The health of President Muhammadu Buhari has understandably generated intense debates and controversies in the last one month or thereabout. The manner in which the issue has been handled by the presidency has also given ample opportunity for the scourge of the 21st Century — fake news and political rumors — as individuals help to fill the information gap through their fecund imagination. There is now a growing chorus for the president to resign.
The health of President Muhammadu Buhari has understandably generated intense debates and controversies in the last one month or thereabout. The manner in which the issue has been handled by the presidency has also given ample opportunity for the scourge of the 21st Century — fake news and political rumors — as individuals help to fill the information gap through their fecund imagination. There is now a growing chorus for the president to resign.
I support the call for the president to tell Nigerians the true and complete state of his health and resign if he is too incapacitated to function as Head of State. However, I strongly object to the tone of the chorus on several grounds. First of all, Buhari has not made himself sick. The frailties of the human body and the peculiar biophysical limitations of septuagenarians have harshly set in partly due to the demands of the office. We knew Buhari was not a young man before electing him. I don't think he claimed that he was in his 40s or 50s before the 2015 elections. Elections have consequences, but not all of the consequences can be foreseen. Besides, the man worked hard to become president and deserves to have a fair and objective timeframe to get well. In addition, he is doing what every medically challenged person must do — seek medical help (the issue of traveling overseas for healthcare is a topic for another day). My perspective is that in asking the president to resign, we must acknowledge his constitutional right to be president in so far as there are signs that he can reasonably expect improvement in his health.
In a conversation that has largely lacked nuance, there is no contradiction between asking that the president be accorded dignity in his ill-health and urging him to resign if his health will not permit proper execution of his duties. We must look at the issue from two perspectives: The desire and right of Nigerians to have a fully functioning president and Buhari’s rights as duly elected leader after over a decade of failure at the polls.
The president must learn from the President Yar’Adua situation. Yar’Adua’s handlers were prepared to govern as the president barely clung to life. The machination of the Yar’Adua inner circle nearly destroyed Nigeria. Contrast that to how former US president, Richard Nixon, acted on two major occasions. Richard Nixon’s electoral team had evidence of electoral rigging in the 1960 loss to John F. Kennedy. For instance, one of the areas in Illinois that voted overwhelmingly for Kennedy was, in fact, a cemetery. Nixon’s team weighed the possibility of challenging Kennedy’s victory in the courts (using evidence of irregularities from Illinois and Texas in particular) but Nixon objected arguing that the presidency of the United States must not be tainted and the president should not be encumbered by such an embarrassing lawsuit. Nixon won the presidency six years later, earned a second term in 1972 and resigned in 1974 following the Watergate scandal as impeachment loomed. He was the first and only US president to date to resign from office. Very few people would disagree that Nixon was a foul-mouthed white collar crook yet he acted to save his country from embarrassment and political crises when the need arose.
President Buhari may kindly consider several things as his health matter rages. These include whether or not he is ready to die in office to complete a tenure that by every objective indication has been underwhelming. Does the desire to remain in power supersede having more years to enjoy the company of his wife, children and grandchildren? Does he trust his largely tainted inner circle not to destroy his good name if he remains in power at an unfortunately diminished capacity? The constitution is clear on the line of succession and there should not be a constitutional crisis but is the president prepared to risk exacerbating Nigeria’s political crises if his handlers wish to have him remain in power against the advice of his doctors?
No one should ever doubt Buhari’s love for Nigeria and the zeal with which he has tried to perform his duties as president in a difficult terrain. I am fully persuaded that Buhari has been doing his best for Nigeria but ultimately his best has fallen below expectations. Love often clings to its object of affection but sometimes letting go may be the truest demonstration of love. Resignation is not always tantamount to failure as in Nixon’s case. It is sometimes a dignified response to a labyrinth of events and situations one cannot control. Mamman Daura and others must realize that this is not a game; the destiny of Nigeria and human lives are at stake.
Let us wish the president speedy recovery and urge Mamman Daura and others around him not to ruin the name of the president by holding him captive. Nigerians are forgiving (some would say forgetful) people. Buhari may yet be adored on a level close to sainthood if he does the right thing for Nigeria and himself. However, the decision is his alone. We should be clear that we wish him well and expect him to do right by the country that we know he loves.
‘Tope Oriola is professor of criminology at the University of Alberta, Canada. Kindly follow me on Twitter:@topeoriola
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