Nigeria is one of the most important countries in the world. It’s by far the largest country in Africa; it’s the fastest growing economy there by a long chalk. Nigerians all over the world hold positions of power and importance.
From a UK perspective, one of the largest contingents of secret service (‘Mi6’) in the world is in Nigeria. Why? Because more than anywhere else, Nigeria represents a confluence of developing and developed world, feudal religious instincts and modernity. In many ways, Nigeria’s progress is Africa’s progress. So if there’s a big thing going on in Nigeria, the UK knows about it alright.
Two years ago, Nigeria held a presidential election in which something remarkable happened. The underdog (albeit a former general and temporary leader of the nation) won and the incumbent president politely conceded then stood down. Nigeria presented a profoundly responsible face to the world.
President Buhari took office promising to clean up Nigeria’s business and culture and move Nigeria into a new era. And he’d started to do just that. Notably, he recently succeeded in having the kidnapped Chibok girls released.
I have an interest in all of this. During Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign, I organised supportive meetings on his behalf at Westminster; always on behalf of Nigerians and never off my own bat. I had nothing personal against his decent predecessor, but I felt that the new ere of politics Muhammadu Buhari represented, was a good thing. I also felt that successive UK governments, and the UK parliament, had given the (now previous) Nigerian government too easy a ride. President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration was talking a good game but doing little of any substance to help the people of Nigeria.
Ultimately, of course, it was a matter for Nigerians. Not all have been fans of President Buhari, but most today recognise his essential decency and his determination to help Nigeria to the world status it deserves.
For two days, some sources have been reporting that President Buhari has died in a London hospital. Other sources, including the presidency, have been denying this, but not very convincingly. A general rule of thumb for any leader anywhere is that if people think you’re dead then you get yourself on the telly alive, immediately. So maybe there’s a bit of a temporary cover-up involved? And if there is, it’s hard to imagine the UK’s security service (‘Mi5) doesn’t know about it and have folk all over the place inside the hospital in question.
The most striking thing in all of this is that the UK media doesn’t seem to give a toss either way – few outlets have publish anything at all on the subject.
It’s Africa and not a famine; it’s Nigeria but not corruption, you see. No NGO comment or interest necessary.
UK coverage of Africa is dominated by white journalists who pop from country to country and claim special knowledge. The news agencies are populated by young white journalists working in effect as stringers, often little more than kids taking a year out having a wee adventure. The NGOs who work mainly on Africa are so white it’s a disgrace. Perhaps if each employed a few more Africans we’d get some decent and serious coverage of that continent.
For now, we can just wait and wonder on the fate of a president in London.
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Eric. That link you posted implies that it is Fox News. It’s not. So I wonder, are you not able to discern the real Fox News site? If you are credible why would you be quoting such a site as your source? What exactly is your agenda in pushing un-corraborated news so hard?
Thanks for this, Caro. First, you’ll see that all of my blogposts, about Scotland, Africa and other stuff, are authentic. That doesn’t mean they’re flawless, but it does show, I hope, that I don’t have an ‘agenda’.
The thing you really have to accept is that in a democracy people need confidence that they’re leader is able to do the job. That includes not being dead. In the US, the president’s health details are made public. In the Uk and elsewhere, if a leader so much as coughs oddly then there has to be a doctor formally explaining what’s up. The phenomenon of leaders disappearing for a long time then turning out to be dead really has to be a thing of the past.
I’m struck by how your president has not shown face for a while now. That the denials of death or incapacitation coming from senior politicians and his staff look heavily caveated and designed to avoid answering the question. If Mr Buhari’s fine, then his advisers should all be sacked, frankly.
What I think MAY have happened is that Mr Buhari was given treatment for an advanced condition in London and has not been seen since. It would be better if the Nigerian people had been told the truth about his condition, but they weren’t so they’re confused. There has been no death certificate issued, as far as I’m aware, although of course some reports are that he is no longer in the UK. Doctors in London would not be likely to permit a person whose brain activity had ceased to remain longer-term on a machine; they’d likely declare that person dead. Perhaps this is why there is confusion about his location. Doctors would not prevent the moving of such a patient even if brain-death had taken place, so it could well be that he is elsewhere. The point is, if he is capable of governing then he needs to be able to appear in public and a doctor who is not a Nigerian official needs to explain honestly what his condition is.
The papers are reluctant to report because they will have been told all of this by the hospital in one way or another. They will also know a death certificate has not been issued in London. That may be why just one or two sources are prepared to publish – they’re prepared to take a risk.
The succession is complex, I know. The northern folk will want to retain the presidency and they won’t be able to. So they’ll do what the PDP did last time and demand that the VP steps down as pres in two years time. That won’t happen, of course.
In the end, it’s all about whether Nigerians want to live in a democracy. That means accountable leaders. I think that mainly they do.
Eric, thanks for your reply. I don’t think anyone disagrees with you the requirement of confidence in a democracy and so it seems clear that the issue you are addressing is why there is a lack of transparency in the subject matter of the President’s health. Fine. But why go about it this way? It would have taken you less than 10 seconds to know that the site link you are relying on is fake.
Why instead do not you not write an articulate article on people’s right to transparency in order to provide confidence? Is that not a good enough theme without the sensational falsehood in the title?
