AILING PRESIDENTS 3

The President of a country is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the country. The Head of the Armed forces, the administrative and ceremonial head of the Government , and the number one citizen. He is at the helm of affairs of the entire Nation. He sign-offs on all activity taking place under his jurisdiction.

A President cannot be all these and not command attention. Everywhere he goes is like a beehive. Pressmen, loyalists, opponents, supporters, etc all crowd and follow him.

We have not noticed much of the buzz of these activities in this current dispensation. Currently, there seem to be a drought of it, if not a complete absence.

Just in this year alone, our President was officially absent for 50 days. And since his return, not much has been seen or heard from him. A President is like a gold fish that has no hiding place. So for the President not to be seen or spotted anywhere, that means he actually has not been going anywhere.

This is worrisome on many levels, but I would only talk on two. First, it raises concern as to why someone, anyone would be confined to a particular location and the person is rarely seen in the public. Humans are mobile by nature, so any functioning person would be restless being stationed or confined in one place. This raises different questions ;is the person sick? Is the person incapacitated? Is the person dead?.

Our President admitted on his return after his 50-day absence that he has never been so sick. In my earlier piece on "Ailing Presidents 2", I said and I quote "Ill-health is not unnatural. 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, people in his age bracket may never attain their previous level of functioning again. In fact, any attempt to push for that would only lead to relapse or even an exacerbation of the condition ". Too bad we don't even know whether our President gained full remission.

Ill-health is the most legitimate reason to shy-away from duty, responsibility or work. It has been so much bastardized that most people hardly believe it anymore unless it's backed with a Doctor's report. And in very rare cases, people would be sick, yet they continue to exert themselves, and refuse to absorb themselves from duty, responsibility or work. In any case, it is not hard to spot those that truly need sick leave. Those feigning ill-health cannot manufacture symptoms, and those feigning sound-health cannot hide symptoms either.

Secondly, a "no-activity" President has administrative implications. As the administrative head of the country, a President who is not seen at Executive meetings, government functions, project commissionings, State visits, Conferences, Press conferences, opening ceremonies, courtesy visits, etc how then or maybe where then does he discharge his functions as President.

If President Buhari were the first President of Nigeria, maybe we would have thought that this is how Presidents conduct their activities -covertly. Even the brief while his Vice performed in acting capacity, we all saw his line-up of activities. A busy President gives the impression that the administration is working and making progress.

Criticism aside, jokes aside, we cannot have a President and not have a President. Presidency is an administrative position with vast powers. A clog in functioning would put a Nation on a halt. A President is expected to make initiatives, roll-out policies, command authority, lead by example and be a force that propels all hands to be on deck. How can one achieve all these when evidently, his capacity to function is compromised.