Buhari is back, so what?

As you read this, President Muhammadu Buhari has settled in after a much-deserved rest or medical leave, whichever you choose. Nigerians

are glad that he is back but you may not have heard the last of it.

The President was away for 50 days, having departed the shores of the country on the 19 of January on a supposedly 10-day vacation. He later

wrote to the National Assembly extending his stay in London indefinitely, citing the advice of his doctors in London.

While Buhari’s return will be silencing naysayers who thought he will never return alive, I can tell you that in the days to come you will be hearing an entirely different song from Nigerians. In fact, the

songs have already started sounding out.

Let me give you some side talks that are already making the rounds.

Some say he is back for only three weeks and will be going back to the UK for further checks. Others say while he was away things moved faster in the country and they will prefer it remains that way. There are diverse views currently setting the tone on various discussion forums. Don’t blame them, in a whole, Buhari has twenty-two months more in government as the Independent Electoral commission has said Presidential elections will hold in February 2019.

I arrived the Presidential Villa at about 7am on Friday to meet other journalists who, like me, couldn’t sleep through the night, after it was confirmed that the President was headed back home. We laughed at ourselves and wondered why we all thought this was very important. Again we answered for ourselves, it is better to see, than to be told.

Everywhere I turned, I saw the faces of smiling aides who were obviously happy to resume work after so long. You see, most of them had nothing to do and were struggling to remain relevant, I can imagine that they were bored stiff. Of course, it was not their fault that their boss was under the weather and away from the office but you could see the relief on their faces as they converged at the helipad with others. Security and protocol officers who had been resting and probably bored from lack of work all this while, were also on ground barking out instructions.

At about 8:39 am, I sighted the Presidential chopper and it touched down a minute later. The President’s Aide-De-Camp (ADC) was the first to alight from the chopper, right after the pilot who rushed to the

President’s side to open the door.

He stepped out of the chopper and for a moment I felt something. Joy, that this back and forth was finally over. No more rumours of Osinbajo

being captured and forced to resign, no more “I heard the President is dead, can you confirm”?

The reality, he looked frail. At this point, you didn’t need to be told that our President had been sick.

Not even the phrases of “hale and hearty” by the Information Minister, Lai Mohammed and Presidential Spokesman Femi Adesina, could make you think otherwise. Thankfully, they don’t have to cover up anything anymore, the President is back now and he bared it all himself.

It took only a few minutes before my eyes turned to the President’s aides who went with him on the trip. I couldn’t help noticing that they looked fuller and fresher from 50 days of vacationing. Try

vacationing for so long in London with the President and have nothing to do, your body will tell you the same thing (pun intended).

His family waited patiently at home for him till he finished a meeting with Osinbajo, governors, members of his cabinet and other aides.

At this meeting, the President who initially started out like he was reading a speech and then decided to speak extempore, said he was sick. He had never been this sick his entire life. He even had blood

transfusions. Let us not dwell on the President’s health. Before I let this be, I personally don’t get the rush, from what I saw, our President still needs more days of rest.

After the meeting, we rushed to wait and see if he will turn up at the mosque, obviously, the President had to rest. His aides showed up at the mosque without him and prayed alongside all those who had hitherto abandoned praying at the Aso Rock mosque since the President left town.

Make no mistakes, the President is still resting and will resume officially tomorrow, that is after his letter has been officially transmitted to the National Assembly.

While I gathered that Buhari and Osinbajo will meet at the weekend, hopefully for a debriefing exercise, I am hoping that the President will pick up with the ongoing speed. Without meaning to preach a

Buhari versus an Osinbajo message, or whether it is true what critics say that the change we are experiencing is superficial, even the blind

can tell we have made some progress.

It is not a bad idea (not mine) that Osinbajo may still be running things, or what do think? You see, the President said he deliberately chose to return on a Friday to allow Osinbajo to continue his work.

So now that you are back, Nigerians are expecting that you pick up the momentum and take this farther. Announce the boards, fill the spaces

in your cabinet, do whatever needs to be done to get us ahead.

Before it was confirmed that the President will be returning to the country on Friday, I was going to tell you how Osinbajo’s 60^th birthday was celebrated on Wednesday. But you know what? It has been a

long hectic day, how about I hang my boots here and say let us talk again next week? That is if the Lord permits. I can tell you not just about the President’s return but how things are shaping up in Aso

Rock. I know somethings will change.