FOR Nigeria, London is now the new Mecca. Somehow, I keep having this nagging feeling that what is cooking in London is more than the intriguing sauce of get-well-soon visitation to ailing President Muhammadu Buhari by his associates, his detractors and nosey packers who forever long for firsthand information on how well, or unwell, the President has been doing. The rate at which the hawks gather at the Abuja House in London these days should attract the curiosity of political pundits. The sudden upsurge in human traffic to that particular house is a pointer to the troubling spike in the temperature of our politics.
On one hand is a President who is still under strict medical observations by his team of doctors. And, on the other hand, is a coalition of cold-blooded, sniggering pretenders who would give anything to actualise their fatal wish that, by some twist of fate, the President becomes permanently incapacitated so that they can unfold their vaulting ambition with relish. However, since the rash of visits has been softened with the humane touch, the hypocrisy on display is likely to be dismissed with a wave of the hand. But that would be a dangerous thing to do considering the capacity of the average Nigerian politician for mischief. Who knows what is buried beneath the plastic laughter we see on those faces? Don’t get it twisted, nothing best describes the pall of distrust hanging over the country than this latest pilgrimage to the United Kingdom by different categories of highly-placed Nigerians to, once again, wish the President soonest recovery.
What it means is that not many of these persons believed Acting President Yemi Osinbajo when he said he met Buhari in high spirits during his one-hour interaction with him some weeks back. There is no gainsaying the fact that Aisha Buhari’s encouraging accounts about how her husband would soon return to deal with the hyenas and jackals slowing down the business of governance in his administration only fetched whiff of palpable skepticism. Many are too far in their wild thinking that it was practically impossible for them to see a convalescing Buhari dishing out orders from the presidential seat.
The fatalists among them had, in more than one occasion, killed and buried Buhari. It appeared they were only waiting for an official announcement so that an end could be put to the running soap. So, instead of seeing a living Buhari, they what they saw was a ghost! Things had gone that awfully awry before some All Progressives Congress governors and select members of the party dashed to the UK, to check on the President. If the delegation thought the picture that was released on the visit would douse the anxiety over the true status of the health of the President, then they must be living in Mars.
The picture, which showed Buhari comfortably seated in the dining lounge with the delegation, ignited fresh even if annoying questions from those who seem to be versed in the delicate art of diagnosing diseases through images. In spite of the array of fresh fruits on the table and the confirmation that Buhari not only enjoyed his lunch but also laughed over rumours of his ill health, his critics said the picture left many hanging questions unanswered.
They wanted to know why his poise and gait in the picture looked like that of someone that has been confined to the chair. Some said his looks betrayed the mien of someone in high spirits as testified by Osinbajo. Others said he was missing in another group photograph allegedly published by an online portal showing all the members of the delegation comprising Umar Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State, APC National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, Rochas Okorocha of Imo, Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna and Yahaya Bello of Kogi.
If you thought those posers were mundane, then you’ve not heard it all. Less than 24 hours after Okorocha spoke about the President they dined with and Al-Makura swore that the man was not condemned to the chair, one privileged, Cambridge-trained charlatan took over the cyberspace to claim that the photograph was actually shot at the Presidential Villa when that particular delegation broke the Muslim fast with Buhari.
His loud-mouthed counterpart, who had initially threatened to display Buhari’s picture on life support at a London hospital and vowed to commit suicide if proven otherwise, did everything criminally possible to rubbish the claim that the President was getting better and would soon be here with us if his doctors give him the green light. And there was another who faulted the authenticity of the journey just because a member of the delegation was seen at his Maitama residence in Abuja the following Monday. He wondered how someone who was in the UK on Sunday could be sipping tea in his Abuja mansion the next day.
