In spite of
his obvious infirmity, loyalists to Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari are
prepared to campaign for his re-election in 2019. But they may be in for a
resounding defeat if numbers from the latest Guardian Poll and rounds of
protests in the nation’s capital, which entered the fourth day yesterday, are
anything to go by.
There is a
growing level of disenchantment with the Buhari government which came into
power on the wings of promises to reposition the country by fighting
corruption, improving security and remodelling the economy.
While
appreciable progress has been recorded in the fight against insurgency in
northeast Nigeria and corruption, the country’s economy is in the throes of a
stubborn recession that has led to the death of many businesses while inflation
continues to journey upwards.
More
importantly, the president, ushered in in 2015 like a messiah of sorts, has
spent more days outside of Nigeria in 2017, attending to an undisclosed
ailment.
While the
Nigerian Senate has stated that President Buhari has not violated any part of
the constitution by staying outside Nigeria for more than 90 days, respondents
to the Guardian Poll conducted on August 10, 2017, faulted the president on
moral grounds.
Expressing
their displeasure with the bad turn of events, 67% of 1933 respondents to poll
conducted on the newspaper’s website, Twitter and Facebook pages said the
ailing president should resign from his position owing to his prolonged
absence.
A paltry 19%
expressed support for the former military ruler while a further 11 % responded
that it Buhari’s prerogative to either resign or continue to lead the country.
Only a meagre three percent of the respondents felt unbothered by his absence.
The
president left for London for a medical check up on May 7, leaving Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo to lead the country.
The president,
in a recent letter to Guinea’s President Alpha Conde, said he would only return
to Nigeria “as soon as doctors give the go-ahead.”
He had
earlier left Nigeria on January 19 for London to “undergo routine medical
check-ups” during a short holiday. He only returned on March 10 after an
extended period of medical treatment.
He tacitly
acknowledged that he was very ill, telling his cabinet members that “I couldn’t
recall being so sick since I was a young man.” He also said he had “blood
transfusions, going to the laboratories and so on and so forth”.
His absence
in Nigeria since May 7 has birthed rounds of protests and calls for him to
resign. But his aides insisted that calls for his resignation were unnecessary
distractions.
“It is very
insensitive of anyone to begin to call on someone who is unwell to resume,”
Lauretta Onochie, President Buhari’s personal assistant on social media said
earlier in the week.
“Governance
is going on, the role of the President is that of coordination; governance is a
collective duty.
“When he was
leaving, power was fully transferred to the Vice President and today, we have
an Acting President,” she added, echoing earlier points made by the president’s
spokespersons.
Validating
that position, the spokesman for the Nigerian Senate said in a statement on
Tuesday that the 74-year old Nigerian leader has not violated any
constitutional provisions in spite of being out of the country for more than 90
days. He condemned protesters who have been gathering at the nation’s capital
Abuja since Monday as paid “cheap publicity” seekers.
“The
President has broken no law and therefore we do not see any justification for
this diversion and noise making,” said Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi.
“The
sponsors are merely seeking cheap publicity at the expense of the peace of
Nigeria.
“We, in the
National Assembly, are satisfied that there is no vacuum. The Federal
Government is working. Acting President Yemi Osinbajo is providing the required
leadership. So, there is no reason for the protests.”
But one of
the organisers of the Abuja protests disputed the allegations that the protests
were sponsored. He said all his group wanted was for the president to obey
Section of 144 of the Nigerian Constitution.
“What our
group is saying is that the President needs to come back home and resume and
work on the mandate that he promised the people,” Deji Adeyanju told Channels
TV.
“We are
saying that Section 144 is the only thing that can help to solve the problem,”
he added.
Regardless
of the vote of confidence given the president by the Senate, his polls numbers
are not looking good. It will take more than the reliance on his loyal base for
him to win a reelection in 2019 if at all he runs again.
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