Today would have marked the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s ten-day vacation in the United Kingdom, a period which has seen the emergence and spread of rumors about the true intention of his vacation, including allegations that he is gravely ill.

That vacation has, however, now been extended by an unspecified number of days in order to allow him complete his medical check-ups with his doctors there, according to an official statement by the Presidency. Sadly, this only means that the rumor mill regarding his health will go into overdrive.

While the Buhari administration has been more forthcoming with information concerning the president’s health than previous ones, it still leaves out crucial details about the state of his health.

This is the third vacation in a row to the United Kingdom being described in official statements as a “medical check-up”, although even the most casual observer would be quick to note that these check-ups are coming too soon after each other. This recent extension to a ten-day vacation will all but be the confirmation that conspiracy theorists need to confirm suggestions that something is seriously amiss about his health condition.

This is the time for the Presidency to come clean and inform Nigerians if the president is suffering from any illness or not. Continuing to keep it under wraps only means that the rumors of his condition, if there is any, will only fester as they have in the past fortnight or so.

The memory of the impasse that happened during the presidency of late President Umaru Yar’adua in 2010 over the illness that led to his death is still very fresh in the minds of Nigerians and how the nation ground to a halt with rising tensions cannot be easily forgotten.

While President Buhari has been doing the right thing in always informing the National Assembly of every vacation and making Vice President Yemi Osinbajo the Acting President in his stead, we cannot help but wonder if this is another Yar’adua situation in the making and are dreading the tensions that will inevitably follow and how the business of governance will stop until the situation clears up.

We pray that President Buhari finishes his vacation soon and comes back to Nigeria to continue the job he was elected for. If he is ill, we wish him quick recovery. But if that is the case, the Presidency must come clean about what truly ails him that necessitates the constant medical checks, and this is in his best interest.

After all, it is in the absence of information that negative theories emerge to fill the space.