Breaking… Buhari returns home today, after 103 days in London

After spending 103 days in London for an undisclosed ailment, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, is returning to the country today, Saturday August 19.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, made the disclosure in a brief statement on his Facebook page Saturday morning, explaining that the President will return to the country later today, after receiving medical attention in London.

According to Adesina, President Buhari is expected to speak to Nigerians in a broadcast by 7am on Monday, August 21, 2017.

Buhari has spent 103 days receiving treatment for a yet to be disclosed ailment. He had earlier spent 49 days in London on a similar medical vacation.

Buhari had left Nigeria on May 7 on a follow-up medical trip advised by his doctors, culminating in a lengthy stay enshrouded in secrecy and generating widespread controversy.

Although the president had transmitted the constitutionally stipulated letter to the National Assembly, many expressed concerns over the repeat trip, the non-disclosure of his actual health status, and the cost of his medical trip.

His long sojourn in London, which was marked by inaccessibility, silence from the president, and non-appearance in public, led to loud calls for an official enquiry, resignation, and even impeachment.

Repeated assurances by government officials on the president’s steady improvement, without any proof, were greeted with cynicism, rebuke, and outright dismissal as falsehoods, by sections of the Nigerian public.

Read also: #RESUMEORRESIGN: Nigerians in London hold overnight protest against Buhari

Ekiti State Governor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum chairman, Ayo Fayose, and former minister Femi Fani-Kayode who is also a notable member of the PDP, were the harshest and most consistent critics of the handling of the president’s health.

Governor Fayose even claimed that the president was on life support and that he had evidence to prove it.

But the public perception and narrative started shifting after Acting President Yemi Osibanjo’s return from his trip to visit the president and subsequent assurances of his improved health and capacity for engagement, although the lack of accompanying proof cast doubts in the minds of some.

Recently also, a number of groups, prominent among them the #resumeorresign protesters have embarked on protests in Abuja and London calling on the president to resume his duties, or resign forthwith.

Popular musician, Charles Oputa, aka Charly Boy had led the ourmumudondo group in protest in Abuja, where they were tear gassed and sprayed with water, with one person reportedly injured.

Nigerians resident in London had also the previous night, before announcement of Buhari’s return to Nigeria, also staged an overnight protest at the Abuja House in London, calling on Mr President to also resume of resign.

Many Nigerians will hope that the president’s return will help increase the capacity of the presidency to address the serious issues that confront the nation.

Many will mention the pervasive threat of secession, resurgence of Boko Haram, and pending economic recovery, as key issues requiring drastic and urgent attention.

Nigerians will also hope that this return will end, once and for all, the issue of foreign medical trips. The president will be expected to assume the lofty office and commit to the full capacity its tasking responsibilities demand.

 

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