Are you one of those who still nurse any doubt over the health status of our dear President, Muhammadu Buhari? You need not worry anymore. The President is now “as fit as a fiddle”. Before you get me wrong, let me quickly add that this verdict did not come out of sentiment, neither have l been hired to do any hatchet job.
Rather, as one who has spent close to ten solid years at the Presidential Villa and who has observed closely and reported the activities of Nigerian Presidents, from Umaru Musa Yar, Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and now Muhammadu Buhari, l can boldly say that one possesses a fair idea of how Presidents who are fit and healthy operating.
Happily, the President last week, “returned” to his main office at the Presidential Villa, which was “abandoned” to some rampaging and “Power” hungry rodents. It is a thing of joy to see the President back to his office, while the Baboons, the Hyenas, the Jackals and even the rodents who tried to take advantage of the President’s ill health to seize power through the back door, fizzle into “tin air”
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Nigerians were amazed to hear that “rodents” had also joined to “chase” our President out of office. The action of the rats, therefore, needed some “spiritual” intervention, rather than the use of fumigations to chase them out. Before the President’s final return to his main office after over 81 days of his media trip, he had worked from his makeshift office in his official residence at the Presidential Villa.
The President was said to have hosted members of the Armed Forces Council which he inaugurated, that Thursday, according to twits by one of his Aides, Bashir Ahmad, Personal Assistant to the President on New Media. The President had abandoned the office since May 7th, 2017, when he left for London on medical treatments.
But on his return, on August 19th, arrangements were made for him to work from his official residence, within the Presidential Villa, in a move that was blamed on rodents.
But in his effort to explain the arrangement, Senior Special Assistant to the President, Garba Shehu, stated that the rodents “destroyed furniture” in the President’s office requiring renovations. The President’s return to his main office was announced by the Personal Assistant to the President on New Media, Bashir Ahmad, who, in a tweet, said
“Presided Muhammadu Buhari used the office to inaugurate the Armed Forces Council.” “Today, President Muhammadu Buhari presided over the Armed Forces Council Meeting in his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja” he tweeted “And, President @MBuhari is currently presiding over an Armed Forces Council Meeting in this particular office you’re talking about”
In the wake of the controversy that trailed the President’s absence from office, it was our dear Distinguished Senator Shehu Sani who drew Nigerian’s attention to the activities of “Powerful ” pretenders to the throne that tried, by all means, to take advantage of the absence of the “Lion King” to entrench themselves in power to the detriment of ” the weaker animals”
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Sani had taken to his Facebook account to lament the ugly trend during the President’s absence thus: “Until he’s back, then they will fall over each other to be on the front row of the palace temple. Now the hyenas and the jackals are scheming and talking to each other in whispers; still doubting whether the Lion King will be back or not.”
“Now the Lion king is asleep and no other dare to confirm if he will wake up or not. It’s the wish of the Hyenas that the Lion King never wakes or come back so that they can be kings. It’s the Prayers of the weaker animals that the Lion King comes back to save the Kingdom from the Hyenas, the wolves and other predators.”
He also went further to posit that even “the crocodiles want fishes to quit the rivers; the pythons want to monopolise the forest. The leopards, Cheetahs, Pumas, Jaguars and the Cougars want the Kingdom rearranged.” The Distinguished Senator did not leave us without hope as he assured that “When the Lion is back the Kingdom will be back to order.” He applauded the courage of the Tiger and the Lioness who resilience ensured that the kingdom was held together in the absence of the Lion King
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Nigeria’s President is obviously one of the most powerful in the world, anchored on Presidential system that gives wide powers to the occupant of the seat. So, the absence of the occupant of that seat can and indeed do create confusion as was witnessed in the days of late President Yar’Adua and lately during the 100 days of President Buhari’s absence on medical grounds.
The President has embarked on a series of activities that show that he is not only fully recovered, but ready to work. He has not only taken over fully, the political machinery of his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), he has also restored sanity in governance by tackling the altercations that trailed government activities in his absence, which were seen as symptomatic of a system without control.
He now meets more regularly with the leadership of his party, strategizing the structures and reclaiming his coordinating role as head of the political apparatchik. The President also recently, after due consultations with his party chieftains, promised to expand his cabinet to bring in more Ministers
The move has helped to address grumblings and dissension within the party blamed, largely on the absence of patronage and rewards for helping the party to win the 2015 general election. He was also able to settle the long-standing rifts between some of the party chieftains, especially the one between the Chairman of the Party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and Bola Tinubu.
The masterly nature with which the President delivered the 2018 budget with candour and statesmanship before the National Assembly has also drawn applause from well-wishers and observers. For over one and half hours, the President stood before the over 450 member Legislature marshalling out his plans for 2018 to make a difference in the nation’s economy and set the path for growth and economic expansion. Until next week, we warm-heartedly welcome Mr President back to his office.
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
