Politics of a President’s Medical Trip

Segun James looks at the implications of not handing power over to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo when President Muhammadu Buhari travelled to Europe recently for 14 days to see his doctors

Nigeria’s health care delivery system has become bedevilled with so many intractable problems in recent years. The question is why are the nation’s health facilities not working? Like many simple questions, it leads to complex answers. Because it demands that we confront a profound new reality about our healthcare system which the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed.

With the virus raging, along with political storms and an economy on a roller-coaster ride, these haven’t exactly been a fun time for Nigerians. But surprisingly, it is the time the president chooses to travel out of the country.

Not too long ago, the Presidency had announced that President Muhammadu Buhari was travelling to London for a “routine” medical check-up that will last two weeks! The announcement came barely two days before the country’s doctors were to embark on strike action over unpaid salaries.

It is Buhari’s first medical trip abroad since the outbreak of the pandemic, which stripped much of Africa’s elites of the option of flying to the United Kingdom, France, the United States of America or India to see a doctor.

While Buhari consulted with doctors in London, millions in Africa’s most populous country and the supposed largest economy were left without access to medical facilities.

The doctors stopped going to work. They were complaining about the non-payment of medical interns for months and demanding an upward review of hazard allowances and COVID-19 care incentives, according to a statement issued by the National Association of Resident Doctors on March 29.

Nigerians have for decades suffered from an inadequately funded healthcare system, squalid clinics and hospitals, and poorly paid and overworked health care workers who frequently move abroad for greener pastures.

There are at least 8,178 medical doctors of Nigerian origin working in the U.K., according to data on the U.K. General Medical Council website, a more than 50% increase from 2015. The exodus has worsened health care in a country that has one doctor for every 5,000 people, according to the Nigeria Medical Association.

Why should the president go to Europe which is in the midst of a fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic for his medical checkups when he could have had his doctors brought to the Villa without fanfare and the noise now associated with his travel to London?

The fact that may be gleaned from the disposition of the First Lady, Hajia Aisha Buhari to healthcare facilities in the presidential palace. She exposed the Aso Villa clinic as a glorified chemist shop and complained about the mismanagement. From all indications, the medical centre must still be in the same sorry state, hence the president’s decision to go abroad. Although the president has shown that he never had COVID,-19 what if going to London will exposed him to the pandemic?

Who was in charge of the country? Or was the government on autopilot?

There was a chance offered by Buhari’s trip abroad to make a turning point in the ever-deepening mistrust and distrust in the presidency, but the refusal of the president to commute power, no matter how brief, to his deputy while on medical leave in Europe. The President and his advisers may have depended on the constitution which allows him a maximum of 14 days absence from the country without handing over power to his second in-command.

What was the political implication of the president going abroad, not on an official state visit, but on health grounds for two weeks without devolving powers to his deputy? What kind of ailment is the president having that will require two weeks leave out of the country? Who ran the government in the absence of the president? After all, if the ailment was so serious that it required that the president spend 14 days outside the country, then it is safe to assume that he did not have time to tend to any state matters while tending to his health.

But the presidency said, the president attended to state matters while away. It can also be argued that with the modern tools of communication, the President can work from anywhere in the world. His spokesman, Mr. Garba Shehu who disclosed this however did not say exactly why or how the president would be running the country from a sickbed in London.

In 2017, following an undisclosed ailment that forced the President to stay away from his duties for about 100 days, he officially handed powers to his deputy, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. By the time he came back, Nigerians were informed that his office had been taken over by rodents and that he would be working from home. The reasons given were suspicious, but Nigerians were happy that he returned safely.

At that time, the President devolved powers to his deputy who acted in his place. In his capacity as the acting President, Osinbajo took some far-reaching decisions including the nomination of Justice Walter Onnoghen as the Chief Justice of the federation. He also sacked a member of the cabal around the president for insubordination and appointed a Southerner as acting head of the Department of State Security (DSS). He also tackled the economic issues facing the nation, a situation which saw the Naira appreciating back against the Dollar.

These actions drew the ire of the cabal, and that was when the problems of the Vice President with his principal began. From that moment on, the President refused to hand over again to his deputy . But the powers behind the throne are always invincible and they wield the greatest force and they exert revenge.

The greatest sin of Osinbajo was that he sacked Alhaji Daura for taking a unilateral decision without recourse to him as the acting Pesident. That incensed the cabal, a group of which Daura is a member so much that they never forgave him. Osinbajo’s executive actions within that period showed a man who knew his onion and has an independent mind. The cabal never liked that. They have since ensured that he never has any opportunity to act again.

Take a look at the presidency today; you will understand part of what the current tussle for the control of the government is all about. What you see is a welter of desperate politicians trying to position themselves strategically for when President Muhammadu Buhari exits the scene.