AILING PRESIDENTS 2

Our President is back, yayyy!  We have all seen him, he is not dead neither is he immobile but clearly he is some other things.

They say you cannot eat your cake and have it. Sorry for the use of this idiom, I know Presidency is no cake, but I do not know any idiom I can use to express that one cannot choose to do a thing by choosing not to do the thing. One cannot be President by not being President.

Truly I am glad our President is back, but if our President recognized the need to heed the Doctor 's advice to rest, then he should rest. Of course he is resting, he has been resting for sometime now. All the photographs that surfaced online showing him receiving guests were all taken in a home environment where he was resting. And now he has returned, he continues to rest, leaving his Vice to continue to function as the Acting President.

Ironically, we do not know how long the resting would last. Are we not setting a (very) dangerous precedence here, where a Chief Executive can keep away from Office on health grounds or for any reason for a continuing period of time (I do not want to use the word 'prolonged'),leaving his Vice to function in Acting capacity as he(The President) neither stepped down nor has been able to function.

Ill-health is not unnatural, I think it's only in Tv Shows that we hear about people that never fall sick. Illness is not a respecter of age, class, profession or position. But if a young man falls ill, just give him 2 weeks at most after remission and the young man would be up and kicking again. Sadly, the same cannot be said about people in the age bracket of our President. After recovery, they may never attain the level of previous functioning, infact any attempt to push for that would only lead to relapse or an exacerbation of the condition. Senescence is a natural stage of life, only a few have the opportunity of living long enough to the stage.

As a President, Buhari has access to the world's finest Doctors who can give the best treatment plan. And he sought them, at least I suppose that is what he went to London for. In this light, even with the best world class treatment, he has not been able to attain functioning enough to resume office. If only we know what his diagnosis is, our Doctors would have educated us on the prognosis.

If Nigeria was a place were people build good things from unfortunate situations, the President or his wife would have set up a Foundation for people with the same health condition as the President, and assist them with treatment. And together, they walk on the path of recovery.

They say man cannot be God, so it's needless playing god. I know many people in different quarters wish that our President be dead already. But fortunately and unfortunately, it is not in their power to make that happen. So also some people in some quarters who wish our President be back on the horse already. Fortunately or unfortunately, it is not in their power to make that happen as well. For if it were in their power to restore his health, they would have done that a long time ago. The latter should be careful not to exert him much that he detoriates to a condition that would lead to granting the wishes of the former.

Some reports read that the North have restated that they must remain in power till 2023. I do not think anyone or any region is working to sabotage that. For some reasons I do not understand, Northern candidates that have made it to Presidency since the return of democracy in 1999 just happen to have health problems while in Office. And it is not as though these Presidents came down with something acute and everyone was surprised when they became ailing.

Sincerely, I wish Mr President full recovery, so that he can resume Office and bring us the Change he promised. And also to deliver the golden agenda he had and was so bent on delivering that he ran for Office 5 different times in order to get a chance to govern.