Buhari returns, challenges journalist to wrestling contest

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday returned to Nigeria after spending 14 days in London, United Kingdom.

In a short interaction at the airport, Buhari challenged one of the State House correspondents, who asked him about his state of health, to a wrestling contest.

“You know I am taller than you. Do you want to wrestle me?” the President asked in Hausa language.

He had earlier told the journalists that they could see him while he was inspecting the guard of honour, an indication that his health was in perfect condition.

“I am okay. You can see me inspecting the guard of honour. You have seen me, you saw me when I was going. You can do the assessment yourself,” he said.

The presidential jet that conveyed the President landed at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja at about 5.33pm.

Dressed in a light brown kaftan, Buhari was in company with two of his children – a son and a daughter; a few close aides and Alhaji Mamman Daura.

He was received by the Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari; the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello; some members of the Federal Executive Council, top government officials, federal lawmakers and service chiefs.

On arrival, Buhari inspected a guard of honour mounted by men of the Guards Brigade.

Members of the National Troupe dressed in Yoruba and Fulani attire also danced to the admiration of the President.

Buhari had a brief closed-door interaction with the top government officials who came to receive him at the airport.

With the airport ceremonies over, the President and some top aides left for the Presidential Villa in a long convoy.

The two governors in attendance in separate interviews expressed delight at the President’s return.

“We thank God for bringing him back to fix the country,” Yari said while Bello simply said, “Our daddy is back. He has gone to take a rest and he is back. We are happy and delighted to have him back.”

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, later told reporters that Buhari would be resuming duties on Monday (today).

“The President is going to resume work tomorrow. The Vice-President had said he would arrive today and he has arrived, then work starts in earnest tomorrow,” he said.

The presidential spokesman insisted that Buhari did not travel abroad for medical purposes.

He recalled that he wrote in the statement he issued that the President had been treated by Nigerian physicians.

He restated his position that what the Nigerian doctors told Buhari was that since he was going for holiday, experts could also look at him there.

He said, “It was not as if he was not treated in the country. He was treated, well treated and certified okay. Since he was going on holiday, he was asked to see experts there.

“Some people called it a medical leave. It was not. It was a leave to rest and during that rest, experts now looked at his health.

“So it was not principally a medical leave.”

Adesina then thanked Nigerians who wished the President well and appealed to others who he said went “into an overdrive to have a positive mindset to the President and everybody.”

The President had on June 6 commenced a 10-day vacation and proceeded to London on the same day.

The Presidency had in a statement indicated that the President would during the visit to London see an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist for a persistent ear infection.

The 10-day vacation ended on Wednesday.

The body of the late UNIPORT student

Chukwudi Akasike and Friday Amobi, Port Harcourt

The parents of a 20-year-old student of the University of Port Harcourt, who drowned in Choba River on June 1, 2016, have kicked against the pre-burial “sacrifice” proposed by the Choba community.

While the community insisted that the parents would pay the sum of N115, 000 for sacrifice before the late student, Omoseebi John Temidayo, could be buried, the father of the deceased kicked against the tradition, insisting that his status as a Christian would not support such a sacrifice.

Temidayo, a first-year student of the Faculty of Art and Humanity got drowned in Choba River when he was expected to be doing a menial job at a construction site.

The corpse remained by the side of the river for some days after it was found by a search party and was later buried according to the custom of the community.

The father of the deceased, Mr. Andrew Omoseebi, agreed that the decomposing body of his son be taken to their hometown in Oke Oro Ijero LGA of Ekiti State, but disagreed with the Paramount Ruler of Choba, His Royal Highness, Eze Raymond Okocha, on the payment of N115,000 for sacrifice.

On the controversy surrounding the burial of the deceased by the riverside, the paramount ruler stated that he was not hostile to the late boy’s parents, adding that he was only following the tradition mildly.

He said, “The father of the late boy came to my palace alongside some other pastors to tell me that their son drowned in the Choba River.

“I told them that in our culture, the corpse would be buried by the riverside. I also told them instances of what happened to people who disobeyed. I told them to carry the corpse if they insisted on taking the corpse to their place for burial.

“We considered them so much and never wanted to give them strict conditions as the culture would demand. This is because it would have been bad for the corpse to decay into the river.

“The money they said we demanded was for the burial rite by the riverside. Those who will bury the decaying corpse are not slaves.

“They were meant to pay N150, 000, but I subsidized the money for them with my own money to ensure that the boy is buried and is not allowed to decay into the river.

“I did not hinder them from carrying the corpse for autopsy or going ahead with other investigations into the events that lead to the death of the boy.”

Similarly, the father of the deceased (Omoseebi) though he did not insist that he would take his child’s body back to Ekiti State for burial, he was angered by the demand for money from grief-stricken parents of the deceased.

Omosebi said, “How can the Oba (monarch) of that community demand N115, 000 from us as if we came to marry a woman from the community. I am mourning the death of my only son and I am a Christian.”