By Wale Sokunbi
At
last, President Muhammadu Buhari returned to the country last week as announced
by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Mr. Femi Adesina. His
prolonged absence had been a source of intense acrimony in the polity with
anti-Buharists insisting that he was either dead or gravely ill, and should
resign on account of his incapacitation. His defenders and party members,
especially his media team on the other hand, had insisted that he was only
resting and taking medical tests. As such, he was expected to return
to the country at any time.
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| *Buhari and his wife, Aisha, after his return |
However, the stridency of the demands of the
wailing Buhari naysayers who chose not to be placated with photo-shoots of the
president’s “hale and heartiness” in London,
soon combined with the rising profile of the then Acting President, Prof. Yemi
Osinbajo, to bring the President back into the country.
And, since the president
arrived in the country, there has been an attempt at a restoration of some form
of normalcy, with the president even “resuming” and spending three hours in his
office on Monday. No sooner had the President sat on his “presidential
seat”, however, than the Internet again went viral on close videos of the
President’s gait as he walked from the plane that brought him from London.
The close-up videos,
undoubtedly, showed a much-emaciated and limping president, who was still badly
in need of medical attention. It is not surprising, then, that Mr. Adesina said
that the president would still travel in a matter of weeks for a medical review
of his condition.
That is as it should be, as the president appears clearly in no position to
take on the challenge of administering a country that is battling a
debilitating recession in the midst of ferocious opposition from the former
ruling party and some segments of the polity.
