hehehehehe......President
Muhammadu Buhari who has been in London where he has been undergoing
treatment for close to 90 days, might stay much longer than expected
over his health issues, new report has revealed.
Despite recent high-profile visits to ailing President Muhammadu
Despite recent high-profile visits to ailing President Muhammadu
Buhari in the United Kingdom, where for close to 90 days he has
been undergoing treatment for a grave illness, SaharaReporters has
learned that the Nigerian president is not as healthy as has been
portrayed by members of his inner circle. Mr. Buhari’s illness remains
officially shrouded in secrecy, but sources close to his inmost
associates had long told this website that the president was beset by
cancer.
In recent weeks, the cabal around Mr. Buhari has used a flurry of
well-orchestrated visits to the ailing president by political personages
to sell a narrative of “miraculous recovery.” But such rosy impressions
are belied by a palpable deterioration in President Buhari’s health,
according to accounts offered by a few sources knowledgeable about the
Nigerian leader’s condition.
President Buhari abruptly left Nigeria for the UK on May 7, 2017,
arriving at Luton airport in London. He immediately proceeded to a
London hospital where treatment had been set up prior to his arrival,
said one of our sources. According to that source, Mr. Buhari’s initial
treatment was so grueling that it left him devastated and weak, with
severe difficulty speaking and eating.
For weeks after his arrival in the UK, no political figure in Abuja
heard from Mr. Buhari either in person or via phone calls. In fact, for
some time his aides with direct access to him were reduced to just two,
while the remainder of the retinue that traveled with him was left in
hotels in London, kept in the dark about his health condition.
The prolonged period during which Mr. Buhari was incommunicado
fueled rumors that he was completely incapacitated. Some members of the
cabal around him, as well as his wife, traveled to London in search of
the president, but mostly came back empty-handed.
The spell was somewhat broken in late June when Mr. Buhari’s aides
released an audio recording of his Sallah greetings to Muslims
celebrating Eid-el-Fitr. The president’s message, spoken in a weary
voice in Hausa, immediately drew criticism from Nigerians who pointed to
the fact that the message seemed to ignore the significant portion of
non-Hausa speaking Muslims in Nigeria.
Mr. Buhari’s sign of life in his Sallah message seemed to energize
members of his cabal to start envisioning a future past his presidency.
In Saudi Arabia, a major player among the cabal, Isa Funtua, met with
numerous political players, including Senate President Bukola Saraki,
whom he designated as the arrowhead of a post-Buhari power arrangement.
A source familiar with that meeting disclosed that Mr. Funtua
proposed that, even if Buhari were in a vegetative state, acting
President Yemi Osinbajo should be barred from becoming the substantive
president. His fear was that an Osinbajo presidency would alter the
power equation for members of the cabal who believe that power should
remain in the north for eight years. Mr. Funtua reportedly reminded the
audience in Saudi Arabia that the last time an apparently “soft”
southerner, Goodluck Jonathan, was given power, he used state resources
“to marginalize the north.”
He described Mr. Osinbajo as politically “stronger” and “wiser”
than Mr. Jonathan, especially because of his godfather, former Governor
Ahmed Bola Tinubu, whom he suggested should be completely neutralized
because he was too ambitious and politically strategic.
In a slight deviation from the Funtua plan, the other half of the
cabal led by the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, was devising another
agenda. The Kyari group would be open to extracting a resignation letter
from Mr. Buhari and accept Mr. Osinbajo’s assumption of full
presidential powers if the current acting President would agree to pick
Attorney General and Minister of
Justice, Abubakar Malami, as his Vice President.
However, a snag to the plan was that Mr. Malami and Mr. Osinbajo
have pretty much parted ways. Acting President Osinbajo has been
directly coordinating justice-related matters, even convening meetings
related to the national prosecution committee behind Mr. Malami’s back.
While the cabal’s jostling was going on, Mrs. Buhari traveled to
London to see her ailing husband. A diplomat source said the First Lady
rented an apartment in London away from the “Abuja House” residence
where her husband stays.
SaharaReporters learnt that three or four days after her arrival in
London, Mrs. Buhari was told to join her husband for dinner. The
meeting turned out heartwarming as Mr. Buhari reportedly managed to
speak and to sit to eat with her. After subsequently spending more time
with her husband, Mrs. Buhari told other family members that he was
making “a miraculous recovery.” She then wrote Facebook updates warning
the “jackals and hyenas” based in Abuja that the “King of the Animal
Kingdom” would soon return and send them packing.
