"We don't need president that will govern us from London hospital" - Bayo Oluwasanmi

Article by Written by Bayo Oluwasanmi

During his campaign in 2015, President Buhari who promised to end “medical tourism” by Nigerian politicians who go overseas for medical treatment has been to Britain five times to seek medical care.

Recently, Buhari left for London for a four-day medical treatment setting off renewed concerns about his health.

Within three years in office, Buhari has been receiving treatment for two years for an unspecified illness which he has repeatedly refused to disclose. To date, Buhari has spent more than 170 days in London on official medical leave since becoming president in 2015.

We all are humans. We get sick, and we are all going to die. No one including the president no matter powerful, beloved, or despised, is immune to the slings and arrows of human disease. In 2017, the 74-year old president spent 100 days in UK hospital for an undisclosed ailment. The last publicized medical condition he had was an ear infection for which he was in the UK for treatment. Aso Rock has consistently claimed that it’s a private affair and that Buhari was fit to continue his role as president. There is an astounding list of hidden truths when it comes to the health of President Buhari.

Buhari came to power in 2015 as president of Africa’s most populous nation. His frequent absence has been raising fears and speculation about his ability to run the country. As a candidate for 2019, Nigerians don’t need a president that will govern Nigeria from a London hospital.

Nigeria is running out of civilization. Foods are expensive. Jobs are scarce. Hospitals are crowded with sick children, the aged, expectant and nursing mothers while doctors are few or non-existent, no medicine or x-ray machines. Electricity isn’t guaranteed. Nigerians are starving. The only thing Nigeria has in abundance is chaos. Nobody knows how much worse it will get. Contrary to government propaganda, the economy isn’t doing well.

Violence, killings, and general insecurity have plunged hordes into needless sickness and starvation. The country is always in the grip of political crisis. Inequality grows in extreme. There’s a long term pain created by a worthless currency. A small elite class controls everything while the increasingly impoverished masses fume. The president is missing in action. The lawmakers are AWOL. All these and more threaten to erode the last vestiges of our democracy. This is apocalyptic. The turmoil is moving ahead.

Buhari’s failing health impacts the complex, high level mental functions that include the abilities to discriminate, assess, plan, decide, anticipate, prioritize, and compare. He has no capacity for critical thinking that will enable him obtain the most thorough and accurate understanding of situations. His unstable health results in deficient of judgment and strategic thinking which cuases rigid and inflexible thinking.

He’s aloof, apathetic about the violence and killings going on in the country. He makes unguarded statements and focuses on self-promotion. He fails to identify with citizens feelings and emotions. He’s suffering from self-aware, as a result he unfairly blames opponents, remote people, and circumstances for his failures. You might think that these facts call for Buhari’s retirement now. And yet he and the cabals argue otherwise. The consequences would be severe if by default or fraud Buhari is elected for a second term.

Written by Bayo Oluwasanmi.

bjoluwasanmi@gmail.com