Earnestly asking for Buhari
In 2010, Aso Rock seemed at odds with itself, and then-Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan, could not get a look in with regards fully taking over presidential duties. We didn’t get a photo of the president getting greeting cards then, but we did get an audio recording of then-President Yar’Adua, which was supposed to assure people that he was very much on the mend, and not dying. When people took to the streets in protest wanting then-Vice President Jonathan to become Acting President, we got counter protests and rebuke from the opposing side much like the ones we are getting now that are oddly reminiscent of the ‘Youth Earnestly Ask for Abacha’ ones we got in the 1990s. As the protesters of today rightly point out, President Buhari had called for President Yar’Adua to step down at the time. Now, fast-forward seven years later, here we are.
Now is probably a good time to say that I do not particularly care for the use of these instances in some quarters to prove that age is the issue; competence and youth do not necessarily meet on the Venn diagram. I am more concerned that we have seen similar issues play out also at state-level; Former Governor of Cross River State, Liyel Imoke, had to face down rumours of his death followed prolonged illness; the former Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime, was away for five months to treat cancer; and there was of course the saga of the former Taraba State Governor, Danbaba Suntai. The one thing that characterizes these various instances to varying degrees is secrecy. We are yet to see an elected official to do what former U.S. presidential candidate and current U.S. Senator, John McCain, recently did, which was to tell his constituents what he was ill with, let them know when he was receiving treatment, and even how he is getting on. People who pay or rig for the votes often do not feel as accountable to their constituents than those who had to win the hard way, but I would venture that an even larger reason for the recurrence of this secrecy is, fear. Across parties and even across states, we see that our politicians have as much distrust in the political systems they have helped build as we do – which is to say, a lot.
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