Tag: President Muhammadu Buhari

It is no longer news that President Muhammadu Buhari has been away consulting his doctors in the United Kingdom since May 7. His absence has fueled some controversies resulting in some fake reports claiming that he was dead or permanently incapacitated.

Against the speculations, Buhari last week Sunday received some governors and All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders in London followed by another enlarged delegation comprising some governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last Wednesday.

The President was seen in pictures with the delegations, sitting with the first delegation while standing and sitting with the second delegation.

But before the two visits to the President in London, there appeared to be a kind of scheming and power play at the seat of power that have not been easy for many political analysts to unravel.

What was playing out was somehow turning some sitting senators to prophets.

They had last year raised the alarm that the Presidency had been hijacked by a cabal.

The wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, in a BBC interview, also last year, had accused some cabals of hijacking the Buhari’s administration. The President then had dismissed her position by claiming that his wife belonged to the kitchen, the living room and the other room.

But similar events supporting the existence of cabal played out again last month when Aisha Buhari and Senator Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna Central) spoke in riddles in the social media.

Speaking about lion, hyenas, jackals, wolves and weaker animals in their separate postings, they appeared to be talking about the Buhari’s presidency, the President’s sickness, recovery, the masses and the scheming of the cabals.

Sani had posted: “Prayer for the absent Lion King has waned. Until he’s back, then they will fall over each other to be on the front row of the palace temple.

“Now, the hyenas and the jackals are scheming and talking to each other in whispers; still doubting whether the Lion King will be back or not.

“Now, the Lion King is asleep and no other dare to confirm if he will wake up or not. It is the wish of the hyenas that the Lion King never wakes or come back, so they can be kings.

“It is the prayers of the weaker animals that the Lion King comes back to save the kingdom from the hyenas, the wolves and other predators.” he added

As if replying Sani’s post, Aisha Buhari, on her Twitter handle said: “God has answered the prayers of the weaker animals. The hyenas and the jackals will soon be sent out of the kingdom.

“We strongly believe in the prayers of the weaker animals. Long live the weaker animals. Long live Nigeria,” she stated

While all these issues about cabals have largely remained on a speculative realm till date, what has become more worrisome is the seemingly two separate positions been taken by the Presidency on a particular issue.

Apart from this trend manifesting in the last few weeks, it played out again last Tuesday starting with the joint press briefing by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu and the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on media and publicity, Laolu Akande.

The briefing mainly focused on revealing the second delegation of governors leaving Nigeria to meet with the President in London last Wednesday.

About two hours to the press briefing, a newspaper had posted on its website that the two new ministers-designate will be sworn in during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting the following day.

The online report had claimed its source to be an undisclosed Presidency source.

Information was also later gathered that the two ministers to be sworn in got their invitations for the swearing in ceremony more than 24 hours before FEC, which was also before the press briefing.

So in the course of the briefing, question was asked about when the two new ministers will be sworn in.

Adesina had replied: “I like the word soon that you used because that is the real position. The ministers will be sworn in soon, sooner than you think it will happen.”

On whether the ministers will be sworn in during FEC the following day, Adesina said: “I think you are quoting the Acting President wrongly, he said the matter did not come up in his discussion with the President. Your paper has been stating dates so we should ask you where you got your dates from.”

Akande, who didn’t say anything when the question was asked during the briefing, later confirmed the earlier newspaper online report on his Twitter handle.

The message posted on his Twitter handle few minutes past 10p.m, when most newspapers had gone to bed, reads: “AgP Osinbajo would be swearing in the two new ministers already confirmed by the Senate tomorrow morning @ start of the Federal Exco meeting.”

This, apart from the confusion it caused, was definitely not neatly handled.

Even though it was not clear whether Akande only got the information about the swearing in of the two ministers when he released it or he got it earlier, but its very important for the Presidency to always speak with one voice at every point in time.

Doing otherwise, under any pretence and scheming, will go a long way to supporting the claims of the existence of cabals, power-play and division in the Presidency.

While many well-meaning Nigerians are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the President from London in good health, every effort now should be geared to support Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, who is presently steering the ship of State.

This is very important because as it is popularly said, a house divided against itself cannot stand.