The Delta State Chairman of the Accord Party (AP), Comrade David Ashikodi, has described Buhari’s silence on the current state of his health as an encouragement of politically detrimental speculations.
Ashikodi said that rather than remain mute in the face of a growing 'rumour', “common sense” requires that the President comes out to douse the festering suspense in the country.
"The point is that the President is the basic property of the people because he emerged by their will, so he is accountable and answerable to them", the AP Boss told our correspondent on phone on Saturday morning.
He said Nigerians have the right to know the state of Buhari's health, observing that "if a rumour is going on that he is dead, what he should have done is to come out and make the whole world know that he is alive".
President Muhammadu Buhari
According to him, "It is agreed that the President has his fundamental human rights, but it is very important he applies common sense. Why should the President encourage speculations to his own detriment? As is it is now, even if he is alive, they (rumour mongers) have succeeded in rubbishing him because many people are not going to vote for him in 2019 on the basis of his age and alleged ill health.
“Buhari is the people’s property; he cannot put them in suspense. It is not a question of asking his media aides to reply. To kill the speculations, he must come out to tell the word he is not dead and that the rumours should be disregarded. The issue of fundamental human right should be seen from the aspect of morality".
But in a direct contradiction of Ashikodi's view, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Hope Abijor argued that the President cannot be compelled to declare his state of health.
Abijor, leader of the APC in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State, strongly posited that Buhari is on a constitutional vacation that was due him, hence any call or pressure to make him address Nigerians through a video amounts to impatience.
In a telephone chat with our correspondent, the APC stalwart posited that the call for Buhari’s recent video “is not necessary”, urging Nigerians to embrace patience and wait for the expiration of his 10 days long vacation before accepting the “rumour” being peddled by “the enemies of the country”.
He said: “The man just went on a vacation and he told Nigerians that he will be back in 10 days’ time. Why not wait till that 10 days before carrying the rumour that the man is dead? If he wishes to release a video of himself, he can do that; but if he does not wish to, no one can force him to do that. Nigerians should be patient till that 10th day that he is supposed to come back; if he does not come back by that time, then they can react”.
Joining shoes with Abijor, the Delta State Director, National Orientation Agency, Sir Isaac Ezechi said the President's vacation is too short for him to respond to the 'rumour' of his deteriorating health.
Ezechi who also spoke in a telephone chat with our correspondent, justified Buhari's silence on the issue, suggesting that a leader must learn how to ignore some things until they are appropriate to get responses.
He urged Nigerians to be patient and give the President a benefit of doubt till the expiration of his vacation after which they could express concern should he not return to Nigeria.
Rumours of Buhari’s deteriorating health in a UK hospital as well as his death have been trending on different social media platforms, but the presidency had consistently claimed the president is hale and hearty, backing its claims with a photograph supposedly showing Buhari watching a Channels TV programme in a very relaxed mood.
One of Buhari's alleged recent pictures in London.
In an interview with the CNBC Africa on Thursday, January 26, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina insisted that Buhari cannot be compelled to speak from the UK, arguing that “he still has his rights” despite being a president.
But the General-Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson faulted Adesina’s explanation, insisting that the right thing to do is for the president to make a public appearance and statement to lay the rumour and anxiety in the country to rest.
However, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) opposed the NLC, saying it will be needless for the President to address Nigerians since his 10 days vacation is still in effect and pointed out that Buhari demanded a rest and handed over government to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Meanwhile, recent developments in Delta State indicate that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) may be losing its hold in the state after most churches in the state failed to observe a national day of mourning declared by the association.
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