Truth be told, it is high time the president stepped aside, for very much his personal good and the good of all Nigerians.
I have watched closely as the business of governance calls and the demands of politics exert. I have observed as the president responds to these issues with all the pressures they confer. He has tried to assert the needed muscle, yet it seems his efforts just seem to be on a harmonic swing.
Critically, I have looked and have assumed that surrounded with hordes of pressures - economical, political, psychological and ethical - his spirit feeds him with a willingness to weigh in on them but his body appears weaker and even weaker.
The chief concern of most Nigerians as at the time President Muhammadu Buhari sought our presidential mandate was his age. At 72, many had considered the man too old, too analogous and lacking the requisite strength for the onerous task of modern day government. But the Buhari we have now is entirely a different person; he's not only getting older - which wouldn't have been such a serious issue - but he is challenged health-wise.
The focus, however, would not be on his sickness nor on his vulnerability to it. Rather, it is on the pressures of both age and a recurring health challenge that makes the process of governance even more daunting and challenging to him.
We have seen how that it is a near-impossibility for a sick president to effectively run the affairs of government; it was no surprise that when the president was on medical vacation in the UK, the functions of government were reduced to a scenario of 'acting' where the vice president or the acting president couldn't act beyond what his fears and hesitations suggested as bounds.
It is very obvious Nigerians prefer a proper president with the wholesomeness of executive power to meet their needs as they come. But it is unfortunate that with the present demeanor of the president, we might linger in hope as the process of governance is foot-dragged. The president had informed of how he himself was baffled at the sickness that kept him in limbo for over 50 days. A logical suggestion that he'd be on routine check ups, which he deserves. Should we continue the skipping game?
We now know, because we've been given an idea, how the business of governance will suffer when it becomes norm that baton would, more often than not, be exchanged between a 'proper' president with full powers and an 'acting' president, who is obviously on restraint.
Truth be told, it is high time the president stepped aside, for very much his personal good and the good of all Nigerians. This would grant him ample time to recuperate, free from the hassles and worries of governance and politics.
Pioneering the affairs of a nation is a great task, never mind that of a country like Nigeria with all its complexities. This is what Buhari lacks in the weakness and senility he's been boxed into by his illness. However, one thing remains: in this same Nigeria, there are capable hands that would suggest that the exit of one person would not be such an apprehension of a lacuna in effective leadership.
We've already seen, for a brief period, how Buhari has in his vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, a worthy and capable hand. He can seamlessly, and as the constitution demands, transfer power to him. And what... He wouldn't be just a respected statesman but his name would have been engraved in history as one of the heroes of the time.
A call for continuity, at this time, could only be from sycophants, praise-singers and worms, who just want him for his meeting their purpose, for the reason of what they can get from hanging on the back of a Buhari, who does himself no good, clinging to the presidency with all the heats and stress.
What serves Mr. President earnestly well, at this point of his debilitating health and which is the most conscionable thing to do, is to just let go; of the pressures, the ruckus that only worsen the situation. Yes, no matter how difficult or alien it is, just let go.
For all of us who love Buhari and wish for his good, that would be our honest call to a man we saw as fitted and willing to salvage Nigeria of her dilemma but who the reality of nature in age and deteriorating health seems to cudgel.
Ahanonu Kingsley writes from Owerri. You can follow him on Twitter @kings_emz.