The same day, the president’s daughter, Zarah, took to Twitter to claim that her father was in great shape.
A few days later, acting President Osinbajo snuck out of Abuja for a
one-on-one meeting with Mr. Buhari. On his return, he asserted that Mr.
Buhari was in great shape, was recovering quite fast and would soon be
back.
Despite those inflated claims, SaharaReporters learnt that the
cabal was not quite satisfied with Mr. Osinbajo’s body language as he
relayed the message to Nigerians. Some cabal insiders alleged that the
acting President’s close aides had leaked information to the media,
especially SaharaReporters, that Mr. Buhari was far from a picture of
great shape.
SaharaReporters learned that Mr. Osinbajo encountered a highly
emaciated and feeble Buhari who could not speak coherently. It was no
surprise that the acting President did not bring back with him any
audio, video or photo of the meeting.
On July 23, 2017, a few days after Osibanjo returned, the cabal
arranged a visit by handpicked party leaders of the All Progressives
Congress (APC). Led by Odigie Oyegun, the visiting party included some
governors and ministers. The meeting managed to produce a single photo
showing Buhari sitting at the edge of the table, but without partaking
in the feast.
The single photo perhaps caused greater harm than was anticipated.
Almost immediately, an announcement was made that seven governors
of the APC as well as others handpicked from the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP) were to visit Mr. Buhari in London on July 26, 2017. Led by
Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, the governors gushed about Mr.
Buhari’s recovery. They also claimed that their meeting with him lasted
almost an hour and that the president discussed issues of national
importance, a ploy to give the impression that he was closely monitoring
events at home.
A bunch of photographs showed Mr. Buhari smiling. Even so, no
single video or audio was presented to Nigerians from all the visits.
Nor could any of the visitors tell when Mr. Buhari would return home.
Saharareporters also learnt former President Olusegun Obasanjo also
visited Buhari in London in the company of former Osun state, Gov.
Olagunsoye Oyinlola, although Obasanjo is yet to make a public
pronouncement on the trip.
Several sources told SaharaReporters that the highly publicized
visits were designed to create the appearance that Mr. Buhari was
regaining his health and was prepared to resume in office.
Yet, our sources revealed that Mr. Buhari’s ability to receive
visitors was no indication of improved health, but came after his
completion of a course of treatment that lasted three months. According
to the source, since the completion of that course of treatment, Mr.
Buhari occasionally enjoys momentary relief.
“He can see people and sit for a little bit of time, but that
does not mean he is healed as his doctors are yet to conclude that he is
free of the disease afflicting him,” one of the sources said. They
added that the President had not regained his health and had lost so
much weight that he is “padded” just before his meetings with governors
and politicians.
According to the source, members of the cabal around Mr. Buhari
were once again pressuring him to return to Nigeria, his frail health
notwithstanding. Should the cabal win out again, they would simply use
the president’s presence as a ruse to manipulate policies and politics
to serve their individual interests.
The president’s doctors appear to have a different agenda. One of
our sources stated there was no plan by Mr. Buhari’s doctors to let him
travel to Nigeria in the near future.
“They [doctors] have asked that Mr. President should stay in
the UK for another period of monitoring and round of treatment that
could last weeks if not months.”
SaharaReporters had revealed that the cabal behind Mr. Buhari was
considering claiming that the president was embarking on his vacation
after close to three months of treatment during this particular trip.
Prior to the current medical trip, President Buhari had spent close to
50 days in London between December and February.
One of our sources, briefed by one of the governors who recently saw Mr. Buhari, revealed that the ailing president “is only okay a few hours some days. And it takes a lot of work to prepare him for meeting people.”
Another source drew attention to Mr. Buhari’s look during his
recent meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, adding
that the president seemed a shadow of his former self.
One source said Mrs. Buhari had earlier been told her husband would
be able to return with her to Nigeria last Wednesday, only to find out
he was in no shape for the trip. She quietly left London alone and
appeared in Imo State last Thursday for an event.
Placed in a desperate situation, the cabal has claimed that Mr.
Buhari was waiting to regain some weight before returning to resume
work. But after two previous occasions when the president was hurriedly
flown into Nigeria, only to return to the UK for urgent care, there
appears to be a sobering sense among some members of the cabal that
their incessant game may be losing its efficacy.
According to one source, “The only people who can give a trustworthy update on President Buhari’s real health status are his doctors, not politicians.”
Source: SaharaReporters
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