•Activists, cleric demand President’s resignation
•As Aisha returns to London
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Magnus Eze, Abuja, Linus Oota, Lafia, Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure and Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Large number of protesters, under the aegis of Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, yesterday, stormed the streets of Abuja, protesting the long absence of President Muhammadu Buhari from the country.
The group made up of the Concerned Nigerians and “Our Mumu Don Do” Advocacy, defied the early morning rains to march from the Unity Fountain, along Shehu Shagari Way, to the Presidential Villa gate, where they addressed their members.
This was as the All Progressives Congress (APC) Youths Renaissance described one of the leaders of the anti-Buhari protest, weird musician, Charles Oputa (Charly Boy), as a serial attention seeker, even as they accused some APC chieftains and members of the opposition of sponsoring the protest.
Leaders of the protest, former Director of New Media at the headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Deji Adeyanju and Charly Boy, described Buhari’s absence from office for over 90 days as an anomaly that was only enriching few individuals against the collective interest of the country. They noted that the few individuals “who see themselves as a cabal in the Aso Villa” were profiting immensely from the president’s ill health, adding, that was why “they had continued to stage-manage the situation instead of telling Nigerians the truth.”
Adeyanju, the leader of Concerned Nigeria group, said since these individuals had refused to allow democracy in Nigeria survive, members of the groups “will continue their sit-out protest at the Unity Fountain, until the truth about the Buhari’s health is revealed.”
He said the group’s demands were that the president returns to the country or the truth about his health revealed, and if he is adjudged unfit to continue to lead, he must resign immediately to allow Acting President Yemi Osinbajo take over the ship of governance, as a substantive president.
“The president cannot continue to remain in London infinitum and Osinbajo cannot continue, infinitum as acting president. They are holding the country to ransom; it is not by force to remain a president. It is time to invoke section 144 of the Constitution. You can imagine what happened after the Anambra attack, the cabal in Aso Rock, who are bent on holding the country to ransom, bye-passed Osinbajo to issue a statement,” he stated.
Also speaking, leader of “Our Mumu Don Do” group, Oputa, explained that he had to come and support the youths in demanding for the right thing to be done, because the future of the younger generation was bleak with the way politicians were handling issues of governance.
He added that the youths of Nigeria had the responsibility to demand accountability from those leading the country, whom, according to him, were bent on protecting their selfish interest against the development of the nation.
Meanwhile, the group ended up registering their demands on the road leading to the Aso Villa as they were denied access by security agents who blocked the major roads. They dispersed without any government representative attending to them.
However, the APC Youths Renaissance, in a statement by its leader, Collins Edwin, insisted that Buhari will not resign from office and cautioned Charly Boy to stop making ‘senseless noise’.
“For Charly Boy and his sponsors to organise such protest against our darling President, we have resolved to stage a counter protest that will show the world that President Muhammadu Buhari is truly loved by Nigerians despite the media gang up against him.
“We have also collected the comprehensive list of politicians within and outside the APC who are sponsoring the protest and negative publicity against Buhari and will make it public for Nigerians to see who are actually preventing good governance in the country,” Edwin stated.
Regardless, the Bishop of Owo Diocese of the Anglican communion, Rt. Rev. James Adedayo Oladunjoye, has called on President Buhari to resign from office in order to have sufficient time to attend to his health, saying the country needs a healthy person as president.
He said a qualified person should be supported to take over from Buhari without further delay for the nation to move forward.
The cleric, who spoke at the opening of the second session of the 12th Synod of the church, said going to abroad for several months within a four year term would not help the nation.
He said: “The president has been ill for so many months of his tenure. Is it not proper for this country to know the condition of the health of our president because he is no more a private personally?”
“He is a public property and if the president is not strong enough, as the leader of this country, it is better for him to resign, so that another qualified individual can take up the office legitimately.”
Oladunjoye, who also condemned the state of the nation’s economy, said it is unreasonable for the common man to continue to live in abject poverty and called on government to discourage living on imported products by encouraging indigenous products.
The Anglican Bishop also called on the Federal Government to monitor the spending of the Paris Club Fund so the masses can benefit from the money given out.
