Muhammadu Buhari is missing in action.
The polemic Nigerian president, who took office in May 2015 after winning an election against the then-incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, hasn’t been seen in Abuja since Jan. 19, when he split the country, ostensibly to seek medical care in the United Kingdom.
But what allegedly started out as a routine medical checkup has somehow dragged on into a seemingly interminable homeopathic probing.
Buhari, 74, has been in London for more than a month now, and, while he keeps extending his stay there “at the recommendation of his doctors,” there seems to be nothing physically wrong with the head of Africa’s most populous nation.
The absentee Nigerian leader, despite his grave as-yet-undiagnosed medical condition, seems to be up and about, meeting and socializing with senior British officials and popping into the likes of Harrods to spiff up his presidential wardrobe.
Meanwhile, Buhari’s right-hand man and deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, in holding down the fort in Nigeria as best he can, despite the fact that the oil-rich country is now in the throes of spiraling inflation and a major economic recession, the worst in decades.
And in the northeast of the country, a region devastated by the brutal attacks of jihadist Boko Haram terrorists, the population is on the verge of a serious famine.
In the meantime, the Nigerian people are losing patience with their wayward leader.
They are demanding to know what is going on with his health and when he is coming back home.
Osinbajo’s response so far has been: He’s fine and the president’s medical state is none of your business.
Buhari, who last year railed against the unacceptable spike in overseas medical tourism by government officials, appears unfazed by his nation’s current dire straits.
So far, he has made no indication as to when his medical odyssey to the Land of Hope and Glory will come to an end, stating only that he is still awaiting test results (which no doubt are being conducted in a laboratory in a galaxy far, far away).
It is worth noting that this is not the first time Buhari played medical hooky in England from his presidential duties.
Last June, he spent an entire fortnight in London getting treated for an ear infection.
For now, it seems that Buhari is living the good life in Jolly Ol’ England, taking his good time to make sure that the people of Nigeria have an ultra-healthy president.
But if he remains derelict to his obligations back in Abuja very much longer, Buhari may just find that he will not have a government to go back to.
Thérèse Margolis can be reached at therese.margolisgmail.com.
