In Nigeria to leave is to love.
One of the favorite sticks used to beat up President Muhammadu Buhari since he assumed office in 2015 is that he has spent an inordinate amount of time outside the country.
In deed, very early in the life of his administration, fears grew by the day that the president was not one to stay in the country.
The incongruity of the whole irony was further highlighted by the fact that shortly before he assumed office, he was practically marooned in Daura where he was forced to lick his wounds following several failed bids to become Nigeria’s president.
The concerns only surged when it emerged that his foreign trips were health-related.
So, very early on, Nigerians lamented the fact that they had voted in a sick man as their President. This lamentation was not borne of a lack of empathy but genuine concern for the fate of an ailing country.
The same theme of health concerns looms large over two out of the three front-runners for Nigeria’s highest office.
Even before he emerged as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s health had emerged as a rod for his back.
Because it is not African to treat the sick with anything other than compassion, it is a mark of just how low politics in Nigeria have sunk that his health has become the butt of every kind of joke.
Many have asked how a man this visibly sick can steer the ship of a country that is gravely ill itself?
Concerns have also trailed the health of Atiku Abubakar who is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.
When he took in a trip to the United Kingdom recently, the ruling All Progressives Congress fueled the rumour that it was a medical trip.
Peter Obi,the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, recently milked the situation when he advised Nigerians not to hand over their country to a sick man.
The troubling question then is: just how sick are the men who want to lead Nigeria?What exactly is behind this proclivity they have to jet out of the country?
Were they to become president,will their wanderlust lead Nigeria to wonderland or wilderness?
For Atiku Abubakar of the palatial villas in Dubai, Nigerians rightly question his commitment to living in the country and leading the country.
He was vice-president for eight controversy-laden year. Since he left office, a large chunk of his time has been spent living in Dubai where he owns properties.
The question then is this: for someone who was in such powerful position to make things right in Nigeria, how much did he do to replicate the conditions he now enjoys in Dubai in Nigeria?
If he did enough to make the country like Dubai which now catches his fancy, why is it not like Dubai and why is he not living here more often?
Why does it appear that he comes around only when elections are around the corner?
If he wins next month’s presidential election, what assurances do Nigerians have that he will not be a president that takes decisions for Nigeria from Dubai?
Bola Ahmed Tinubu is also known for his frequent trips abroad even if it appears he is fully committed to living Nigeria.
However, in the face of the extremely costly propensity of young Nigerians, many of them thoroughbred professionals to leave the country, shouldn’t those who lead Nigeria and those who aspire to lead Nigeria tame their wanderlust so as to send the right message across?
Nigerians have seen it all. Nigerians have seen state governors who governed their states from other states.
Nigerians have seen a state governor who boasted that be had built and equipped one of the best hospitals in Africa in his state only to be hustled abroad for treatment when he sustained minor injuries in a car accident shortly after.
For those who aspire to lead Nigeria, what is their commitment to living in Nigeria?Nigerian leaders travel often to enjoy what is non-existent here but is taken for granted elsewhere.
Yet, they return from those travels made with public funds, empty. They learn nothing and bring home nothing other than the fruits of their own avarice. They bid their time and soon they embark on another round of junkets.
Simple economics would suggest that if the conditions and infrastructure replete in other countries are made available here, enormous resources would be saved by cutting down on those frequent foreign travels. Most importantly, many Nigerians would have the opportunity to enjoy what those in other countries enjoy.
But many of those who occupy public office in Nigeria don’t care. Many of them travel for medical tourism which is said to gulp more than $1billion dollars annually. Meanwhile, Nigerian doctors and nurses keep leaving their country in droves.
The doctors and nurses who stay back work under extremely difficult conditions in facilities fatigued by failure and fraud.
It was the same wanderlust – that obsession with travelling to other countries – that saw Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s deceased dictator stash away incalculable amounts of Nigeria’s money in foreign banks.
The signs are clear for Nigerians as the countdown to the election enters its final lap. Nigerians cannot afford any more mistakes in the choice of those who govern them.
In these desperate days of desperate need when national despair is at an all-time high, it would be foolhardy and even catastrophic to leave a desperately ailing country under the distracted watch of caregivers whose loins are too easily lured to the lairs of their foreign lovers.
Nigeria can not afford even for a day a presidency conducted from hospital beds or palatial villas in foreign countries.
Nigeria cannot afford to have in office leaders who will nonchalantly let scarce resources trickle out of the country because they cannot stay home and do their jobs.
Kenekenobiezu
Twitter: @kenobiezu
