•My dad doing pretty well, Zahra
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, Aisha and daughter, Zahra, yesterday, gave a hint on the president’s recovery and imminent return, after a long stay in an undisclosed hospital in London.
“The hyenas and the jackals will soon be ejected from the kingdom,” the first lady said in a Facebook post, while responding to an earlier post by Shehu Sani, the senator representing Kaduna Central.
Mrs. Buhari is currently in London with her husband.
Sani had earlier posted a message in which he made a veiled reference to alleged intrigues and power play in government circle in President Muhammadu Buhari’s absence.
Senator Sani had posted on his status on Facebook: “Prayer for the absent Lion King has waned; until he’s back then they will fall over each other to be on the front row of the palace temple. Now the hyenas and the jackals are scheming and talking to each other in whispers; still doubting whether the Lion King will be back or not…
“It is the wish of the Hyenas and the Jackals that the Lion King never wakes up or come back so that they can be kings. It is the prayers of the weak animals that the Lion King comes back to save the kingdom from the Hyenas, the wolves and other predators.”
Mrs. Buhari took a cue and alluded to some elements around her ailing husband as “the hyenas” and “the jackals,” and expressed hope that they would soon be sent out of “his Kingdom.
“God has answered the prayers of the weaker animals. The hyenas and the jackals will soon be sent out of the kingdom. We strongly believe in the prayers and support of the weaker animals,” the president’s wife replied.
Mrs Buhari’s comment attracted some comments from her followers on Facebook, who wished her husband quick recovery.
Buhari had on May 7 embarked on his second medical vacation of the year.
The First Lady returned to the UK last week after an earlier trip in June, where she spent a week before returning to Nigeria.
On her return, then, she said Buhari was recovering well and that he expressed appreciation to Nigerians praying for him.
It was the second time since October 2016, that the first lady would openly give insight into the intrigues at the seat of power, particularly against the backdrop of her husband’s ailment.
In an earlier interview with the BBC last October, Aisha had accused an unnamed cabal of hijacking the All Progressives Congress (APC) government led by her spouse.
Miffed by some appointments made by her husband, she warned that she may not support his re-election in 2019 if the president failed to shake up his cabinet.
“As a person, I have my right to say how I feel about something. If it continues like this, me, I am not going to be part of any movement again, because I need to work with the people that we started the journey with collectively so that we can achieve what we want to achieve, so that he would leave a legacy.”
But the president who was away in Germany on a state visit, reacted to the interview during a joint press briefing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
He laughed off his wife’s challenge as he fired the now famous statement that Aisha belonged in the kitchen and the other room.
“I don’t know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room,” he said.
Also, one of the president’s daughters, Zahra, also disclosed that he was “doing pretty good.”
Zahra disclosed this on her Twitter handle, @zmbuhari, while responding to an enquiry from another Twitter user, @flakkyBanky who wrote: “Where is your father please? I am asking on behalf of Nigerians.”
“He’s doing pretty good,” she simply replied.
She also replied, “Ameen” when another Twitter user, @ummiana58, wrote, “Masha Allah. May Allah grant him good health and may he make it easy for us all.”
Inspite of the assurances, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State said the APC and the Presidency were in dilemma as to whether to bring Buhari back to the country with his present state or leave him in London.
“The president has become a bad business for the cabal that imposed him on Nigerians,” Fayose said in a statement issued, yesterday, by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka.
According to him: “For a president who has spent 113 days abroad taking care of his health out of the 191 days in 2017, it is time for Section 144 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to be invoked.
“President Buhari left Nigeria for London on May 7, 2017 and today is July 10, 2017, 64 clears days since Nigerians saw their president or heard anything from him. Even the president’s handlers are keeping Nigerians in the dark.
“Even though the number of days that a president can spend outside the country is not specified in the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the makers of the laws of Nigeria envisaged this kind of situation and made provisions for how to resolve it in Section 144.
“It has, therefore, become pertinent that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) must invoke Section 144 of the 1999 Constitution by passing a resolution declaring that President Buhari is incapable of discharging the functions of his office.”
Governor Fayose, who insisted that he was not interested in the president’s death, said freeing Nigeria from the hands of those who were presently holding the country to ransom should be the major concern of all well-meaning Nigerians.
“They are always quick to tell Nigerians that there is an acting president in the person of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and as such, no vacuum in government. However, we all know the limitations of the acting president. We know that there are so many things Prof. Osinbajo cannot do and Nigerians are the ones bearing the consequences of a bedridden president.”