A professor in a Canadian university:
The hospitalization of President Buhari at a London hospital is not only a horrible and painful optic, it is a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done by the Nigerian electorate—going beyond political rhetoric and sentiment—before voting candidates into office, especially the office of the president.
The president’s health issue is a proof that what won him the election was nothing but his ability—and by extension, his handlers’ ability—to masterfully tap in into mood of change prevalent in Nigeria at the time. The-anybody-but-Jonathan mood made it possible for President Buhari, his handlers, and political party to get away with coyness on every other thing that determine electoral success.
Unfortunately for the president, his efforts to turn the page on the question of his health, through press spins and or media briefings by those who have visited him at his sick bed, are sure to fail because of the initial sin of not giving Nigerians the necessary information to guide their decision. Had they the information; they would or would not have chosen this déjà vu. But they did not have it, and that is a big deal. The following claims by the government show how big a deal this is.
The president checked into a London hospital with an initial claim that it was for “routine medical check-ups”. This was subsequently followed by letter to the National Assembly to extend the hospitalization “in order to complete and receive the results of a series of tests recommended by his doctors.” In the same letter, power was delegated power to the vice president.
Later, Nigerians are told that the president is “not in any serious condition to worry about.” These statements cannot be all true at the same time and Nigerians know it. Nigerians are not stupid, they can see through all this.
What is more, Nigerians are beginning to see the griping between the president’s loyalists and the loyalists of the vice-president about usurpation of power. With time, this is sure to take an ethnic coloration if it has not already done so.
Also, the hospitalization of the president in London, belies the president’s change mantra. It is the evidence that he has not prioritized Nigeria’s healthcare system. By inference, it can be said that as the president’s health goes, so goes Nigeria’s economy. This has opened the door to wild rumors about the president that range from being on life support to being dead.
The government has been forced into denying the rumors. You know a government is in trouble when all it does is trouble-shoot rumors about the life or death of the president. When this happens, governance is in abeyance. This is not the place for the governance of an economy that is in recession to be.
Don Nnorom works in an oil firm in Texas, USA:
Health comes first but we don’t know how bad it is with Mr president and one man is not more important than millions of Nigerians.My outside opinion is weird because I believe he gave up on Nigeria looking at the present state of the country,.he’s obviously out ideas and maybe using this opportunity as a runaway excuse.
However this is an evidence of high level corruption in all the arms of the government.They don’t care about the citizens because nobody is telling the citizens where their elected president is.
Obviously the welfare of the the president is more important than welfare of the millions of Nigeria according to their actions .The judiciary/law maker should interpret the constitution as regards to the situation to move the country forward.