There was a palpable hunger felt by Nigerians last week, not for food but a profound desire for news of the president who has been away in London for more than two months on medical vacation.
Now, perhaps more than ever, these words by President Muhammadu Buhari on his inauguration day “I belong to everybody and I belong to
Nobody,” bears some real significance. Since he belongs to all of us, we all want a piece of the Buhari action.
When news broke Tuesday, that Acting President Yemi Osinbajo had been summoned to Abuja House to see the ailing President in London, all antennas were switched on. I could barely sleep. I refreshed my email, Twitter page, and other platforms several times over hoping to see if pictures of him had dropped or if a video of the meeting with AgP
Osinbajo will surface.
Then we got news that Mr. Osinbajo will address the State House Press Corps of his impromptu London trip and that he would take questions on the details of his trip, just before the start of the weekly ritual called the Federal Executive Council meeting. At that briefing, held just at the foyer of the council chambers, Nigerians displayed that hunger I spoke about earlier.
You see, those around at the point of the interview all turned journalists. Security details of ministers who were ushering in their principals brought their phones and joined the interview. They recorded, they wanted first hand information too, couldn’t wait for the media to tell them what Osinbajo said. He is back, did he actually see the President, is he incapacitated like they said, did they actually talk? Too many questions hung in the air as reporters (and I will like to just address the others as Nigerians) struggled to get vantage positions for clear video or audio recording.
When I saw the display, I could relate. Our President has been away for so long without a picture or a video even though there was that contentious audio Sallah message in Hausa released by the Presidency.
I leave that there. I could relate to their anxiety and all of that, we wanted to know the true situation of things, for what reason? The same reason you want to know that everything is well with your father
and that your family really has nothing to worry about.
So it’s been about 70 days now and we do understand that President Buhari needs to fully heal before resuming work but if you look at it from the angle of father and child relationship or leader and follower kind you will understand the feeling. That feeling of having no idea of the situation with your dad and all of that can breed confusion, like what we are currently seeing with calls for the President to
resign and all of that. Make no mistake, I do not support the calls for him to resign, I just want to know that he is okay and not just by words. You see, in Nigeria, we like to see and believe, if you like
you can say we like to see before believing. All boils down to the fact that though we have an Acting President, believe it or not, Nigerians believe he does not have the power to call all the shots
like it should be, Nigerians still cannot overlook the fact that he is standing in for someone.
What is your motivation for missing him, Bottom line, won’t you just love a picture of the President in your mail? Wouldn’t you love to wake up to the news that he is due back in the country the next day?
Speaking of returning to the country, the Acting President last Wednesday said President Buhari will soon be back to the country and in the words of his wife Aisha Buhari, he will return to eject “the
hyenas” and “the jackals” from the kingdom.
So I actually gathered from other in house sources that the President is due back anyway now, the thing is no one knows the day yet. It is like the coming of the Lord?
The whole “the hyenas” and “the jackals” episode last week was on a whole different level of its own.
I believe you know how the whole show started, on Facebook. The Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, had on a post insinuated that there was an ongoing power play, where some Nigerians
had stopped praying for Buhari’s return.
According to his post, only the ordinary Nigerians were still praying and eagerly awaiting his return. To be fair to him, you cannot miss the kind of power tussle that has been brewing in the country for some weeks now.
“Prayer for the absent Lion King has waned. 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 is the wish of the hyenas that the Lion King never wakes or come back so that they can be kings,” Sani wrote.
Mrs. Buhari replied to the post saying that the prayers of the weaker animals had been answered that the hyenas and the jackals will soon be chased out of the kingdom.
“God has answered the prayers of the weaker animals. The hyenas and the jackals will soon be sent out of the kingdom.
“We strongly believe in the prayers and support of the weaker animals. Long live the weaker animals, long live Nigeria.”
And up went the social media. Memes that shouted various funny and sarcastic headlines showed up on Facebook. One said to expect a movie on hyenas and jackals in the kingdom and those sorts of things.
Whether or not the jackals or the cats want the president back, he will return and I believe soon too like the Acting President said.
Whatever your argument on this matter, you are right to want a part of your president, Buhari.
Join me to wish the wife of the Acting President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo a Happy Birthday. Her Birthday was yesterday. We at BusinessDay wish you more grace and beautiful days ahead. May your light never dim.
Elizabeth Archibong
