The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to use any medium available to him to address the nation so as to douse the tension generated in the country by the rumours of his death.
It will be recalled that the social and traditional media had been awashed by the news suggesting that it is either that the President has passed on or that he is critically ill and on a life support machine, a rumour the Presidency had dismissed as false and misleading.
But in a press release issued in Lagos by the NNPP, the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam said that the Party’s call on the President to address the nation by any means available to him was informed by the wide speculation of the rumour among Nigerians.
Aniebonam observed that this would go a long way in putting an end to the unnecessary controversy and suppress the anxiety of many Nigerians who were genuinely concerned about Mr. President’s true state.
According to him,” It is a thing of great concern to us at the New Nigeria Peoples’ Party (NNPP) that what could have ordinarily be a discussion of show of love has become a matter of rancour and hatred turning into a faulty prominence of national and international discourse.
“As a matter of fact, we are at a loss that, in spite of the many challenges confronting the Nigerian masses, like issues of high cost of living, insecurity, decay in infrastructure, among others, the agents of mass destruction are still adding to the burden of the masses of Nigeria with the assault about whether the President is dead or not, or that he is on a life-support machine as they have claimed in the social media etc. We are not saying Nigerians are not expected to know the where about or wellbeing of their President. No! Far from it. But our concern as a political party that is feeling the pains of the masses, is that this should not generate rancour and bad wishes. We are pained the more, that the toiling and suffering masses of the country are being assaulted with/by the news that should not have arisen at all.
“On Thursday, the 20th of January 2017, the Presidency issued a statement that President Muhammadu Buhari will be going on a ten day vacation, outside the country, and that he will use the opportunity to see his personal physician who has been his doctor for a very long time for a medical check-up. And in line with Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the President sent a letter to the National Assembly intimating it of his decision to go on vacation, and thereby will hand over the reins of Government to the Vice President, who becomes the Acting President. It is stated under Section 145 of the Constitution that: Whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary such functions shall be discharged by the Vice-President as Acting President”.
He reasoned that what the letter transmitted by the President to the National Assembly presupposed was that for the next 10days, until the President comes back after his vacation, the focus of attention as far as Government and governance was concerned should be the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo wondering why Nigerians instead of directing their attention, focus, expectations and of course prayers to the Acting President, they were regaling the political sphere with news about the death or otherwise of the President who was on vacation.
“One thing is very clear, from the release issued by the Presidency, the President, while in London for vacation, will attend to his health. We think as a very religious people, (who we claim to be) the only other duty we owe the nation, apart from giving support to the Acting President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, we should also remember our President, Muhammadu Buhari in prayers. The idea of brandishing the death of the President as being propagated in the social media is doing a lot of damage to our country. The greatest culprits are the operators on social media where all manners of reports about the “state” of Mr. President is being pushed into the cyberspace is in-explicable. The world is a global village and whatever we push into the cyberspace will determine how the international community will see us.
“For those going about with the death rumour of Mr. President, have we stopped to ponder on some issues? As a Moslem, is it possible for the President to have died in a UK hospital and the British Press will keep mute about it? Is it possible for the President to have died, and they would not bury the corpse since all this while? Is it possible to give such a person secret burial? We at the NNPP are just using this medium to appeal to Nigerians, that whatever is our grievance with Mr. President or anybody for that matter, it is evil to wish your fellow human being death. It is against our religion. It is un-African. Let us desist from news that may throw the country into avoidable anxiety, but instead commit all the energy being dissipated on spreading rumours about someone’s death or very bad state of health towards positive things, for the benefit and prosperity of our great country”, he said.
He continued, “From another perspective, however, we want to submit here that it would not be too much to have asked Mr. President, at least to quench the fire of the rumour, to have addressed the nation via any of the avenues provided by technology since we have gotten to these wide speculations. This would have gone a long way in putting an end to the unnecessary controversy and suppress the anxiety of many Nigerians who were genuinely concerned about Mr. President’s true state. However, we are conscious of the fact that Mr. President is on vacation and may deserve privacy which is why he has chosen far away London to be away from the stress of office.
“This is why we believe Nigerians should have made do with the information from the Presidency which gave assurances that Mr. President is in good condition and restrain/any of our doubts until after the expiration of the ten days vacation. Even at that, Mr. President is a human being like any of us who can fall sick and if he is yet to recover properly to return to work, he can still apply and inform the National Assembly for an extension of his vacation. There is nothing wrong with that so long it is based on health challenges”.
While pointing out that it was in the public domain that a lot had gone wrong in the nation building occasioned by agents of mass destruction which necessitated the current effort to redefine the Nigerian state to the wheel of progress and prosperity, he therefore encouraged President Buhari to fast-track the processes of rebranding Nigeria to the wishes of the greater number, while appealing to Nigerians to exercise patience as according to him, “it is more difficult to rebuild after destruction”.
He further advised the President to endeavour to take appropriate steps to stop the ongoing killings in Nigeria saying that it was in the opinion of NNPP that avoidable killings was the high point of frustration in the present administration.
“We need to realize “security of lives and properties and welfare of the masses are the primary duties of the Government. To achieve the objective of good governance, we can simply adopt the doctrine of love your neighbor as you love yourself; uphold the constitution and enforce rule of law”, he stated.
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