A Nation gone paranoid

Muhammadu Buhari 

A President writes the National Legislature intimating it of his intention to commence a 10 day leave during which time he would undergo a routine medical check, and that during his absence, his vice would be Acting President; and gbuam(!) front headline news is that he is dead, and demands are being made on him to appear in public or in a video to prove that he is alive. This is even as he has not even spent half the time of his leave. Another story has it that he is in an intensive care unit.

If he has over-spent the time and there is no news of him, like did happen under President Yar Adua, the hue and cry would have been justified. If he sneaked out of the country in the dead of night without fulfilling constitutional requirement, I would have understood. If his trip was a medical emergency, I would have given the wailers the benefit of doubt. 

But no, the case was not any of these! We have become something else in this country. Falsehood, or what is now known as "alternative fact" in Donald Trump's political lexicon, has taken over the place of fact. 

But it didn't start now. For some reasons which I suspect has to do with his first sojourn on the seat of power 1984, and the unexpected deadly blow of 28th March 2015, Buhari is giving the media a phobia of sorts, such that nothing is too bizarre to concoct about him. In his first ascendancy to power as military head of state, the man put in place a decree that was to all intents and purposes intended to curtail the very ills we are witnessing today in the media. It is understandable, then, that there would be no love lost in his second coming. Indeed, there is every reason to want the man out of the way. 

But it need not be so. The country has made a full 360 degree about turn since 1984, and the world itself has gone full cycle in democratization. If nothing else proves it, Buhari's own recent escapade in The Gambia on behalf ECOWAS does. I suspect, then, that the hatred is anchored on some other ominous sentiment. More on this another day. 

Mr. President doesn't need to appear in public or in a video to prove he is alive, or not in an intensive care unit. In fact, any attempt by his handlers to make him do so would be a poor PR job. There is a better way to give a lie to the whole story, and that is for the President to return home hail and hearty at the expiration of his short leave. 

The President should remain quiet, have his well-deserved rest and return home to face the business of governance. He has spent one week already, remaining another one week. We shall know the truth soon enough. 

It is almost two years into President Buhari's administration and it is unfortunate that rather than ask questions where questions should be asked we are expending time and energy wishing the President were dead. It would have made better sense to me if the controversy had centered on why the President is not availing medical services in Aso Rock clinic despite billions budgeted and supposedly spent on it year in year out.

It would have made better sense to me if questions are being asked about the extent of execution of the 2016 fiscal budget. It would have made better sense to me if the whole hue and cry is about the components of the 2017 fiscal budget. A better sense would have been made if the controversy is about an economic development blue print to support the government's request to go for foreign borrowing. 

As far as I can recall the last real economic development plan we had in this country was under President Obasanjo. The National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) was, to all intents and purposes, a plan that was capable of addressing many of our economic challenges. I dare say that President Buhari needs to revisit that policy and if need be adopt it as his economic development policy.