Though President Muhammadu Buhari has declared his intention to run for second term after months of speculations, concern is been raised over his health status and age to run the affairs of the most populous country in Africa.
Some analyst also believe that with the President clocking 75 years in 2019 and in a country where the average life span is from 40-45, younger persons ought to have played active role during the 2019 presidential race.
But President Buhari, who made his intention known at a closed-door meeting of the National Executive Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja on Monday, said he was responding to the clamour by Nigerians for him to re-contest in 2019, adding that he wanted to accord APC NEC the honour of being the first to know.
The Daily Times recalls that Buhari left the country on May 7, 2017 after handing over power to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. He returned to Nigeria after receiving medical attention in London for about 104 days.
But Buhari’s absence during the period led to calls in certain quarters, asking him to step down if he was unable to perform his duties. Meanwhile, following his declaration to run for second term on Monday, some senior lawyers and medical practitioners have expressed divergent views over the health and age status of President Buhari.
Reacting to the development, a senior lawyer, Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN), said that it is God alone that determines the lifespan of a man. The senior advocate said, “God owns our lives. Life span has nothing to do with age and health. May God save and prolong President Buhari’s life”.
Also, an Abuja based lawyer, Hameed Ajibola Jimoh, said pursuant to sections: 131, 137(1) (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the issues of health and age do not disqualify the president from running for second term.
According to him, the objections to his second term might just be regarded as personal views and opinions of some individuals who might be the President’s critics or oppositions, insisting that the views do not have legal back up. Jimoh said, ‘’The voters have their voting powers to change an unwanted elected public officer if they wish.
I am of the firm view that where elections are conducted fairly and freely, this issue can be resolved by the voting powers of the Nigerian voters. In the meantime, a senior medical practitioner, who spoke in confidence, insisted that Buhari should take a bow because the world has long moved beyond the older generation.
He said, “Age matters because the world is changing. The world is a global village and technology has taken over so many things. The world has moved from his generation. You look at the world leaders now; talk about France the president is 39, go to Australia, the country’s president is 41.
Everybody is going back to young people that are vibrant. For Nigeria, 80% of us are youths. Why should we allow these old people to keep ruling us, it’s not a good idea any how you look at it. ‘’Outside the president of Tunisia, who is 88 and Ghanaian president, Nana Akufo-Addo (74), Buhari is the oldest.
In my own opinion, he has not fulfilled his electoral promises for about three years, so what are we really looking for.” He added that for a country like Nigerian with a population of about 200 million people, it would not be wise to allow the president to still preside over the affairs of the country for another four years.
‘’He is quite old. If you look at the last three years, he has been spending our tax payers money travelling abroad for medical treatment and nobody is even talking about it. It won’t be a good idea for him to rule for another four years, he should just take a bow and go and rest. That is my candid opinion,’’ he added.
But a private medical practitioner, Dr Austin Abidemi, shared a contrary view. He said that age is not a yardstick to determine or measure politics or the performance of any government, rather wisdom and zeal to deliver.
He expressed disappointment that some Nigerians especially critics of President Buhari’s administration have resort to using age and sickness to blackmail his bid to run beyond 2019.
He said: ‘’When someone is aged, we believe that he cannot act the way the young ones do. Instead of using his age to blackmail him, why not judge him by his performance? There are leaders in Africa who are far older than him, and they are still active in power, managing their countries successfully.
‘’ Being aged is not a deformity; instead the person will be given more wisdom to reason. I believe that most of the statements calling on him not to run are coming from his opponents’’.
But ahead of the 2019 presidential election, President Buhari has explained why he declared his intention to run for another term in office on Monday during the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, the President while receiving the Archbishop of Canterbury, His Grace Justin Welby in London on Wednesday, said: “I declared before leaving home because Nigerians were talking too much about whether I would run or not.
So, I felt I should break the ice. We have many things to focus on, like security, agriculture, economy, anti-corruption, and many others. We needed to concentrate on them, and politics should not be a distraction. The majority of Nigerians appreciate what we are doing, and that is why I am re-contesting”.
The President recounted some successes of the administration to his guest, with whom he has built a deep friendship in recent times, and was quite particular about strides in agriculture.
President Buhari said, “We have cut the importation of rice by about 90%, saving billions of dollars in the process. People who rushed into petrol money have now gone back to agriculture. Even professionals have gone back to the farm. Nigeria should be able to feed itself comfortably soon. I am so pleased”.
On war against insurgency, the president stressed the need for continuous education of the people so that they can be free from religious manipulation, adding that no true religion advocates the hurting or killing of the innocent.
Responding to his guest’s comment on the clashes between herdsmen and farmers in different parts of Nigeria, the President said: “The problem is even older than us. It has always been there, but now made worse by the influx of armed gunmen from the Sahel region into different parts of the West African sub-region.
These gunmen were trained and armed by the late Muammar Gadaffi of Libya. When he was killed, the gunmen escaped with their arms. We encountered some of them fighting with Boko Haram. Herdsmen that we used to know carried only sticks and maybe a cutlass to clear the way, but these ones now carry sophisticated weapons. The problem is not religious, but sociological and economic. But we are working on its solutions”.
President Buhari also lamented that ‘irresponsible politics’ has been brought into the farmers/herders’ crisis, but assured that enduring solutions would be found, and justice done to all concerned. On Leah Sharibu, the abducted schoolgirl from Dapchi still being held by insurgents, reportedly because she refused to renounce her Christian faith, the President said: “We are managing the matter quietly.
Making noise would not help. We are collecting as much intelligence as possible, working with the Red Cross and other international organizations. There are too many fraudulent people around, who claim they can do many things. We won’t deal with them. That was how we got the Dapchi girls back, and the Chibok girls.”’
Responding, Archbishop Welby said it was always a delight to see President Buhari, ‘whom I have tremendous respect for’ adding that: “You have my best wishes on your recent decision. I read your declaration speech. We are neutral as a church, but we will pray for you. Great statesmen are those who run for the good of their countries.
We will be praying for you”, he said. The Archbishop later presented President Buhari with a copy of his recent book, ‘Reimagining Britain: Foundations for Hope’. Meanwhile, a chieftain of the leading opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the FCT, Alhaji Usman Zangwan, has stated that President Buhari’s health status will be turning point in 2019.
According to the FCT senatorial aspirant, the voters will speak with their votes once Buhari emerges as the APC presidential candidate. His words:”It is obvious that this man does not have age on his side and another serious matter is his constant visit to the hospital.
This is not how a nation is governed and I must also tell you that the health status of contestants are determined before delving into the election proper but what do we get here? It is absolute nonsense”. Alhaji Usman further noted that the APC’s continued game of hide and seek with regard to the man’s health status portends danger in Nigerian polity.
He said, “What we should be talking about now is how much the man has spent on medical tourism abroad which the party should be courageous enough to put on the table. The same man on assumptions of office promised to end medical tourism abroad. So there are many issues that Nigerians must know about this man because the issue of his age was supposed to be a thing of the past had Nigerians tackled that three years ago.
