Issues From Buhari’s Latest Hospital Visit  

President Muhammadu Buhari’s state visit to Kogi State last Thursday was arguably an opener to the secrets of the Governor Yahaya Bello legacy in infrastructure.

While the president commissioned a number of projects during the state visit, the most emotive for many people may be the Reference Hospital in Okene. That hospital is acclaimed by the governor’s team to be a turning point in the sorrowing narrative of medical tourism from Nigeria.

While we wait for the specific attractions it is claimed would draw medical tourists to Okene, Kogi State, it is germane to say that the new hospital is expected to be used as the teaching hospital for medical students from the state owned Confluence University.

Whatever, while many are wont to appraise the new hospital against the acclaimed achievements of the Yahaya Bello administration in Kogi, suffice to say that this is, however, not the first time that such narratives of medical facilities reversing the trend of medical tourism out of the country would be told.

Nigerians recall that not long after Senator Godswill Akpabio built what was then claimed to be a world class hospital in Uyo, it happened that when he had an accident in Abuja in August 2015 that the world class hospital was not Akpabio’s first choice for treatment.

It is in this vein that President Buhari’s commendations of the efforts of Governor Bello in building the Reference Hospital and other infrastructure could be evaluated by the personal actions of the president and governor in using the hospital.

Nigerians recall that after condemning the resort by public officials for foreign medical treatments as a candidate prior to taking office, that President Buhari has had to go to London for maladies including earache.

It is a thing of ridicule that African leaders easily fly abroad with taxpayers’ money to enjoy the comfort of luxuries that they deny their citizens. For many who supported Buhari ahead of the 2015 presidential election on account of his alleged frugality, the demonstrations of waste that have signposted some actions of the administration have been really disappointing.

Buhari’s volte face, however, pales to the horseplay of many governors as seen in the repeated excursions by the five Peoples Democratic Party, PDP governors to Europe for solution to the political malaise that they have found themselves in.

With the notable exceptions of Seyi Makinde an oil and gas entrepreneur, and Sam Ortom an acclaimed farmer and transporter, the other G5 governors may have come to the wealth they now enjoy only because of politics.

It is as such stupefying why they would regularly at the first opportunity fly thousands of miles to Europe to have a meeting that could easily be discussed on a WhatsApp platform.

If even they needed a physical meeting or a retreat, observers have pointed them to places like Obudu, Yankari or any developing tourist centre in Nigeria. It is sickening that governors would fly thousands of miles on such a sickening endeavour that defiles commonsense.

The news of Governor Okeize Ikpezu rendezvousing with his colleagues in Europe came as health workers in Abia State last Thursday, staged a demonstration over unpaid salaries of 13 months. Many of the doctors in Abia State have indeed relocated given the primacy that the Ikpeazu government appears to give to his political foibles over the health infrastructure in Abia.

Africans going to London during the winter season is even shocking. Their resort to the chilly climate of Europe may indeed underscore the reason why they appeared to have entered into dire straits in their political permutations.

With Wike out of the ballot and primarily concerned with positioning a suppliant successor, the other four governors who are on the ballot may indeed find themselves frozen out from the 2023 elections.  

The PDP, according to sources, is going to be swift in freezing them out once they veer towards a public support of another presidential candidate outside of Atiku Abubakar, the PDP standard bearer.

One source has informed your correspondent that the PDP would freeze Makinde, Samuel Ortom, Ifenayi Ugwuanyi and Ikpeazu out by promptly expelling them and by that denying them the platform to contest their elections.

It is a sobering thought that is likely to be making the governors to have a rethink over their boisterous claim of openly supporting another candidate.

As it appears, the bridge has been crossed and the PDP is unlikely to trust them even if they stay back in the party to do maximum damage to Atiku. Atiku one source told your correspondent has except going on his knees done everything to appease Wike, but to no avail.

The party structures they control in their respective states is likely to be taken away from them whether they declare for Tinubu, Obi or keep quiet.

The cul de sac they find themselves could be a result of the winter climate in Europe affecting their sense of political judgment. Had they stayed back home to ponder their steps they would have been in better condition.

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