After his ten days vacation period in the United Kingdom in the United Kingdom had expired, Nigerians were looking forward to President Muhammadu Buhari’s arrival in the country. State House correspondents were on standby waiting for instructions on when to proceed to the airport. In military terms, we were on red alert.
But at 4pm last Sunday, a statement came from the special adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina announcing that President Buhari had written to the National Assembly today, 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. The notice has since been dispatched to the Senate President and Speaker, House of Representatives. Mr. President expresses his sincere gratitude to Nigerians for their concern, prayers and kind wishes”, Adesina added.
Following the extension of the president’s vacation, the social media went into a frenzy of reactions, with different conspiracy theories on the health status of the President. All of sudden, most Nigerians who could not write or apply any health tips to save their own lives became political and health experts. They tweeted, pinged and sent all kinds of messages via Facebook, BBM and Whatsapp on the health status of the President.
While these was going on, there were plans by some groups to embark on protests in Abuja, Lagos and Rivers to coincide with the President’s first day in office against what the protesters called harsh economic policies and climate of the present administration.
On Monday, the acting President, Yemi Osinbajo declared open a government/private sector engagement forum on the Nigeria economic recovery and growth plan which was earlier billed to be launched by President Buhari. In his opening remarks, Osinbajo had a message for the protesters, he said the federal government has heard them loud and clear . He restated the determination of the administration to recover the economy.
Osinbajo admitted that the nation was in what he called a serious economic situation. He said, “We are in a serious economic situation and the president was particularly concerned about the lot of the common man. And I quote him, “Recession today for some it’s means not being able to pay school fees, for others not being able to afford high cost of rice and millets and for most of our young people recession means joblessness.
“I for one have been across the states and even today some people are out on the street protesting that things are difficult. What we are saying to every Nigeria is that we hear you loud and clear, and we are determined to recover the economy. You have a right to demand for a better economy and we are committed to see it happen”.
Later in the day, when workers were about to close for the day, the spokesman to the acting President, Laolu Akande came into the press gallery and requested for some cameramen and print reporters. He asked them to be on alert, that there would be a press briefing. We all thought it was going to be a briefing by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, John Odigie- Oyegun who had earlier entered into a meeting with the acting President. Just as we were speculating on who would brief the press, we were later told it was going to be the acting President.
In the company of Oyegun and the political adviser to the President, Babafemi Ojudu, Osinbajo told journalists that he just spoke with President Buhari on the phone and that from the way he sounded, the president was hale and hearty. The acting president quickly added that only the president can disclose the true status of his health.
“Let me first say the President is hale and hearty. I spoke to him just this afternoon and we had a fairly long conversation, he is in good shape and very chatty,” the Acting President said. He disclosed that the conversation was focused on the economy, the budget and goings on in the country.
The President, according to Osibanjo, was “interested in knowing about the budget process and how far we had gone, especially with efforts aimed at taking the country out of recession.
“As you know we had a meeting today with the private sector on the economic recovery and growth plan and he was interested in knowing what was happening with that- the economic recovery and growth plan- and what we are doing with the private sector. And of course, I informed him of what we are seeing, the protest matches and some of what the feedback is, what people are saying about the economy and all of that”, Osinbajo added.
On when the President would return to Nigeria and his present health status, Osinbajo said, “Just as he has said in his letter to the National Assembly, he needs to go through a cycle of tests and once the test results are seen, he will receive medical advice. We should expect him very soon.’’
On the health status of the President, the Acting President noted that at the appropriate time the President will be able to discuss it, especially as he was currently running tests.
Osinbajo said, “Before you determine your health status, you must be able to run the necessary tests, and do what doctors have asked you to be done, and await the outcome of that before one can talk about any kind of health status”.
The Acting President also dismissed insinuations that he was under pressure to resign. “I was voted for by the people of this nation, myself and Mr President, and the people of this nation have never asked us to resign. So, I am absolutely under no pressure, and the truth is that there has been absolutely no pressure from any source”.
On Wednesday in the Villa after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting, the president’s health status dominated the media space again. Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed corroborated the acting President’s stance and also observed that it was ridiculous for anyone to compare President Buhari’s health condition with that of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
Asked if the president’s health came up at FEC, Mohammed said, “I think I can say without any equivocation that he (Buhari) is well, he is hale and hearty; no question about that. You see, on a lighter note, do you think Mr. President will be ill and we will be here and go about our businesses like this? The minister of power was in Anambra two to three days ago. I was in Ilorin on Monday; all our ministers are busy. But I want to assure you that Mr. President is well and he is absolutely in no danger.”
Noting that it was absurd to compare Buhari’s health with that of the late Yar’Adua, the minister said, “I think it was one of the newspapers that said when I was the spokesman of APC I demanded for hourly bulletin of Yar’Adua’s health and that I ought to be giving hourly bulletin as minister of information on the health of the president.
“And I said you are comparing apple and oranges. Mr. President is not ill, he is not in hospital and there will be no need to give anybody hourly bulletin about his health – pure and simple”.
Later that same day, Osinbajo met behind closed doors with Emir of Kano, Mohammed Sanusi II in his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. After the meeting, the royal father was approached for comments but he declined, telling State House reporters that “you can just report that I came to the Villa”.