By Sufuyan Ojeifo<\/p>\n
When President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) entered the presidential race in 2015, he might not have appreciated, as a fact, that he was taking his luck too far, given his age and, more importantly, his health status.\u00a0 Recall that he had unsuccessfully run for the position of president in 2003, 2007 and 2011.\u00a0 Following his defeat in 2011, he had, amid lachrymal emotion, announced that he would not contest the presidency again.<\/p>\n
But the opposition forces, which had done their political calculations, realised that the only person who could passionately galvanise popular support in the north was Buhari.\u00a0 Little wonder they made available all the resources needed for his presidential enterprise while he only made himself available.<\/p>\n
Those opposed to his presidency panicked because of the cult-like following that he enjoyed in the north.\u00a0 Added to the south-west votes that would be mobilised under the formidable leadership of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the opposition was confident it would most likely upstage the applecart of Goodluck Jonathan\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n
Therefore, so many stratagems were introduced into the campaign mix.\u00a0 For instance, Jonathan\u2019s handlers made so much noise about Buhari\u2019s failing health.\u00a0 But his supporters, and Nigerians, who wanted anybody but Jonathan, discountenanced the public service announcement by casting their votes for Buhari and his promised change.<\/p>\n
Buhari was confident to sweep into power on the wings of the legacy party- the All Progressives Congress (APC).\u00a0 The issue that probably preoccupied his mind was his health.\u00a0 Would it be able to withstand the strains and rigours of governance?\u00a0 Rewind: perhaps, if he had been lucky in 2003, or 2007 or even 2011 to become president, the narrative might have been different, given the fact that he would have been younger, stronger and, perhaps healthier in office than he now is.<\/p>\n
Today, Buhari is sick and unable to attend to governance.\u00a0 Recent developments have convincingly indicated that what ails the president appears to be very serious, although, the nature of his sickness has not been officially confirmed.\u00a0 When he returned from his first major medical voyage to the United Kingdom recently, he said he had not been this sick in his life.\u00a0 He even confessed that he had blood transfusion.<\/p>\n
His inability, in recent times, to rise to the challenges of governance such that on three consecutive occasions, he could not attend the weekly meetings of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), in addition to staying away from other public functions, has been confirmatory of a health condition that is degenerating.<\/p>\n
What should then happen in this circumstance?\u00a0 What should Buhari do, knowing full well that his presidency is a long distance race \u2013 up to 2019 and, by reason of strength, good health and life, through the intervening years to 2023 on a second term basis? But does he have the endurance to go the entire hog?\u00a0 This is the pertinent question, which only Buhari can answer and relate to.<\/p>\n
In 2009\/2010, this was the situation that confronted the late President Umaru Yar\u2019Adua, who was terminally ill, before he died in office on May 5, 2010.\u00a0 By the time Yar\u2019Adua was debilitated by ill-health and became vegetative, he could not, personally, answer that question.\u00a0 The cabal or the hawks around him, who were enamoured by presidential power and were afraid to lose their privileged positions and access to the nation\u2019s commonwealth, did everything possible to sustain Yar\u2019Adua in office.\u00a0 The only thing they could not do was to mummify and prop him up after death on his seat as if he were still alive.<\/p>\n
Should history be allowed to repeat itself as a farce with Buhari\u2019s ill-health?\u00a0 The Punch in its editorial of May 4, 2017, titled: \u201cDeepening uncertainty over Buhari\u2019s health\u201d, brilliantly dissected the circumstance in all its ramifications and surmised that the president should immediately declare his health status to put an end to the speculations surrounding it.\u00a0 This has not been done.\u00a0 Second, that he should not hesitate any further to embark on another medical vacation and transfer power to the vice president, which he has now done.<\/p>\n
The other outstanding call, which the newspaper editorial considered the most important, was for him to resign right away, discountenancing the advice by the power hawks around him who might want to advise to the contrary.\u00a0 I concur with this advice.\u00a0 But it will take nationalism, statesmanship and selflessness, which advance the interest of the nation and defer personal interest in a situation like this that beckons on the president to actuate the doctrine of necessity.<\/p>\n
There is nothing wrong on the surface of it if Buhari decides to resign.\u00a0 After all, as I have always told my friends, there are no more points for him to prove.\u00a0 He has done his best for the nation and for himself.\u00a0 His health should be paramount to him now.\u00a0 If he can no longer commit himself to governance due to ill-health, it should be in his interest as a man of integrity and the nation whose people gave him their sacred mandate, to honestly make a historic declaration to that effect.<\/p>\n
To be sure, history and posterity will not forget him as a leader who, for love of country, resigned from office when he became encumbered by ill-health.\u00a0 He would not be the first leader to make such a sacrifice in human history.\u00a0 In August 2001, the late Bolivian ex-dictator, Hugo Banzer Suarez, who guided the country to democracy, resigned from office after falling ill with lung cancer that had spread.\u00a0 He died on May 6, 2002.<\/p>\n
As I have noted supra, nothing is wrong on the surface of a decision by Buhari to resign.\u00a0 But underneath, there is bound to be a m\u00e9lange of political considerations, permutations and calculations, which typifies the nation\u2019s political plurality as well as ethnic and regional complexities in the contestation for and management of presidential power.<\/p>\n
It is sad that due to a natural occurrence, the north was understandably \u201cshortchanged\u201d in 2010 when Yar\u2019Adua died and Vice President Goodluck Jonathan had to take over from him.\u00a0 It will even be sadder if a similar situation repeats itself such that the north\u2019s shareholding in the presidency is again threatened.\u00a0 This is why intensive prayers must be offered for Buhari to stay alive, hale and hearty.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, there is nothing wrong if Buhari decides to put in place a concrete arrangement that will ensure a seamless transition and transfer of power, preparatory to 2019 presidential election.\u00a0 He can even make a statement to the nation that for reasons of his failing health, he is resigning and that his vice president will complete the remaining of his term in office, subsequent to which the political system will be guided to do the needful: ensuring that power returns or is retained in the north in 2019 to 2023.<\/p>\n
This will settle the matter.\u00a0 The fears will be gone.\u00a0 The battle for the presidency will be pigeonholed or localized in the north.\u00a0 Political forces in the country will all look northwards.\u00a0 This will, certainly, assuage the fears of the north, particularly the far north.\u00a0 Commonsense.<\/p>\n
*Ojeifo, an Abuja-based journalist, contributed this piece via ojwonderngr@yahoo.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Sufuyan Ojeifo When President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) entered the presidential race in 2015, he might not have appreciated, as a fact, that he was taking his luck too far,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n