Former Minister of Education, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, has called for full disclosure on the state of mental and physical health of President Muhammadu Buhari following the killing of 43 farmers by Boko Haram insurgents on November 28 at Zabarmari community in Borno State and the failure of his administration to provide credible response to the spate of massacres in the country.
She said the frequency with which citizens were killed without any form of prevention by the security establishment, which the President supervises as Commander-in-Chief, nor any prosecution and judicial consequences against perpetrators of heinous murders, raise questions on whether he was still able to discharge the powers and duties of his office.
Ezekwesili said Buhari’s failure to decisively tackle the persistent killing of Nigerians had further emboldened pre-judicial and terrorist activities within the Nigerian territory, thereby necessitating her call.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by her spokesperson, Mr. Ozioma Ubabukoh, the former World Bank Vice President said Nigerians should collectively demand for a credible independent medical panel to investigate the President’s physical and mental health in order to determine his fitness to continue in office.
“I think that at this stage and depth of fragility of the Nigeria state, privacy has to yield ground to our right-to-know as citizens, the state of health of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The state of affairs in the country is dangerous enough for citizens while the President appears incapable of providing effective leadership necessary to secure, stabilise the country and protect lives.
“We really must assess the physical or mental capability of the President to carry on the duties of his office,” Ezekwesili said.
According to the 2019 Presidential aspirant, the condition of Nigeria “has become too grave for us all to sit still and watch a train wreck in the making.”
She added, “Citizens can collectively push for an independent panel to help us make the critical medical determination of the state of mind and body of our President.
“As an extremely concerned citizen, I hereby demand for a #MedicalPanelOnBuhari since we obviously cannot trust the State House physician to provide us accurate information. It is a reasonable demand now for citizens to have full disclosure on the state of health of Buhari and I hope that more people from all regions of the country will speak up.”