The All Progressives Congress, APC, has risen to quell growing concerns over the deteriorating health of President Muhammadu Buhari. Bisi Akande, former chairman of the party, urged Nigerians to seek divine healing for the President and warned power mongers of the danger of playing politics with the President’s health.
Akande said the President has to be in a good shape to steer the ship of the nation. Akande’s warning was a direct response to calls by some activists that President Buhari must proceed on medical vacation.
A statement issued yesterday entitled: “President Buhari should take medical leave immediately,” jointly issued by Femi Falana, senior advocate of Nigeria, SAN; Jibrin Ibrahim, senior fellow, Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja; Debo Adeniran, executive chairman, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL and several others was against the background of Buhari’s absence at the weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting last Wednesday and other state functions.
“However, due to the apparent deterioration in the President’s health condition, he has neither been seen in public in the last one week nor attended the last two meetings of the FEC. His absence at the last Jumat service in the villa has fuelled further speculations and rumours on President Buhari’s medical condition. As we join the Nigerian people of goodwill to pray for a speedy recovery of President Buhari, we are compelled to advise him to heed the advice of his personal physicians by taking a rest to attend to his health without any further delay,” said the statement.
Akande believes Buhari’s zeal and patriotism must have affected his health, which he said has direct impact on the health of the nation. He warned those who plan to feast on the President’s health status for their selfish political gains, reminding them of the consequences of such behaviour.
“The health of the leader is intricately intertwined with the health of the nation. It is more so in a delicately fragile Union of Nations called Nigeria. I did not see President Buhari at the wedding of his grand son in Kaduna last Saturday. I was sad and I wept. When last we met at the wedding of his daughter in Abuja last December, I complained to him that I was not happy about his stressful looks. His reply connoted some allusions to circumstances where an honest man fighting corruption is surrounded mostly by unpatriotic greedy ruling class,” Akande noted.
Continuing, he said, “There are two challenges facing the country today. The first and most critical is the health of the President which, unfortunately, is a development beyond his control and for which we did not prepare. The second is the disorder and lack of cohesion between the National Assembly and the Presidency. These are two great red flag dangers that have the potential of plunging the country into unprecedented chaos and of destabilising the gains of democracy since 1999. The greatest danger however is for political interests at the corridor of power attempting to feast on the health of Mr President in a dangerous manner that may aggravate the problems between the Executive and the National Assembly without realising if, in the end, it could drag the entire country into avoidable doom.”
Akande warned that, “As delicately fragile the Union of Nations making up Nigeria, so delicately fragile the democracy and the rule of laws governing the polity of the Union called Nigerian Federation. Certain Nigerian leaders, having been blind-folded by corruption, assume the possibility of using money in manipulating the national security agencies to intimidate, suppress and hold down certain ethnic nationalities or playing one ethnic nationality against the other with a view to undermining the constitution and perversely upturning the rule of law.”
Therefore he said to avoid the ugly consequences of letting President Buhari’s ailments throw Nigeria into confusion, all Nigerians must begin to pray for divine healing and perfect recovery for Buhari.
“Let me warn today that those who wish to harvest political gains out of the health of the President are mistaken. This is not Nigeria of 1993. We are in a new national and global era of constitutionalism and order. We hope Nigerians have enough patience to learn from history. My greatest fear, however, is that the country should not be allowed to slide into anarchy and disorder of a monumental proportion,” warned Akande.