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That is the question on the lips of virtually every Nigerian at the moment, as President Muhammadu Buhari seems to have become incommunicado to a nation of about 200 million people.

Shutting the door against the populace may not be what is even distressing but the near inconsistent tale of what is wrong or could have gone wrong with a man on whose shoulders rests the fate of millions of Nigerians.

His absence, and lack of physical communication have thrown up all sorts of conjectures concerning his health status, with the rumour that he is dead gaining more strength with each passing day.

Indeed, his departure for medical vacation in the UK was not without drama just as his request for an extension of stay has also caused apprehensions within the polity.

Though the presidency has not hidden the fact that Buhari has had health challenges, the January 19 trip appeared well laid out with proper notification served the National Assembly, informing the legislators that his vice president, Yemi Osinbajo would act as president for the duration of his vacation.

However, it is the failure of the president to return on February 6, as pre-planned, that has created much discomfort both for Nigerians and his close aides, with the latter struggling to convince the populace on the fate of Buhari.

A formal request to the National Assembly for an extension of his vacation, based on his doctors’ advice, has done little to cure any doubts or worry. And, the gap has been compounded by what many regard as shoddy handling of his troubling absence from duty.

Much as Nigerians demand that the president show his face, or speak to Nigerians at least, to assure them that he is hale and hearty, his special assistant on media and publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, rather arrogantly, says he owes no one such obligation.

In an interview with CNBC Africa, Adesina while insisting that Buhari was not in any hospital, said no one can force Buhari to speak.

“The fact that he is a president, he still has his rights. Compelling him to come out and talk will be infringing on his rights. The president will talk if he wishes to. If he doesn’t wish to, nobody will compel him to talk,” he said.

The response itself gave Adesina away as one who was struggling to keep pace with the sad task of shielding the president’s absence from duty. His follow up did him in as he admitted thus in an interview with Channels Television: “Daily. I am not saying I speak with him directly but I am in touch with London daily. People around him, we speak daily.”

Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, faired no better when confronted with a similar situation. Understandably too, he was forced to speak from both sides of his mouth.

In regaling Nigerians how “hale” and “hearty” the president was, he said he spoke with him almost all “afternoon”, on issues concerning the Nigerian project.

While admitting that the president was still seeing his doctors and undergoing series of “tests”, he quipped, “only Buhari would disclose his health status to Nigerians at the appropriate time.” Osinbajo inadvertently opened up himself for further probe as many are struggling to swallow his tale of being hale and hearty with the need for full disclosure of Buhari’s health status.

Perhaps, an even more intriguing perspective was introduced by Abu Ibrahim, Senate Committee Chairman on Police Affairs, who said that, “there was no need for Nigerians to be unduly apprehensive because Mr. President is not sick but exhausted by the weight of the problems the country is going through.”

Are we confronted by talks of insincerity?

Analysts have argued that the double speak from the presidency is evident in the reminder of what happened during late President Musa Yar’Adua’s health saga, when the then opposition spokesperson, and now Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, demanded as a matter of right that Nigerians be given daily updates on Yar’Adua’s health. Many are wont to ask, what has changed?

Analysts have asserted that it is either the presidency is not being truthful with Nigerians about the president’s health status, or there is something they are hiding, going by the secrecy surrounding the president’s whereabouts.

A Commissioner at the Public Compliant Commission in Benue State, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav in an interview expressed disappointment with the Presidency for ‘not telling the truth’ about President Muhammadu Buhari’s health.

Tsav said, “It is natural for the president like any other human being to fall ill, but what is bothering us is that the Presidency should be able to tell us exactly what is happening,” adding that he expected that the Presidency would explain the exact situation to the citizens.

For rights activist, Mr Femi Falana, though the law does not mandate the President to disclose his health status, he advised the presidency to do more in telling Nigerians about President Buhari’s health status.

He argued that citizens would be left with no choice but to speculate, when left in the dark on such a matter, even as he called for a review of the law so that “we won’t be left guessing next time”.

According to him, “This is what has given room to a lot of rumours and speculation which are totally uncalled for”.

