THE GAINS AND LOSSES OF THE ABSENCE OF MR PRESIDENT: BY UWAKWE ROLAND.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been absent from duty since the last few
months on a purported medical checkup in London. Good a thing he legally
transferred power to the Vice President who is now the acting President,
this is unlike the imbroglio that played out during Yar’adua’s time when
the National Assembly had to invoke the doctrine of necessity so as to
effectively transfer power to then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan.
The problem is that even as an acting President, Yemi Osinbanjo has limited
powers to fully assume responsibility as the commander in chief, this is
because most of the big government functionaries may still owe their
loyalty to Mr President, couple with this, Buhari appointed people of his
like minds who may not comfortably work with the acting President that will
want to bring his knowledge of law and practice into governance. Hence the
long absence of Mr President may eventually result to a slow down of
democratic dividends.
The above notwithstanding, the absence of Mr President have actually been a
blessing to Nigeria rather than a curse, as the economy is repositioning.
This is visible in our exchange rate. Also the crises emanating from
different part of the country have drastically reduced. As of the recent
times, there has not been the usual incident of herdsmen killing and
terrorizing people. More importantly also the acting President have taken
some time to visit almost all the nine Niger Delta States to preach peace,
a move the President is not likely to make. The result is that as at today,
relative peace have returned to the region which has increased the revenue
base of the nation.
Mr President should come back and take over the responsibility which
Nigerians have given to him, however if his health will not allow him to
continue, let him formally resign, so that the acting President can assume
full power.