited and, presumably, assessed the state of the President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.”
“However, due to the apparent deterioration in the president’s health condition, he has neither been seen in public in the last one week nor attended the last two meetings of the Federal Executive Council (FEC). His absence at the last Jumat service in the Villa has fuelled further speculations and rumours on President Buhari’s medical condition,” they said.
They protested that, “Instead of embarking on regular briefing on the actual state of the health of President Buhari, officials of the federal government have continued to assure the Nigerian.”
“In defending the absence of the President at the last FEC meeting and other state functions, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, stated that ‘the president’s doctors have advised on his taking things slowly, as he fully recovers from the long period of treatment in the United Kingdom some weeks ago,” Falana and his colleagues remarked.
They expressed that they were “compelled to advise the President to heed the advice of his personal physicians by taking a rest to attend to his health without any further delay.”
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