Nigeria in ‘auxillary drive’ mode

There is a story about a Kalabari chief whose grown up children were established with their individual families in their various homes, but no more bothered about the affairs of their homeland. Concerned about which of them should succeed him on the throne when he passed on, the chief caused to be circulated to his […]

There is a story about a Kalabari chief whose grown up children were established with their individual families in their various homes, but no more bothered about the affairs of their homeland. Concerned about which of them should succeed him on the throne when he passed on, the chief caused to be circulated to his estranged children, the story that he was sick and actually died, with the intention of verifying each child’s response in the event of a calamity befalling him or his chiefdom. On hearing the story of their father’s plight, the children, with the exception of the youngest, concluded that their father was as good as dead; hence all they needed to do was to commence preparations for an elaborate funeral for him at great expense. However, on hearing the sad news the youngest one left everything he was engaged in and rushed home to see things for himself. On getting home he was pleasantly surprised to find the father hale and hearty. Needless to point out that the chief compensated the caring youngest child with the right of succession to the throne after the father, and to the discomfort of the other siblings.

The scenario that had been playing out since President Muhammadu Buhari proceeded to London on referral appointment with his medical doctor over an undisclosed ailment, may not serve as a perfect fit for the circumstance of the foregoing story. Yet there is a link between them, with respect to the area of inadequate response to contingencies. The children of our chief and some Nigerians seem to operate on the same plane of one-way traffic towards fatalistic outcomes from even the most routine events of life. 

President Buhari had formally proceeded on a medical leave for an initial period of 10 days, which on doctor’s advice had to be extended by just a few more days. Also, on proceeding for the medial leave of absence, he had formally disengaged from the office and handed over to Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who from then had been serving as the Acting President of the country and will remain so until Buhari returns to office in the near future. 

Since then, virtually on a daily basis, Nigerians are pelted with one scurrilous tale or the other in respect of one unconfirmed complication or another with respect to his health status, thereby leaving the majority of Nigerians in a state of uncertainty over the President’s fortunes. Several prophets of doom, including a serving governor, had gone to town with the story that the President had actually died. Just as well, one video clip that was purported to have been a story by the Cable News Network (CNN), actually showed a Muslim funeral hearse bearing a body that was purportedly that of Buhari. On closer study, it was a picture of the hearse of late President Umaru Yar’Adua, which was cloned to fit into a lurid media spin against Buhari.

Interestingly, all of such acts of mischief have been exposed for what they are; figments of the imagination of an anti-Buhari lobby. Perhaps to the glory of God and the bitterness of some ‘bad belle people’, the gentleman is not only hale and hearty but may actually be taking all of these satanic contemplations of his purported death with a pinch of salt, knowing that they would hardly have emanated from minds that are anything but healthy. There is even a suggestion that Buhari should curse all who prayed for his death, to change position with him and die. After all this was the case with Nigeria’s first President – late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was at a time reported as having died when he was still hale and hearty, and he cursed all such prophets of doom to see death ahead of him. Reports confirmed that all of such tale bearers eventually died before him. Such capacity of sending death as a messenger to detractors may well be one of the extra-constitutional powers that belong to a Nigerian President, which Buhari may wish to exercise. 

Seen, however, in a more concise perspective, the situation has highlighted some of the good, bad and ugly sides of a situation when a sitting Nigerian Head of State is not just on vacation but is formally out of office – either temporarily or permanently. The question is: If the absence of the President from office just for medical attention, and for a few days during which his doctors insist he must be relieved of any official responsibility should attract so much stir, what will happen if the situation were more serious? Without holding brief for the President, in no part of the Constitution is it stated that a President of the country must demonstrate the attribute of infallible health, nor the capacity to operate even when indisposed in health as criteria for occupying the office. Rather, the Constitution made adequate provisions for the county to operate a functional democracy with room for delegation and distribution of responsibilities, as if to ensure that no single individual – no matter the importance of the office held is indispensable. 

It is in that context that the complement of responses to the President’s health matter points to a more fundamental aspect of the country’s political health. In the first place, the stream of responses was launched in response to the poor and rather tardy handling of the matter by the media managers of the President. For failing to demonstrate a proactive stance of managing information and rather serving the public with reactionary doses of information about their principal, they are now paying the avoidable price of a credibility crisis. Like a chain reaction, their error of inaction has generated equally questionable and unhelpful responses from some members of the public.

It needs to be appreciated that public concern over the absence from office by a sitting Nigerian leader may attract attention due to the circumstances of the country’s history. Older Nigerians easily recall several instances, especially during the military era when the country’s leaders were disposed off in untoward circumstances, with the public left guessing, until facts later emerge to clarify if the leader was dead or alive. The case of Nigeria’s former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon in 1976 was most instructive as he was deposed from office while addressing a special session of the defunct Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Addis Ababa. On being notified of the change of guard right during his address, the gentleman simply packed his papers and excused himself from the gathering of fellow African leaders.

Even recently, the circumstances of the last days of late President Umaru Yar’ Adua have also stirred in Nigerians some incredulity over tales about the ‘Ogas’ at the top, which do not measure up to public expectations of credibility. This lesson of this reality can only be lost to image managers of high profile pubic  officers in Nigeria Presidency at their own discomfort. 

Nevertheless, thanks to Buhari’s well deserved medical vacation and the opportunity it has offered Nigerians to discover that Osinbajo is a steady hand and faithful deputy to Buhari – a proof that even with the country running on ‘auxiliary drive’ mode; that is without the President himself at the controls, ‘nothing spoil’.