President
Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, Aisha and daughter, Zahra, yesterday, gave a hint on
the president’s recovery and imminent return, after a long stay in an
undisclosed hospital in London.
“The hyenas
and the jackals will soon be ejected from the kingdom,” the first lady said in
a Facebook post, while responding to an earlier post by Shehu Sani, the senator
representing Kaduna Central.
Mrs. Buhari
is currently in London with her husband.
Sani had
earlier posted a message in which he made a veiled reference to alleged
intrigues and power play in government circle in President Muhammadu Buhari’s
absence.
Senator Sani
had posted on his status on Facebook:
“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…
“It is the
wish of the Hyenas and the Jackals that the Lion King never wakes up or come
back so that they can be kings. It is the prayers of the weak animals that the
Lion King comes back to save the kingdom from the Hyenas, the wolves and other
predators.”
Mrs. Buhari
took a cue and alluded to some elements around her ailing husband as “the
hyenas” and “the jackals,” and expressed hope that they would soon be sent out
of “his Kingdom.
“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 and support
of the weaker animals,” the president’s wife replied.
Mrs Buhari’s
comment attracted some comments from her followers on Facebook, who wished her
husband quick recovery.
Buhari had
on May 7 embarked on his second medical vacation of the year.
The First
Lady returned to the UK last week after an earlier trip in June, where she
spent a week before returning to Nigeria.
On her
return, then, she said Buhari was recovering well and that he expressed
appreciation to Nigerians praying for him.
It was the
second time since October 2016, that the first lady would openly give insight
into the intrigues at the seat of power, particularly against the backdrop of
her husband’s ailment.
In an
earlier interview with the BBC last October, Aisha had accused an unnamed cabal
of hijacking the All Progressives Congress (APC) government led by her spouse.
Miffed by
some appointments made by her husband, she warned that she may not support his
re-election in 2019 if the president failed to shake up his cabinet.
“As a
person, I have my right to say how I feel about something. If it continues like
this, me, I am not going to be part of any movement again, because I need to
work with the people that we started the journey with collectively so that we
can achieve what we want to achieve, so that he would leave a legacy.”
But the
president who was away in Germany on a state visit, reacted to the interview
during a joint press briefing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
He laughed
off his wife’s challenge as he fired the now famous statement that Aisha
belonged in the kitchen and the other room.
“I don’t
know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my
living room and the other room,” he said.
Also, one of
the president’s daughters, Zahra, also disclosed that he was “doing pretty
good.”
Zahra
disclosed this on her Twitter handle, @zmbuhari, while responding to an enquiry
from another Twitter user, @flakkyBanky who wrote: “Where is your father
please? I am asking on behalf of Nigerians.”
“He’s doing
pretty good,” she simply replied.
She also
replied, “Ameen” when another Twitter user, @ummiana58, wrote, “Masha Allah.
May Allah grant him good health and may he make it easy for us all.”
Inspite of
the assurances, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State said the APC and the
Presidency were in dilemma as to whether to bring Buhari back to the country with his present state or
leave him in London.
“The
president has become a bad business for the cabal that imposed him on
Nigerians,” Fayose said in a statement
issued, yesterday, by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New
Media, Lere Olayinka.
According to
him: “For a president who has spent 113 days abroad taking care of his health
out of the 191 days in 2017, it is time for Section 144 of the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to be invoked.
“President
Buhari left Nigeria for London on May 7, 2017 and today is July 10, 2017, 64
clears days since Nigerians saw their president or heard anything from him.
Even the president’s handlers are keeping Nigerians in the dark.
“Even though
the number of days that a president can spend outside the country is not
specified in the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the makers of the laws of
Nigeria envisaged this kind of situation and made provisions for how to resolve
it in Section 144.
“It has,
therefore, become pertinent that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) must
invoke Section 144 of the 1999 Constitution by passing a resolution declaring
that President Buhari is incapable of discharging the functions of his office.”
Governor
Fayose, who insisted that he was not interested in the president’s death, said
freeing Nigeria from the hands of those who were presently holding the country
to ransom should be the major concern of all well-meaning Nigerians.
“They are
always quick to tell Nigerians that there is an acting president in the person
of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and as such, no vacuum in government. However, we all
know the limitations of the acting president. We know that there are so many
things Prof. Osinbajo cannot do and Nigerians are the ones bearing the
consequences of a bedridden president.”
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