by Alexander O. Onukwue

President Muhammadu Buhari’s return from London has now moved from happening “soon” to being imminent.

Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, visited Buhari on August 17 at Abuja House in London. The President has been away from the country for over a 100 days since departing on a indefinite medical vacation on the 7th of May.

Saraki, in a number of tweets after the visit, stated that the President had “remarkably” improved in health and that his return was “imminent”.

This would appear to be an upgrade from the last report Nigerians received from the President’s visitors – the media team. Senior Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, did say that Buhari only needed the permission of his doctors to make his return to the Aso Villa. Abike Dabiri-Erewa’s view was that “he’s going to come back”. Those were statements made by the media team to assure Nigerians that there would be no need to agitate over the President spending much longer in London, without actually telling when he would return.

Saraki has fixed that with a better degree of specificity – almost.

The fact is that there is still no certainty when the President will return, a situation that has given rise to the protests that have happened in some cities in the country as well as in London and New York. The President’s illness is unknown, the response to requests about it is that he is a “private citizen”.

Would it satisfy a private employer when a long-absent staff is expected to return soon or “imminently”?

Given the high standards usually associated with medical practices outside Nigeria, one would have thought that there would be some way of knowing what time a convalescing patient would be due for departure. If the President has so tremendously improved, why can there not be a date for his return to the country?

You can almost imagine the joint statement from Adesina and Saraki: Sorry, but that’s all we can tell you right now, and you should be happy that you’re even being updated.

Editor