Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari has yet again embarked on another trip to London for a 10-day vacation in what would be approximately 180 days spent in a single City by the nation’s president since his election in 2015.
The news of his trip to the UK, has been greeted with mixed reactions from citizens of
the country, with a large number of persons expressing their views on the vacation as a further assertion of the gross incapability of the president to quell the storm and shoulder the responsibility that comes with being a number one citizen.
While citing Medical and Health issues as the reason for the vacation; one in an increasing series of such trips, the president’s failure to fulfill a critical election promise made in 2015, to revamp the health sector and curtail drastically, medical tourism, speaks volumes on the state of health infrastructure in Nigeria which presently lacks the capacity to reduce the soaring health related mortality rates in the country. This indeed casts an ugly shadow on the president as he has been labelled “the biggest consumer of medical tourism in the world” while his people, the people of Nigeria are dying.
Politically, citizens have reacted to the trip “as an unnecessary oddly timed one” seeing that the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC) which Buhari pilots, is in turmoil as it has witnessed one of the biggest blows to it’s ambition to retain power come 2019. Over the past few weeks, there has been series of mass defections from the APC to the strongest opposition party, The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). This has been greeted with condemnable counteractive measures of aggression, use of force and connivance with the Nigerian Police to arrest and detain or impeach defectors on hastily purported charges.
“As can be seen, the APC seeks to save it’s head by all means, hook or crook and the trip by the president is summed laughably as a tale of chasing mice off a burning house”. – Ahmed, 38.
With all the incessant killings, genocidal attacks, ethnic cleansing and communal clashes, reaching soaring figures, alongside a heavily partisan, ineffective and corrupt police force, gross abuse of the rule of law and
the powers of the armed forces by the President, injustice, selective prosecution and witch-hunting that has characterized and sufficiently tarnished “the anti-corruption” crusade of Nigeria’s president, Mr Buhari is believed to have lost the faith of his followers, especially the youths, who believe him to be mentally, physically, emotionally and educationally unsound to venture into a reelection expedition as the president of Nigeria.
As for the receiving country, the UK (and Canada also) have been heavily criticized for accommodating over an outrageously long period of time, Mr Buhari (and Cameroon’s president, Mr Paul Biya who resides in Canada) despite the gross irresponsibility and disregard for human lives as seen in series of his reactions towards the Boko Haram insurgency, the widespread herdsmen gory fracas and several inter-ethnic/religious clashes in the country (both Nigeria and Cameroon). Such acts by both presidents shows the heightened level of irresponsibility, such that warrants heavy condemnation, criticisms and remedial actions such as a travel ban or a restraining order to provoke urgent responses. However that is not the case up till now.
In the midst of glaring strings of failure adorned as in a phylactery, the appointment of Mr Buhari as the chairman of the (ECOWAS) Economic Community of West African Estates shifts global attention to an investigation and examination of the downright values most upheld and promoted within the region. An investigation which seeks to find out if the region is one founded on the tenets of meritocracy and hard work or another massive tea party of blind charlatans hasty to crown a one-eyed charlatan, King! Time would tell.
United Nations United Nations Human Rights United Nations Security Council United Kingdom Nigerian SenateNigerian National Assembly Donald J. Trump Nikki Haley Theresa May
