It is over 60 days since President
Muhamamdu Buhari left the country on Sunday, May 8, for medical treatment in the UK as Nigerians continue to demand
his health details. Now his kinsmen are calling on Nigerians to leave him alone.
As uncertainty continues to grow over
President Muhammadu Buhari’s health
condition in the United Kingdom, his
kinsmen in Daura have asked that Nigerians
should intensify prayers for the President
and accord him his privacy.
A cross-section of the President’s kinsmen
expressed the view during the week when
Saturday PUNCH visited Daura, his
hometown in Katsina State.
At the palace of the Emir of Daura, Alhaji
Umar Farouq Umar, a senior official who
didn’t give his name, said Nigerians should
continue to support the President in prayers
and respect his privacy.
He said, “We offer prayers for him here on a
daily basis and every Jumaat; we pray for
him in the mosques and eagerly look
forward to his safe return to Nigeria very
soon.”
Also, an official in the Daura Local
Government secretariat, Alhaji Haliru Majigiri,
who described the President as a father
figure to many residents of the town,
begged Nigerians to allow Buhari to rest
and regain his health in the UK.
According to him, Nigerians should intensify
prayers for the President. “We are talking
about the nation’s president and not an
ordinary Nigerian. The government has the
right to either disclose details of his health
status or not. The government can also
decide not to disclose the amount it has
spent on him. People should allow him to
recover since he handed over to the Vice
President before leaving the country.
“I will still appeal to every Nigerian to offer
more prayers for the President’s recovery.
He is like a father to all of us here in Daura.
Whenever he is around, the town benefits
economically and security is improved.
Those in government see beyond what the
citizens see and this may inform their
decision to keep details of his health
condition confidential. All I would say is that
we should all continue to pray for his
recovery.”
To Mallam Abdulilyas Kareem, a public
commentator based in the state, what
President Buhari deserves from Nigerians
are prayers and not additional trouble.
Kareem described calls for the public
disclosure of the President’s health status as
a distraction and a waste of time.
He said, “It is an open secret that President
Buhari is a lone ranger in his fight against
corruption and he is doing all he could to
put a stop to the problem. But now that he
is ill and out of the country for treatment,
political jobbers have turned the issue to
unnecessary distraction and political issues
instead of assisting in continuing with the
fight against corruption so that we can
salvage the country.
“Personally, I will urge Nigerians not to
relent in their prayers for the President’s
recovery for the sake of the progress of the
country.”
Also, Katsina State Chairman, Nigeria Labour
Congress, Mallam Tanimu Saulawa, said, “I
believe the President had done what was
expected of him constitutionally before his
medical trip. This is our President and
Nigerians, irrespective of tribe or religion,
should show the spirit of nationalism.
“We should rather intensify prayers for him
for his recovery because the national
responsibilities on him are enormous.’’
Some elders in Daura, namely: Alhaji Lawan
Saidu, Alhaji Ahmed Haroun and Alhaji Seidu
Awalu, who spoke with Saturday PUNCH,
also expressed the same view, saying the
President should be left alone to recuperate.
“Anyone can be sick, so why is everybody
attacking the President as if he is not a
human being? The last time he was in the
country, he told Nigerians that he was ill and
had never been that ill, so what else do you
want him to do?,” Awalu asked.
The community leaders also urged Nigerians
to intensify prayers to God to grant Buhari
good health.
Ahmed Garba and Mohammed Salisu, who
are both students at the School of Health
Technology, Daura, also called on Nigerians
to leave Buhari alone, adding that the
President should not heed calls for his
resignation as they believed he still had a lot
to offer Nigerians.
“As human beings, we all fall ill at one time
or the other, so people should leave the
President alone,” Garba said.
