“Nigerians have the right to protest. It is an essential part of democracy. While I sympathize with the President, the nation is much bigger than any individual. The President should carefully assess his capacity to continue to govern and make a most selfless decision. I wish to give him the benefit of the doubt. The cap of leadership must be worn only by those who can endure its burden and husked by its honour,” said an Insider

The recent “Resign or Resume” sit in protest in Abuja against the ailing President has gathered lots of interest and has generated myriads of controversies as to the legality of the President’s continued absence without any disclosure as to the nature of his ailment. YNaija Insiders gave varying perspectives about the protest and the President’s continued absence. Most of them believe that people do have the right to protest.

“The protesters have a constitutional right to free assembly and free speech. No law has been broken by their actions. The role of the police and other security agencies should be to provide security for them rather than clamping down on them. Not only that, they raise a valid question on the health status of President Buhari. The Presidency has kept Nigerian in the dark for far too long regarding his health status. What exactly is his illness? If he is recovering, why is there no video of him speaking?” said another Insider.

An Insider with the APC with a contrary opinion said “I think the protesters are a bunch of unserious, malevolent and selfish individuals bent on promoting their hidden agenda. Any human being can fall sick, since when have we started to punish sickness with a sack? How many of us would be glad if our employer fires us when we are sick, instead of standing by us? By the way has the President’s absence affected governance? I think not. Stock market capitalization crosses N13trn in 34 months (Daily trust), Nigeria exited list of 10 most corrupt countries, the acting President just ordered the service chiefs to the North East to contain the resurgent Boko Haram; the acting President just commissioned the largest rice mill in Africa; the acting President also recently commissioned the largest fertilizer plant in Africa; the economy is rebounding, naira is gaining on the dollar; the price of diesel just fell by 46%, kerosene and cooking gas prices have equally fallen; modular refineries are about to take off to reduce and finally eliminate our dependence on PMS; our non oil revenue is growing, meaning diversification is gaining ground. So what exactly is the problem? I’d love to know the sense of the protest,” he concluded.

Another Insider with the PDP said that “I am one of the conveners. Doctrine of Common Sense entails that President Buhari should quit due to his debilitating health. He is an old man and his failing health can no longer bear the rigour of the office of a President. The protest is a wake-up call to all and a response to the international community that we are not animals but a very sensitive people.”

I am a co-convener of the Protest, said another Insider. “Our demands are very simple, we are just asking the President to either resume or resign, today is the 96th day since he left the country. It is too long a time for the commander in chief to be away from his country. It is both a constitutional issue and a moral issue. You will recall in 2010 when the then President was sick, this President said that Nigerians deserve to know what was wrong with the President and that Yar Adua ought to have done full disclosure on the status of his health. He also said Yar’Adua has no right to hold on to power and that he must resign, and that if he fails to resign, he should be impeached. The same question and the same answer he sought then is what we are asking now, and the same thing he asked Yar’Adua to do is what we asking him to do. It is even more morally wrong for him to hold on to power, because he had said several times that he is a man of integrity. If Integrity means anything to him, he would have resigned after 30 straight days.”

An Insider with the Labour Party with a contrary opinion held that “Call for Buhari’s resignation, Charly Boy and others are getting it wrong. The so called 90 days limit for which the President can be away is a farce and not constitutional. Those behind this theory are either misguided or mischievous. The protesters are doing so ignorantly. The 1999 constitution has no limit as to the period the President could be away. I maintain that President Muhammadu Buhari has done the needful by handing over power to his Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo. The President can only resign at his discretion or if his cabinet invokes Section 144 of the Constitution which stipulates that two third members of the Federal executive could cite reasons of incapacitation after medical examination by a duly set up medical board. The ongoing protest could be wittingly and unwittingly interpreted broadly as treason as it may be said to be calling for regime change by unconstitutional means. My humble self participated in the protest during the days of ailing late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and the current circumstance were very different since the President duly handed over power before leaving.”

“In as much as there is no part of the Nigerian constitution that forbids peaceful gathering and protest, there is nothing constitutionally and morally wrong with citizens peacefully gathering to make sensible demands from the leader they elected, especially when the continuous disappearance of such leader has been skewed in secrecy for over 90 days, thereby making the nation move at snail pace. The President is a public official and he lost a high level of his privacy the day he became Nigeria’s President, so there is no reason why the citizen should not gather to demand for the immediate resumption of their President, now that his tourists have declared him fit, otherwise he should go the honourable way of excusing himself from power” said another Insider with the Labour Party.

We have obviously not seen the end of this kind of protest. As long as the process of handling the ailing President’s health is perceived to be  skewed in the interest of those that be.

These are members of the Political Insiders (Not all of whom participated in this issue)

Bukola Ogunyemi (NA), Amara Nwakpa (NA), Cheta Nwanze (NA), Seun Onigbinde (NA), Clarence Onyekwere (NA), Babatunde Ajileye (NA), Mark Amaza (NA), Saratu Abiola (NA), Henry Okelue (APC), Prince Deji Adeyanju (NA), John Paul Akinduro (LP), Ebubedike Akabua (NA), Ikemesit Effiong (NA), Saatah Nubari (NA), Chinedu Ekeeke (NA), Abdul Mahmud (NA), Tunji Andrews (NA), Ileowo Kikiowo (APC), Ikenna Okonkwo (NA), Stanley Azuakola (NA), Gbenga Olorunpomi (APC), Rinsola Abiola (APC), Ayobami Oyalowo (APC), Oluseun Odewale (APC), Anthony Ehilebo (PDP), Ohimai Amaize (NA), Bimbo Oke (PDP), Abigail Anaba (NA), Tony ‘Pox’ Iribor (NA), Michael Orodare (LP), Henry Nwazuruahu (PDP), Ojugo ‘Ojay’ Onyelukachukwu (PDP), Viola Okoli (PDP), Ariyo Dare Atoye (PDP), Oraye Franklin (PDP), Lai Labode (NA), Akaebube (APGA), Aziza Uko (NA), Kayode Ajulo (LP)

Editor