Is history repeating itself?

“…Affliction shall not rise up the second time” – Nahum 1: 9c

THE above scripture was what came to my mind immediately it appeared history was repeating itself within a space of seven years. If we blame ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo for imposing invalid Umaru Yar’Adua on Nigeria for what some said were for Obasanjo’s selfish interests- to advance his third-term agenda if Yar’Adua died during the presidential campaigns, which nearly happened, and if Yar’Adua managed to get into the Presidential Villa but is rendered ineffective by illness, which also happened, for Obasanjo to rule by proxy from his Ota, Ogun State base.

The last hypothesis, however, failed abysmally, thanks to the then First Lady, Turai Yar’Adua, and the Kano-Katsina cabal that took over when Yar’Adua became incapacitated and shut Obasanjo out of the power equation. Concerning the present unease over President Muhammadu Buhari’s health status, however, we have ourselves and no one else to blame. We were the ones who rooted for Sai Baba! It may not be appropriate for Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, to come out now and say “I told you so” but we can all attest to the fact that he warned us loud and clear, ad nauseam, about his concerns for the nation about Buhari’s health. What did Fayose know that we did not know? Truth is, no matter how hard we try to hide an issue, especially if it is ugly, it will escape into the open. Truth, they say, will out no matter what. My grandmother put it this way: When you are secretly doing something, be sure that someone is secretly observing what you are doing. It is therefore not possible to hide the health profile of someone as important as the president of a whole country, and a country as important as Nigeria. More so a president as controversial as Buhari! The president and his aides should not have tried at all; now that their efforts have ended in futility, they have lost a lot of credibility and goodwill.

They should have learnt useful lessons from the Yar’Adua health debacle but if they did, George Santayana will stop having currency. One lesson we have learnt from history, opines Santayana, is that men often fail to learn useful lessons from history; and those who fail to learn from history are often doomed to repeating its mistakes. Buhari and his handlers have repeated the mistakes of Yar’Adua and his handlers by trying to conceal the fact that the President is sick as well as the nature of his sickness. Both have become public knowledge anyway; if there are inconsistencies with the facts, the onus now rests on the Presidency to set the records straight or else… As it was with the Yar’Adua presidency, so also it is with the Buhari presidency in that only a handful of “Kitchen Cabinet” members are aware of the true state of affairs with the president. Even official spokespersons are as clueless, to quote Lai Mohamed, as ex-President Goodlock Jonathan!  They must be thankful to the media for bringing information to them on the subject. Ultimately, say conspiracy theorists, governments are conspiracies. When will Buhari return? How long will he spend in hospital? What is his exact condition – incapacitated, in critical condition, responding to treatment? The same secrecy that shrouded Yar’Adua also shrouds this president; the only difference being the location of the theatre of the absurd. For Yar’Adua, it was Saudi Arabia while for Buhari, it is the United Kingdom. But not to worry, said my grandma, what is rumbling in the bush is sure coming to the main road. It is in the house that the stool waits for the buttocks.

There is, however, one very critical difference between then and now: While Yar’Adua did not communicate his trip for medical treatment abroad to the National Assembly, Buhari did. Yar’Adua’s inability or negligence in this regard threw the country into needless constitutional crisis and allowed vested interests feed fat on the lacuna or vacuum created in the highest echelon of power. Whereas the constitution was very clear and unambiguous on which road to take in such a situation, selfish persons took advantage; sophistry and dubious rationalisations rather than common sense took the centre stage until the country stood at the edge of the precipice. We may have been saved all of that that at the moment but danger is not yet completely averted as the many shenanigans of the Yar’Adua debacle have reared their ugly heads again. As we heard during the Yar’Adua health saga, we have also heard of pressure being applied on Osinbajo to resign his office. Why? Some people are already afraid and would not want Osinbajo to become president. Not many believe Osinbajo’s rebuttal that he is not under such pressure; better, though, if he is minded to stay firm and follow the constitutional provisions. My suspicion, however, is that vested interests will try their utmost to circumvent the constitution. In the end, we may have a clean slate and new presidential election before the due date – in the event of eventualities staring some people in the face.

