AILING PRESIDENTS 4

A report surfaced online recently about our Presidential jet idling away and yet, accumulating a 4,000 pounds per day fee on parking fee. In the Government's defense, a spokesperson refuted the amount and said the jet was enjoying a discount and the fee per day is 1,000 pounds instead. Still a huge amount considering that the fee is being paid for by an economy in recession. He went on to say that it is standard that a President should have an available means of transport waiting for him whenever the President is ready to travel.

That is okay. But considering that our President is not on a 2-3 day scheduled visit, he is officially on an indefinite visit, and so far today is his 64th day of being away. How long would his jet remain on standby, waiting to airlift him(dead or alive).

Unfortunately, a standby aircraft is the least of what is on standby, in fact, the whole Nation also is.

The first time our President transmitted a letter to the National Assembly, informing them about his 10-day vacation overseas, and a planned Doctor's visit during the time, the media was thrown into frenzy. There were a lot of speculation about his health status. Rumor had it that he had passed on. London became some sort of pilgrimage ground for our political elites. Pictures were made available every once in a while for us to see.

The 10-day visit extended to 49 days and after what seemed like forever, our President returned home. Looking frail and ill, our President admitted he had never been so sick. He made a few appearances and officially announced that he would be working from home. We never saw much of him again. After he missed consecutive Federal Executive meetings, it was clear that all was far from well.

57days after his frail return, he departed again. This time he did not bother mixing words about his intended duration, he simply said he will stay until his Doctors clear him to go. It has been 64 days and counting. For some reason, political elites are not trooping to go visit him like they did before, no one is bothering to give us a courtesy of photo evidence. His family members are going about their (usual) business and everyone has chosen to forget about our ailing President. But who would not, since the Presidency chose to keep us out of the loop.

This is the 192nd of year 2017 and our President has been overseas for 112 days. Out of the remaining 79 days, the 57days he spent between the two trips, he was essentially inactive. So our President has not spent up to 30 days in this year, being functional in his presidential duties. And yet, he still sees the audacity to remain President.

Worse of our predicament is that our President is aged. Any ailment that keeps him down for this long and even with the best of care, he is yet to recover. Given his age, it would be a tall dream to expect him to be as strong as a horse (ever) again. And this is a man a whole Nation is on standstill for, waiting for him to return.

The constitution provides that if a President is away for 90days, the Vice-President would automatically become President. As wise as the men that surround the President are, they successfully fractured the timeline of the President's absence by making him return to the country. A return he essentially did not perform much Presidential functions during. The new timeline is fast nearing 90days. Let us see how things would go.

President Buhari has been flying on the wings of technicalities. Scaling through just because he met the minimum qualification. This is a man who met the minimum educational requirement for the Office of the President by providing a testimonial which attested his attempting Senior Secondary School examination. And up till date, has not provided the original certificate. He is never bothered about not having the advantage of higher qualifications. Even in ill-health, he is still comfortably holding unto to his Office, as long as he is yet to exhaust the last second of "Constitutionally permitted absence". He is not disturbed about the disservice he is rendering the Nation by remaining in Office, and yet not be in Office.

Too bad elections are a popularity contest. Even the man with the least qualification can trump men with highest qualifications. However you can cower the peoples vote, do so and win. With little consideration for integrity, dedication to service, honesty, selflessness, and other characteristics of a good leader. Anyone who possesses these characteristics cannot put an entire Nation on hold while they remain incapacitated by illness (of old age).

I pray the next President we will have would remind us of how it feels to have a (functional) President. I pray we would be wise enough to vote a man of vigour, who is well lettered. A man of vision, who can make initiatives, plan and take actions. A man who would not ride to power on the wheels of propaganda, but on the the measure of his own character and strength. A man who would show us what we have been missing.