In your reply, you bring in all kinds of unsubstantiated theories about what may or may not have happened to him. If you have credible sources for here, share them. Else, if we all go around publishing what we think MAY or may not have happened and quoting fake news sites, we are really in trouble. Because as you pointed out democracy relies on transparency.
In my humble opinion, you are sacrificing your credibility whilst instead you could be using your good (but Twitter unverified) name to help achieve positive change the right way.
Hi Eric
Please I want to know your view about biafra and kanu and where do the British stand.
The issue of separation is really one just for Nigerians and those living in the affected regions, Vic. Most foreign governments want Nigeria to be stable, and their primary interests lie in assisting the Nigerian government to deal with terrorism.
Nice piece but the chibok girl saga is just a spam, politically motivated to undermine the previous administration. So don’t give him that credit. Hope u saw the released girls pictures, healthy looking. Girls that was assumed missing and wandering in the forest for two years with air strikes n bombings…Buhari too fought no corruption he aided it..our lives were better in the former administration amidst corruption. Thank you.
Thanks, Doris. There’s always going to be a bit of ‘smoke and mirrors’ with things, including big things like Chibok. I’ve always been a bit sceptical about all of that and I was, like you, struck by how healthy they all looked. It was still a big success on the international stage, though, since people outside Nigeria latched on to it in a big way. The politics of the North are very important to get right, of course, and now they’ve likely lost the presidency it’ll get quite tricky.
Lai Mohamed said only the doctor can say how long president buhari going to stay, now are you part of the medical doctors
Thanks, Chris. Lai Mohamed is a good man. I’ve met him and I believe his good intention. And indeed this is exactly what would happen in a regular state. The specifics of the presidents health would be known and the doctor treating him would come out and say what is happening. But we haven’t seen that, have we? We’ve just seen PR guys. What does that tell you?
Yes i know that president buhari is sick and too many types of your news have come and go and buhari is still alive, what kind of prove can you give us about this, that your news is not fake.?
http://fox-news24.com/breaking-news-nigerias-president-muhammadu-buhari-has-died/
It’s shocking and sad, I know. I don’t blame his colleagues for being a bit slow. I am surprised the European media doesn’t seem to give that much of a toss. I have no doubt that it’s because the last thing you see here is Africans reporting on African issues.
Mr Eric,
I am sure you are not ignorant of the politics nothern Nigeria has been playing with the rest of Nigeria in connivance with your country’s government. This has left Nigeria in a dire condition on the brink of disintegration. You are so full of praise for the treasonous general who has reversed every atom of gain we have achieved in less than two years. He. We have hospitals here in Nigeria, why is he in a lodon hospital for God’s sake. Our state house hospitals gulped more money than all the hospitals in Nigeria combined in 2016 under his leadership. Why can’t he resign and take care of himself if he is truly alive. No, he prefers to be a ghost President puting the lives of over 180 million people on hold and uncertainty.
Please if you happen to meet him, help us beg him to resign.
Thank you.
I think he’s dead. That’s why he can’t resign. Some journalists, I think, were told he’d died by people at the hospital. Then it was likely decided to keep him hooked up to a machine until things are sorted out for the succession. If so, that’ll be why no death certificate’s been issued. Assuming one hasn’t.
I think his government’s done a fairly good job in the short time it’s had, to be honest. There are plenty of capable folk near the top of the current government and in the PDP and not in either. For now, the most important thing is the transition of power to the acting president then for people to decide how the want to proceed in two years at the next elections. Beyond that, it’s not for me to say.
For the past week, Nothern Nigerian elites have been threatening to rain fire and brimstone on the rest of the country if the presidency is not retained in the region. The letter Mr Buhari transmitted to the legislators was carefully crafted to render the vice incapacitated, refering to him as a cordinator instead of acting President. I’m in Nigeria and I can authoritatively tell you that the polity in the country is tensed and heated up with rumours of an impending coup detat.
Nothern Nigeria better put a leash on this beast they just released, else we would not survive it.
Thanks, Anthony. I’m sure it’s very tense now, that’s why all this uncertainty I guess. I don’t think it’s for the president to change the constitution, though. In the end, the VP is the president now. The same north-south problems will always exist where a president dies in post; since this is the second time in two years, maybe Nigerians need to move away from quite old men and former leaders and choose people of working age? I appreciate that Trump is pretty close to the same age as Buhari, but there it is.
I hope there is no coup; I think Nigeria’s probably moved beyond that now.
The British government should know.
Yes. I’m quite sure they do.
President Buhari is alive. That he is sick and hospitalised in the UK is public knowledge. You should stop giving wings to fake news Eric.
Thanks for this. I’m afraid a serving president can’t just disappear. Way it is.
You are somewhere in ekiti and eric is in UK where ur president is and u are accusing him of spreading fake news?
Thanks, Rico.
To be honest, I didn’t care that much either, but I alway think it’s a good thing whenever anyone brings to attention a subject that isn’t getting media attention from any where else.
Great piece Eric and sums up Empire media perfectly. It’s the same coverage they give All things EU, no wonder the levels of ignorance are so high and the publics ability to make informed decisions is so poor.
Hi Eric, perhaps instead of white you could put in western, european, British or some other descriptor.
You might find British people of Asian or African descent with the same attitudes to Africa, Nigeria or somewhere else where they don’t have direct familial knowledge.
Thanks for this, John. I don’t think it’s likely though. The UK’s establishment and dominant worldview are white. No-one’s more aware of that than people who aren’t white.