By Buki Ponle
Let us admit, without conceding, that President Muhammadu Buhari is in
London for medical treatment. So what? What is wrong in a mortal and a
human being taking ill? When did it become a sin for a 74-year-old to
undergo a routine medical check-up?
But for certain people to continue to wish him dead, apparently
because is a blockbuster to corruption, is the highest point of
callousness, viciousness, satanic, social and political
irresponsibility, as well as exhibition of deep-seated ill-feeling.
Few days ago, when the President announced he would proceed on a short
vacation, the harbingers of destruction went to work, and hardly had
he begun his rest when they falsely broadcast his death which they
claimed occurred in a British hospital.
The conclusion of these subversive adversaries is that the President
has travelled for medical treatment abroad, and as usual, he must be
pronounced dead, a wish always associated with some of our Presidents,
right from the era of Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Owelle of Onitsha.
The Presidency has not said President Buhari went for medical
treatment, but that he would use the opportunity of his 10-day
vacation to undergo a routine medical check-up. Now, what sin has he
committed by doing that?
Wait a minute, let us inspect closely the motives of the naysayers all
along? A professor of psychology, Chinyere Okafor, offers some
explanations:
”Their aim is to cause anarchy, disunity, confusion, and, ultimately
a war in the country, knowing full well the fragile nature of our
politics, interwoven with ethnicity and religion. However, this
political miscalculation will not work, for Nigerians are more
knowledgeable.
”Government should, as a matter of urgency, clamp down on those who
are planting this seed of discord through clandestine and destructive
use of the social media, before it is too late.
”The bodies of journalism profession in the country also should rise
to the occasion, meet urgently to analyse this and other related
issues and examine the way forward, for this trend has to be halted,”
she says.
At 74 years, the president is old enough, but has been struggling
since 1984 to frontally clip the wings of corruption, a monster which
most Nigerians leaders have treated with kid gloves.
He has not claimed to be a saint but he has proved to be first among
equals, clamping down on associated evils, while struggling to reverse
the past deeds, economically, politically and socially.
”Had he completed his mission in 1984 when he assumed office as a
military Head of State, resolute to scale down this same depravity,
those who are now wishing him dead probably could have been reformed,
alongside their latter-day accomplices,” observes Dr. Ayodele Adeoba,
a political analyst.
”And Nigeria could have emerged victorious from those early ruins,
becoming an organised nation with its people living happily
thereafter. At least, the situation could not have gone this bad,” he
adds.
A lecturer in international relations, Dr. Adeoye Aderibigbe, also
offers some insights:
”Those in this group belong to the sadist, irredeemable and serial
looters who have been mortified by this administration and who would
do anything to pull down the new order.
”Remember, this did not start today; there was a gang-up during the
electioneering campaign of 2015, when all sorts of things were hurled
at this elder statesman, including discordant tunes about his health
status, and this would be the second death wish since his assumption.
”If his scorecards were to be presented today, he may not have scored
Excellent, but certainly, he would not have scored below Very Good in
the area of his campaign promises. They may try but the fact is that
they cannot add to, or subtract from the man’s sojourn on earth, and
contrary to their assumption, the anti-corruption crusade will neither
derail nor whittle down, nor the country implode.
It is also instructive that the death wish and associated rumours had
persisted despite the best efforts of government at debunking it.
Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed has risen to the
occasion, saying there is no iota of truth in the messages being
circulated on the health of the President who, he said, is hale and
hearty, or the purported emergency meetings of the State Governors in
Abuja or anywhere.
He says the naysayers have also resorted to the use of ethnicity and
religion as tools to divide Nigerians, overheat the polity and cause
panic among the citizenry, in addition to using fake news and
disinformation to distort government activities.
The Federal Government has rightly noted that ”the emerging trend of
resorting to destabilization and scare-mongering is not unexpected,
considering this government’s clamp-down on the corrupt elements in
the society, the plugging of all financial leaks which has derailed
the gravy train of the looters of public treasury and the enthronement
of probity and transparency in the polity.”
This is a welcome development and a good instance of information
management. For those who still choose not to believe the government,
however, one can only wish they would retrace their steps, failing which Nigerians should repudiate them.
*Ponle is a Public Affairs Analyst.
