President Buhari arrives Aso Rock March 10, 2017 after a 50-day medical vacation in the United KingdomAs President Muhammadu Buhari disappears from public view, Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, is warning that the Nigerian leader should not be allowed to run the country by proxy but should be seen and heard by those who elected him into office.
Since Mr. Buhari returned from the United Kingdom on March 10, after a 50 day sick leave, he has been notoriously absent at the presidential villa.
On Wednesday, he failed to show up at the weekly Federal Executive Council as the meeting was cancelled. Last week, he was also absent and the meeting was presided over by Vice President yemi Osinbajo.
It was the first time Mr. Osinbajo was presiding over the FEC meeting while Mr. Buhari was in Nigeria.
In a statement on Thursday, Governor Fayose wondered whether Mr. Buhari was now governing the country by proxy.
“Every day, what we hear is President said this, President said that without seeing the President in any official function and one is prompted to ask; where is the president?,” he asked in a press statement issued by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka.
Governor Fayose said it “was becoming obvious that a group of cabal is exercising the powers of the President”.
“I saw the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal on television responding to his suspension and what came to my mind was that there could actually be many presidents operating in the Buhari’s presidency.
“Perhaps, it is for this reason of possible existence of governments within the government of Buhari that confusion pervades the polity, with the President himself writing letter to the Senate to clear someone of wrongdoing and the same person being suspended three months after on the basis of the same allegation,” he said.
“It is also for this reason that the President nominated Ibrahim Magu to the Senate for confirmation as EFCC Chairman and the DSS, an agency under the Presidency wrote the Senate not to confirm him.
“Most importantly, the President did not attend the FEC meeting last week and the meeting did not hold this week under the flimsy excuse that Easter Break stalled it. How could Easter Break that ended on Monday be responsible for the inability to hold FEC meeting on Wednesday? Definitely, there is more to this than meets the eye.
“It has therefore become necessary that Nigerians hear the voice of their President and see him physically, not through surrogates or the cabal operating behind the scene,” the governor said.
Governor Fayose urged President Buhari to hold regular media chat in which Nigerians can ask questions and offer suggestions on the running of the country.
“Since his first and only media chat was held in December 2015, Nigerians have not had opportunity of seeing their President address them directly and this is not the best approach to governance in a democracy,” he said.