However, the Presidency has faulted yesterday’s protest, insisting that President Buhari has not breached any constitutional provision as alleged by the protesters.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, who spoke to State House Correspondents, since President Buhari duly handed over power to his Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, and wrote the National Assembly, the protest has no basis.
Shehu said the protesters were only exercising their civic rights and that was the beauty of democracy.
He said: “Of what use or value is a democracy in which citizens cannot embark on peaceful protests, so we respect their right to convene or undertake peaceful protest.
“On the second issue, whether the president should resign or disclose whatever, I think they are stepping outside the laws of this country. Anyone conversant with the constitution will have noticed or seen that Mr President has complied 100 percent with the requirements of the constitution of this country.
“He has handed over power to the Vice President, relying on the constitution, and the Vice President is carrying out with the affairs of this country, he is undertaking activities of government in line with the constitution in a way that the president himself has given words of commendation. So, the president has not bridged any law; what he has done is perfectly in line with the constitution of this country. People are looking for things to say; I think they should do their research very well.”
Meanwhile, wife of the president, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, returned to London where her husband has been on medical vacation.
Mrs. Buhari’s spokesperson, Bisi Olumide-Ajayi, confirmed the trip on the telephone.
“Yes, Her Excellency travelled back to London yesterday. I can assure you that it was not as if she was quickly called to return to London. I think she came back to the country because she had some things to do,” she said.
Other sources hinted that Aisha’s latest visit to London is in preparation for the return of President Buhari who has been away for over 90 days.
Mrs. Buhari returned to the country last week from London and proceeded to Owerri, the capital of Imo State, where she attended the 2017 August meeting hosted by women in the state. She had joined her husband in London almost a month after he left the country on May 7 for follow-up consultations with his doctors.
President Buhari had assured the two delegation from the All Progressive Congress (APC) and that of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), who visited him in London recently, that he was merely awaiting his doctors green light to return to the country.
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State had last week said the governors from the six geo-political zones who visited the president in London last month advised him to attend to his health and not hurry back because the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, was doing a good job.
Governor Emmanuel Udom had also told news men that Buhari’s return date was not irrelevant, stressing that the most important thing was that he is recuperating.
Regardless, a campaign organisation for President Buhari’s re-election in 2019 has declared that the president will return to the country hale and healthy and would seek a second term in office.
The group, Democratic Youth Congress (DYC), said the two years of the Buhari led APC administration in the country has impacted more positive on Nigerians than the last 16 years administration in the country.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, National Chairman of the group, Hon. Kassim Mohammed Kassim, said Buhari has, within the last two years, laid the foundation for good governance in Nigeria and urged Nigerians to support the government in order to sustain its efforts at building a peaceful and enduring democratic legacy in the country.
Kassim described as mischief, media reports of purported search for the replacement of president Buhari by former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and Abubakar Abdulsalam with either of the likes of Musa Kwankwaso, Aminu Tambuwal, Donald Duke or Adams Oshiomole in 2019.
He said such a move was not only an act of betrayal, but arson against the collective wishes of Nigerians, adding that at no time has Buhari confided in any of them about his future political plans.
Kassim, who is also a member of Nasarawa State House of Assembly, representing Akwanga South on the platform of APC, pledged the group’s unflinching support to the emergence and continuation in office of president Buhari beyond 2019, adding that the search for his successor is a conspiracy against good governance which the president is entrenching through the fight against corruption.
In a related development, another group, under the aegis of Buhari Campaign Organisation (BCO) yesterday opened its South-West office to prosecute campaign for the president’s re-election.
The group also appointed coordinators for the six states in the zone – Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti, during the inauguration of the office at Ile Marun, near Iwo Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Ibadan.
The BCO’s national coordinator, Alhaji Danladi Pasalli, in his address, said the organisation started from South-West, hence, the inauguration “is part of your legacy that have been set for the nation in support of our president, whose pious mind is to reshape Nigeria from all forms of unpatriotic activities and set the country on a proper and realistic system so the future of our next generation can be guaranteed.”