President Muhammadu Buhari has joined a coterie of political leaders loath to disclose their state of health publicly. The secrecy surrounding the President’s health had thickened over the past weeks but crested on Sunday when he extended his 10-day vacation from his temporary base in England. A statement from the Presidency, which is aimed at defusing tension, has done the opposite: it fuelled controversy and anxiety in the polity. This cloud of uncertainty is awful for the struggling economy. The minimum Nigerians deserve is a full disclosure of their President’s health condition.
In line with the 1999 Constitution, Buhari rightly transmitted letters to the National Assembly about his absence, which was initially from January 23 to February 5. “President Muhammadu Buhari has written to the National Assembly, today, February 5, 2017, informing it of his desire to extend his leave in order to complete and receive the results of a series of tests recommended by his doctors,” the statement said. “The President … was advised to complete the test cycle before returning.” That is as good as it gets.
There is anxiety in part because the President hurriedly jetted out of the country three days to the start of his vacation, though he handed over to his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo. Because of the secrecy and denial by government officials of Buhari’s true condition, speculation was rife that the President could be suffering from a terminal ailment, was in a vegetative state or had even died. This outpouring is morbid, but it is caused by the murky web of opacity Buhari is entrapped in. In response, officials staged photo-ops with his wife, Aisha, Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State and others to prove their point. But public anxiety heightened when the President could not resume on February 6.
Now, there is the need for full disclosure. Since assuming office in May 2015, the President has taken three medical vacations abroad –February 2016, June 2016 and now. Buhari’s resort to overseas treatment is a ringing indictment on the local health system. The teaching hospitals are in a terrible state. The Federal Medical Centres and the National Hospital, Abuja, are a shadow of tertiary medical centres. The total budget for health in 2016 was N250 billion, which was insufficient to clear the rot. Actually, a chunk of it was for recurrent expenditure, but Aso Rock Clinic alone received N3.8 billion.
To show that nothing will change in 2017, the Federal Government has proposed N304 billion for the Ministry of Health. The major problem is that N252 billion out of the sum is earmarked for salaries. This is a ready excuse for the elite to travel overseas for every ailment. Last June, the President travelled to England to treat his ear infection. Simply put, this is quite disappointing. In what appears to be a disturbing trend, President Umaru Yar’Adua set the country on edge between 2009 and 2010. As a result of the power vacuum he created, the treasury was vandalised by the buccaneers that surrounded him, who concealed the illness that resulted in his eventual death in office. The Buhari government ought to be different. Leaders, like all humans, are prone to illness. They do not possess supernatural immunity. In reality, there are a number of leaders who succumbed to ill-health while in office.
The truth, according to Marc Seigel, Fox News medical correspondent, is that “if you have a vacuum of information, pundits and even physicians tend to fill that vacuum. They tend to speculate. They tend to say it could be this! It could be that! Maybe it is severe! Maybe it isn’t! But that’s doing the public a disservice. Because the public here has a right to know about the health of candidates for president of the United States.” He is right. It is unacceptable in the age of information to treat the health condition of leaders who hold strategic positions in national affairs secret.
Notably, it was revealed during the campaign for the American presidency last year that Democratic Party nominee, Hillary Clinton, had pneumonia. William Harrison, the ninth American president, died in office after just one month in 1841; John F. Kennedy was afflicted with Addison’s disease, while Franklin Roosevelt, who had polio attack at age 38, died shortly after taking office for the fourth time in 1945. Winston Churchill, the respected British prime minister, suffered from depression. Roy Jenkins, his biographer, attested that he was “gloriously unfit for office” after suffering stroke twice in 1949 and 1953.
But there are some leaders who have come clean on their health. Fidel Castro, the late Cuban leader, who stood down in 2008, said, “It would betray my conscience to take up a responsibility that requires mobility and total devotion that I am not in a physical condition to offer.” This is selflessness. Gordon Brown, a former British prime minister, who in 2009 personally revealed his eyesight problems; and former Pope Benedict XVI, who renounced the Petrine office in February 2013, citing ill-health and advancing age, count among this special group.
At 74, Buhari can fall ill. And, in fairness to him, he communicated his absence officially to the parliament as required by law. Politically, there is no immediate risk as there is no vacuum in governance. Osinbajo himself came out on Monday to state that Buhari was “hale and hearty.” This is comforting, but it is not enough. The crux of the matter is that vagueness still envelops the country. Since sickness is not necessarily a death knell to a political career, especially if it is one that does not impinge on the duties of the President, Buhari needs to clear the air with Nigerians. Britons are aware that their Prime Minister, Theresa May, is suffering from Type 1 diabetes, which requires that she should be administered four insulin injections daily. Therefore, it is imperative for the President to come out in the open.