Should a man be more Catholic than the Pope? Why, then, are some people crying more than the bereaved? Let us continue to pray for Buhari’s quick recovery. But if I may ask, those who passed a vote of confidence on the president to go for second term, what are they thinking right now? It is always stupid to play God. The misguided elements and such other bigots in their boat, they should be reminded what Buhari himself said on March 10, 2010 during the Yar’Adua health saga: “Political expediency won’t remedy this kind of problem because if the Executive Council of the Federation had acted in accordance with the constitution by invoking the necessary sections to declare the president incapacitated, we would not have found ourselves in this present situation. As you can see, adopting extra-constitutional measures have not addressed the problem. If it had, we would not have been subjected to the raging debates and controversy going on. So, we must go back to the Constitution. The Executive Council of the Federation must do the right thing because once we start moving away from the constitution, then, we are inviting anarchy.”

And we must not invite anarchy. In fact, we have more than enough anarchy already in the land. Boko Haram; Fulani herdsmen, be they of Nigerian, Sierra Leonean or Malian extraction; Biafra and Niger Delta militants to mention but a few. What is more, we have an economy in recession and the suffering and hunger in the land is unprecedented. The unemployment and crime rates are blowing off the roof over our heads. While we are still agitating for a minimum wage of N50, 000 per month, South Africa, which we falsely claimed to have displaced as Africa’s largest economy, has agreed a minimum wage of over N120,000 effective 2018. Our minimum wage at the moment is N18,000 while South Africa’s is over N60,000. Tell me, who is fooling who? If we top these up with a needless political crisis, then, we are done for. To quote Thomas Paine, these are times that try the souls of men. We need not make matters worse. Kudos to Buhari for his speech quoted above; it is the compass that we sorely need at this point in time. Follow the Constitution. Period! Buhari did his part when he transmitted a letter to the National Assembly. When he needed to elongate his stay, he also transmitted another letter to the same National Assembly. On this issue, he has done his bit; so far, at least. It is now left for the National Assembly and all of us to do our own bit. It needs be stated, however, that Buhari cannot take eternity to return to his post; as Nigeria’s Public Servant Number One, the president is guided by the same rules that guide other public servants. There is a stipulated number of days that a public servant can take as annual leave, depending on his or her status.  What Buhari himself recommended during the Yar’Adua health saga should also be applicable now: If his health cannot carry it, he should do the honourable thing – throw in the towel. No death-wish for Buhari, please; not necessarily because of threats and scare-mongering from any quarters but because it does not appear that this president is someone who will cling to office for a day longer than necessary, if it becomes obvious his health does not permit – judging so far by what we have seen him say or do on this very important issue. If, eventually, he finds it impossible to continue, I am minded to believe Buhari will say so rather than wait for any Medical Board or Federal Executive Council or National Assembly to offload him. By the way, do we have any Minister cast in the mould of the late Prof. Dora Akunyili (bless her soul), who will do what that Amazon did during the Yar’Adua health saga? Who can bell the cat in the present Federal Executive Council?

LAST WEEK: I should apologise for the absence of this column last week. Though written, it “suffered mishap,” to quote the editor of a Sunday newspaper (not Sunday Tribune)! The vagaries and vicissitudes that attend newspaper publication everywhere are massive. In that edition, I upbraided the security agencies for their harassment of Apostle Johnson Suleman when the herdsmen, whose atrocities drew the ire of the man of God, continue to be treated as nobility. I also took exceptions to the outbursts of the senator representing Ogun East, Buruji Kashamu, that blood will flow if the security agencies try to extradite him to the United States. If Suleman was invited allegedly for making incendiary statements, why was Kashamu not hauled in by the appropriate security agencies? I also lambasted Professor Itse Sagay for his comments on the controversy surrounding the confirmation of Justice Walter Onnoghen as substantive Chief Justice of the Federation.  Sagay is chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption. I hope this fills the void.