ABUJA (Sundiata Post) It’s not the fact that President Buhari is in London again to attend to his health. Anyone–even a young person–can fall sick.
It’s not even that he’s getting treatment on the finances of the Nigerian state. I don’t have a problem with the Nigerian state paying for the president’s healthcare during his tenure as it is in our interest that the elected occupant of the office remains healthy enough to fulfill the obligations of the office.
It’s the fact that when he addressed a cross-section of Nigerians in London in March 2015 after the postponement of the presidential elections by two weeks, Buhari said clearly that, as president, he would not travel abroad for medical care but would rather build the nation’s healthcare facilities to cater to his and citizens’ health needs.
He was no different from the regular Nigerian, he said, and shouldn’t be entitled to a different, foreign healthcare.
In the remarks, he waxed populist and portrayed himself as no different than regular citizens. He even promised to fly commercial when traveling abroad rather than keep the expensive presidential jets because, according to him, he was not different from regular Nigerians who fly commercial when traveling abroad.
Of course, he has since reneged on that promised too, and has refused, for good measure, to sell off the expansive presidential jet fleet.
It’s also the fact that the president has not improved the nation’s health system after three years of being in power, after three budgets, and even after budgeting billions of Naira for the clinic in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa.
It’s the fact that Buhari denied Nigerians going abroad for medical treatment and educational pursuits access to subsidized Forex, arguing that the era of government subsidizing Forex for foreign endeavors was over.
And, finally, it’s the fact that he travelled out of the country for his own medical care during a nationwide health workers’ strike that has paralyzed a healthcare system that was dysfunctional to begin with, a strike action that has escalated with state and local government health workers joining their federal counterparts.
In other words, it’s the hypocrisy, callousness, and deception that grate people.
Source: Facebook