Ezekwesili wants Buhari's medical records to be made public

Ex-Nigeria Minister, Obiageli Ezekwesili, has called for full disclosure on the state of mental and physical health of President Muhammadu Buhari.

She made the call in the wake of the gruesome murder of over 43 farmers in the Jere local government area of Borno State on November 28, 2020.

Terrorist sect Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the massacre.

Despite incessant promises, the Buhari administration has been unable to end the decade-long insurgency that has led to the loss of over 50,000 lives and the displacement of millions in the terrorist-ravaged northeast region.

Ezekwesili says the frequency with which citizens are 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, raises questions on whether the president is still capable of discharging the powers and duties of his office.

Dr Oby Ezekwesili contested the Nigerian presidency in 2019 (Ezekwesili media team) Pinterest

In a statement issued on Tuesday by her publicist and spokesperson, Ozioma Ubabukoh, the former World Bank Vice President says citizens should collectively demand for a credible independent medical panel to investigate and disclose the state of the president’s physical and mental health to Nigerians 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,” she says.

“We really must assess the physical or mental capability of the president to carry on the duties of his office,” Ezekwesili adds.

According to the 2019 presidential candidate, the conditions in Nigeria “have become too grave for us all to sit still and watch a train wreck in the making.

“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.

President Muhammadu Buhari [Presidency] Pulse Nigeria

“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.”

Buhari, 77, has embarked on numerous medical trips to London since he was inaugurated for a first term in office in 2015.

On October 12 and 25, Boko Haram militants slaughtered 22 farmers working on their irrigation fields near Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, in two separate attacks.

The latest beheading of rice farmers arrives barely 48 hours after the Sultan of Sokoto, Mohammed Sa’ad Abubakar III, raised the alarm that the north of the country has been taken over by bandits who kill and maim for sport.