By After the arrival of President Muhammadu Buhari on March 10, 2017 in Nigeria, people continued to linger on the status of his health.
Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian playwright, poet, author, teacher and political activist who is the first African to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.
Recently, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka said in Paris that Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari must reveal the true state of his health to his people. He said Buhari never really mentioned specifically what ailed him. Soyinka said that was not good enough and emphasized the need for the president and other Nigerian public office holders, to be honest with their health status.
“He’s ill, there’s no question, and I wish for heaven’s sake that people in public positions would just be honest. Illness is part of our existence. Buhari owes it to the nation and I don’t know why he and his advisors are being so coy about it.” Soyinka said.
In January, the Nobel-winning author gave his tacit backing to Buhari’s quest to reposition the country’s fortune, noting that he was not surprised that the president’s actions have made him less popular among the people.
According to him, “Nigeria was sinking” when Buhari took over power, a situation which made cleaning the “mess” of the past regimes a difficult task.
“There’s nothing surprising to me about his losing popularity, it should be expected,” said Soyinka, who was a fierce critic of Buhari’s earlier term as head of state after taking power in a coup in 1983. “People wanted change, that word was not just a slogan, it was a promise,” Soyinka said. He further explained
“Fulfilling political promises when you take over the reins of power and you have to clean up a lot of mess, it’s not easy.”
He also said that indigenous people had a right to assert themselves as a distinct people, even within a political and geographical zone anywhere in the world.
The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has said that only his principal can speak about details of his health.
His words, “I am sure it will get to a point when the President has to disclose the status of his health if it needs to be disclosed. If it’s something serious enough to disclose, I am sure he will disclose it”
Also,Vice President Yemi Osinbajo also said that President Muhammadu Buhari is fully fit to perform his functions. On whether the President is healthy and ready for work, Osinbajo said: “He held a meeting with me for over an hour where we discussed a wide range of issues, so his readiness for work is not in doubt at all. In fact he is over ready.”
Nigeria is a great country and its government is trying so hard to make it a better place. However, Some Nigerians wondered after the president’s arrival if he is fit to carry on with his duties. Obviously, the president is fit but has refused to disclose his health status, saying “if necessary, I will disclose my health status”. Another way to find out about his health status is to rate his level of efficiency and performance of his duties, this will answer the question.