The position of the president is sacrosanct to any government in any democracy therefore, it is that position we should be looking at, rather than looking at the person occupying the position.
This was the view of Management Consultant, Adetokunbo Adedeji, as he called on Nigerians to focus on what is important, which is governance, rather than President Muhammadu Buhari’s absence.
He believes Nigerians are just “making a mountain out of a molehill as governance is not about the individual but the position”.
According to him, the nation is guided by a constitution and the provision in the constitution allows that if the person who is occupying a position is not available or fit to continue, someone else who is next to him should be in that position and continue to run government.
He further stated that much of the “unnecessary noise is because there are vested interests who are probably using this opportunity to position themselves in government such that whatever it is that they are hoping to achieve with the absence of the president at this point, they can achieve it or they run against the tide of events that is already going on”.
Mr Adedeji then recalled a statement by the wife of the president, Mrs Aisha Buhari, where she allegedly mentioned that there is a cabal that is running government.
“How are we sure that the mismanagement and the mal-positioning of the information about the health of the president is not being handled by this cabal,” he questioned.
Also addressing the issue, a member of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Mohammad Yakubu, said: “I think Mr President has done what is right and what he should do constitutionally.
“He has handed over power to the acting president properly and the acting president is doing excellently well.
“I think at this point in time, all we need to do is to appeal to Nigerians to show some understanding.
“All this noise we are hearing about the president’s health is as a result of the fact that those who helped in bringing this government to power, a good number of them – about 85% of them are still not properly appreciated”.
Mr Yakubu added that it is at the discretion of the president to disclose the status of his health.
“It is at his discretion to do that. It is not necessary because he has properly transmitted power.
President Buhari is currently on vacation in London, and while rumours about whether he was still alive or not had been doused, many still criticise his purported inability to address Nigerians openly about the state of his health.
He had however written to the senate for the second time, requesting to extend his leave which ought to have lasted for only 10 days.
Recently, he spoke to his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, and thanked him for “holding out against mischief makers”, while he has been away.
