NIGERIA IN REPEAT CRISIS
Paralysis worsens in Buhari’s absence
Muhammadu Buhari, who has a heart condition, was due back from the UK on February 5 after medical tests
Lagos — A president who is flown abroad to seek medical treatment and given no firm date for his return: Nigeria has been here before. Muhammadu Buhari, 74, travelled to the UK on January 19 for medical tests and was due back on February 5. He is yet to return and has not appeared or spoken in public for more than three weeks after asking legislators for medical leave. On Monday, he talked by phone with US President Donald Trump, giving cheer to his supporters that he is not as ill as widely speculated. Yet his absence is heightening concern about government paralysis at a time when the economy is in recession and the stock market is sliding. For many Nigerians, the situation recalls former president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s time in office. Like Buhari, Yar’Adua was a northern Muslim with a southern Christian vice-president in a country with often sharp sectarian divisions. Heart Condition Yar’Adua was flown to Saudi Arabia in November 2009 for treatment of a heart condition. It took a...
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