Can you see how petty and irresponsibly stupid we have become? Shouldn’t it be clear to this Buhari-must-remain-sick activist that London is just some six hours to Abuja and it shouldn’t be rocket science to decipher why our man was home with his family? Be that as it may, I’ve once argued on this page that Nigerians deserve to know certain things about the health status of their President no matter how bad the news may be. If anything, the secrecy with which this matter is being handled has impacted the discourse negatively. Buhari’s minders should have known that the resort to feeding the public with his cameo appearances in his living room or dinner table with select groups would eventually backfire. It is either they come up with full disclosures or they forever remain silent as they did for many months. Commonsense and logic dictate that if the President was fit enough to throw banters at the dining table; he should be hale enough to speak with his subjects for some few minutes either in recorded audio or video.
Unfortunately, that never happened even during this last trip. Instead Nigerians were treated to third or fourth party narratives on how well the President was faring. This time, the Peoples Democratic Party was right when it accused the ruling government of being unfair to millions of its supporters. In the words of the party’s spokesman, Dayo Adeyeye, there was something unnerving about the APC’s approach with regards to the President’s health.
The fact that the President’s second medical journey has lasted close to three months means that the general public deserves concrete and verifiable reasons to justify the prolonged stay and not the cocktail of half-truths it is being fed with. And so, I align with Adeyeye when he quipped that: “It is very unfair to keep Nigerians in the dark concerning the health of the President only to be circulating just one photograph in the media for people who have been praying for the recovery of our President all this while.”
Let’s face it, it is the atmosphere of doubts that the APC created, more than anything else, which has resulted in the kinds of tourism jamboree we have witnessed in the last few days. In spite of Buhari’s letter to the Guinean President, Alpha Conde, that he was “making good progress” and “shall return to my duties and continue serving the Nigerian people,” another set of powerful delegate made of up seven governors from the six geo-political zones flew into London on Wednesday to dine, drink and discuss with him. For the first time, governors from the opposition PDP made the list even if the President’s fiercest critics were excluded.
The hope is that whatever fabulous tales the latest tourists come up with should finally put an end to the gale of doubts. But is that feasible? I honestly doubt because probing questions are being asked on the ‘state of the President’s left arm and other sundry matters” by these sworn critics.
They just cannot believe it! And that was after Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State said Buhari’s recovery was nothing but a miracle. As things stand today, even a benevolent pessimist in that group would tell you that it is practically impossible to erase the doubts over the President’s health without flying some notable key stakeholders to London to also pally with Buhari and medically certify him hale and hearty with their eyes. After the governors, close aides and party loyalists have taken turns to eat at Baba’s table, it is not unlikely that the next set of influence peddlers on the line to spend tax payers’ money on this medical visitation jamboree would be the leadership of both chambers in the National Assembly after which other associations would make a case for their inclusion. Already, feelers have it that a group of journalists is already lobbying to be sponsored by the government to visit London and bring ‘eyewitness reports’ to his teeming supporters.
The way things work here, it wouldn’t be a surprise if members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, National Association of Market Women, Association of Meat Sellers, National Association of Nigerians Students, Association Bakery Owners, Rice Millers Incorporated, Millet Merchants United, Nigeria Labour Congress, The Buhari Support Group, Women for Buhari, Men for Buhari, Coalition of No Vacancy in Aso Rock in 2019, It’s Buhari or Nothing Solidarity Group and all other shades of groups push for their immediate and urgent inclusion on the list of those that should be on this “seeing is believing critical trip” in order to confirm to the suffering masses how their President has been eating his fruits, enjoying his ‘fura’ and drinking his ‘kunu’ with a wild grin of satisfaction on his face in London.
That’s how we do it here. Now, let no one ask me where the funding for this all important junketing would be coming from since we are in a season of change. In times like this, there is always contingency plan to accommodate inanities in the name of political correctness. Or was it not reported that Wednesday’s visit by the seven governors was organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser? If I may ask: which is more believable between a five-minute video recording of our recuperating President and these endless junkets in and out of London? The choice cannot be that difficult for those who know how to make maximum gain from the simplest of things. Please, let’s go to London!