As things stand, President Buhari’s whereabouts and health condition remain shrouded in top level secrecy and, for as long as this persists, analysts contend that the rumour mills will continue to thrive unless the government appreciates the need for the president to physically speak, or communicate with the people, pending his return to the country

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Sen. Jeff Sessions to be attorney general in the Trump administration despite fierce Democratic opposition to the Alabama Republican over his record on civil rights and immigration.

The 52-47 nearly party-line vote capped weeks of divisive battles over Sessions, an early supporter of President Donald Trump and one of the Senate's most conservative lawmakers.

Democrats laced into Sessions, casting him as too cozy with Trump and too harsh on immigrants. They asserted he wouldn't do enough to protect voting rights of minorities, protections for gays and the legal right of women to obtain an abortion. They fear immigrants in the country illegally won't receive due process with Session as the top law enforcement officer.

"Any attorney general must be able to stand firm for the rule of law even against the powerful executive that nominated him or her. In this administration I believe that independence is even more necessary," said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. "His (Sessions') record raises doubts about whether he can be a champion for those who need this office most and it also raises doubts about whether he can curb unlawful overreach" by Trump.

Republicans say Sessions has demonstrated over a long career in public service — and two decades in the Senate — that he possesses integrity, honesty and is committed to justice.

"He's honest. He's fair. He's been a friend to many of us, on both sides of the aisle," Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said. "It's been tough to watch all this good man has been put through in recent weeks. This is a well-qualified colleague with a deep reverence for the law. He believes strongly in the equal application of it to everyone."

Sessions won unanimous backing from Senate Republicans but picked up the support of just one Democrat, Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is expected to name a replacement for sessions as early as Thursday. Bentley has named six finalists for the Senate appointment, including state Attorney General Luther Strange and GOP Rep. Robert Aderholt.

Strange is considered a leading candidate for the job since Bentley interviewed potential replacements for state attorney general, according to people close to the process. However, Bentley's office has said he has not made a decision.

Wednesday's vote came amid rising tension between Republicans controlling the chamber over delaying tactics by minority Democratic that have left fewer of Trump's picks in place than President Barack Obama had eight years ago. Democrats no longer have filibuster power over Cabinet picks, however, after changing Senate rules when they controlled the chamber in 2013.

Next up for the Senate is Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., Trump's pick for health secretary. A final vote on Price could come late Thursday and success seemed certain.

Democrats have solidly opposed Price, a staunch advocate of repealing Obama's health care overhaul and reshaping and scaling back the Medicare and Medicaid programs that provide health care to older and low-income people.

But they've mostly accused Price, a wealthy former orthopedic surgeon, of conflicts of interest by acquiring stocks in health care companies and pushing legislation that could help those firms.

They've especially targeted his acquisition of shares in Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotech firm that's said Price got a special insider's deal. Price, who has said he learned of the opportunity from a fellow lawmaker, Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., had testified to Congress that the shares were available to all investors.

"If I were a prosecutor, I'd say this case has real potential," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday.

This week has featured overnight, round-the-clock Senate sessions as GOP leaders are grinding through a thicket of controversial picks.

Epitomizing the sharp-edged partisanship surrounding confirmation of Trump's Cabinet nominees, Sen. Elizabeth Warren was given a rare rebuke Tuesday evening for quoting Coretta Scott King, widow of the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., in her 1986 criticism of Sessions.

King wrote that as an acting federal prosecutor in Alabama, Sessions used his power to "chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens."

McConnell held that the Massachusetts Democrat had run afoul of rules about impugning a fellow senator.

Sessions' nomination to a federal judgeship was rejected three decades ago by the Senate Judiciary Committee after it was alleged that as a federal prosecutor he had called a black attorney "boy" and had said organizations like the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union were un-American.

At his hearing last month, Sessions said he had never harbored racial animus, saying he had been falsely caricatured.

___

Associated Press writer Kimberly Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed to this report

Labels : NEWS.

Where is President Buhari?

Senate confirms Jeff Sessions for attorney general

Where is President Buhari?

Senate confirms Jeff Sessions for attorney general