Nigerians tire of Muhammadu Buhari’s long-distance presidency
The president’s overseas medical trip has now passed the 100-day mark, prompting calls for him to come home or step down
Abuja — Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s 100-day-long overseas medical trip is stoking tensions in the country, as calls grow for him to either return or resign. Buhari, a northern Muslim, has been in London since May 7 to receive treatment for an undisclosed ailment, appointing Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a southern Christian, to act on his behalf. There have been series of rallies in Abuja since August 7 over the long absence of the 74-year-old retired general who led a military regime in the 1980s. On Tuesday, singer and media personality Charles Oputa, known as "Charly Boy", led a modest rally of about a dozen of his followers into the city’s sprawling Wuse market. They were attacked by traders from the president’s own Hausa ethnic group, pelted with stones and chased out of the market — leaving behind Oputa’s BMW convertible in the chaos. The clash highlighted the divisions plaguing the country of 190-million, with many in the northern Hausa community fiercely protective...
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