Skip to main content

When will President Buhari be considered incapacitated?



AT the homestretch of the 2015 presidential election, the Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election campaign team challenged then candidate Muhammadu Buhari to a sport contest. When the gauntlet was left unpicked, the team in a follow up, set the internet abuzz with the juxtaposition of the pictures of President Jonathan and members of  his Federal Executive Council jogging and that of not-too-good- looking candidate Buhari.

The challenge which came on the heels of simmering conjectures on the health condition of candidate Buhari was aimed at passing one message which is: President Jonathan is healthier than candidate Buhari to carry out the duties of the office of president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

But was “health” given a premium in the election?  The vuvuzelas of the opposition party was so fortissimo that not even the yawping of Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti state could be heard. They rally-cried “Nigeria sai changi” and people responded with “Sai Buhari” and thus turned a blind eye to the critical issues in the election.

That health is of premium in the electability of a candidate leaves no room for argument. All public office –let alone the office of president– demands people who are sound both in body and in mind so that efficiency and proficiency will be brought to fruition in the exercise of the duties of the office.

Ever wonder why Nigeria is in downward spiral today? Serious countries never play with the health reports of candidates  for an  election––for there is a correlation between the health of a leader and his/her performance in office. This explains why the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign quickly published the health report of its candidate when candidate Donald Trump alleged that she is not healthy enough to be the president of the United States.

Nigeria is sick today because President Buhari is sick. And that  the nature of the sickness is jealously guided makes the matter more complicated. Whither Nigeria?

The happenings in our Nigeria today often evoke the anecdote of the wise ram. The story had it that lion’s friendship with tortoise was put to test when the former sought for the guardianship of the latter’s child after devouring four of its five children due to the famine that struck the animal kingdom at the time. The request was one that tortoise could not turn down because they were good friends.  So to select the one to send to lion, tortoise gathered its children and began ask: how many times will something happen to you before you become wise? The eldest answered four times. The second said two times whereas the third son said once but when it came to the turn of the wise ram, it answered: before the act is fully hatched I will discover and avoid it. The tortoise nodded and sent the wise ram to lion.

So I ask Nigerians: where are the wise rams among us? We have trod this path before and not only that we are on it again but very complacent  about  its  implication on the political development of the country.

At a point in the Yar’Adua saga, when all the threads in the political machinations of the cabal that hijacked the country were unwoven, the doctrine of necessity was invoked ––I wonder if the National Assembly is waiting for another bazaar before the said doctrine  is  invoked?

In his first medical trip, President Buhari spent over fifty days in a London hospital and incurred expenditure that the minister of information, Lai Mohammed, said will undermine national security if made public. President Buhari has been away to the same hospital since May 10 for a fellow up treatment and with no sign of returning soon.

The complacency that is shadowing the politics of Buhari’s health and our evolution to ‘cabalcracy’ has given rise to the question: when will Buhari be considered “incapacitated”?  A sickness that keeps one hospitalised over a month I believe falls within the definition of the word–incapacitated. In a sane milieu, President Buhari’s resignation would have been a fait accompli.

Odd enough, the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic (as amended 2010) usurped the powers of the National Assembly in the originating process of the declaration of the permanent incapacity of presidents and vice-president of the country. According to section 144(a), the first step in the process is  a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all the members of the Federal Executive Council.

That the members of the Federal Executive Council are the appointed aids of the president made it impossible for the passage of such resolution to be successful for it is like biting the fingers that feeds one. And that the National Assembly, which is the presumed mouthpiece of the Nigerian citizens, cannot come in without the passage of the resolution makes the constitutional provision laughable.

Truth be told, Nigerians do not need a magician to tell them that President Buhari is incapable of discharging the duties of his office. That Prof.Yemi Osinbajo is yet to become a substantive president exposes not just the northern born-to-rule mentality which has stunted the political development of the country but also the APC paucity of leadership.

So, are we going to stand arms akimbo and wait till 2019 before we can do something?  Waiting till 2019 amounts to leaving our fate to the power-play of the cabal that Aisha Buhari complained about and that  amounts to a great disservice to this country. This piece therefore, calls upon the National Assembly to do the needful by arresting the situation now lest water, as they say in the Nigerian street parlance  pass garri.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Michael Kors Buys Italy's Versace Fashion House For $2.12 Billion

Fashion company Michael Kors is buying Versace, the Italian luxury brand founded by Gianni Versace in 1978, for $2.12 billion. The two fashion houses made the announcement Tuesday, one day after speculation spread about a potential deal. Donatella Versace, the artistic director of the Milan-based fashion house who helped lead the company after her brother's death in 1997, said it's the perfect time for the company to join with Michael Kors. "It has been more than 20 years since I took over the company along with my brother Santo and daughter Allegra," Donatella Versace said in a news release. "I am proud that Versace remains very strong in both fashion and modern culture."

Flair, parties, the exuberant world of Ronaldinho

The man who once lobbed England’s David Seaman from 40 yards, Ronaldinho has officially hung up his boots following a career of backheels, nutmegs, no-look passes, and Parisian party nights. Tricks, flicks and stepovers, to watch Ronaldinho play in his prime was to savour a festival of the “jogo bonito” — the beautiful game in his native Portuguese — and that always with his goofy smile. Both on and off the pitch, Ronaldinho was a free spirit, almost as infamous for his nocturnal lifestyle as he was famous for his silky skills. And it was the former that perhaps contributed to a gradual petering out of what was nonetheless a trophy-laden career. World Cup winner in 2002, Ballon d’Or winner in 2005, Champions League winner in 2006 and Copa Libertadores winner in 2013, Ronaldinho won the lot for both club and country. “God has been good to me, he allowed me to live football,” Ronaldinho told So Foot magazine in July. “I loved what I did… and I had the satisfaction of enjoying myse

Islamic State releases purported audio message from Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

The leader of the Islamic State group urged followers to burn their enemies everywhere and target "media centers of the infidels," according to an audio recording released Thursday that the extremists said was by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The reclusive leader of Islamic State, who has only appeared in public once, also vowed to continue fighting and lavished praise on his jihadis for their valor in the battlefield — despite the militants' loss of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in July. "You soldiers of the caliphate, heroes of Islam and carriers of banners: light a fire against your enemies," said al-Baghdadi, a shadowy cleric who has been surrounded by controversy since the Sunni terror group emerged from al-Qaida in Iraq, its forerunner. Russian officials said in June there was a "high probability" that al-Baghdadi had died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa, the group's de facto capital. US officials later said