President Muhammadu Buhari is set to depart for Mali on Thursday making it the first foreign trip the President will be embarking on since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic.
According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President, Media & Publicity, Femi Adesina, ” President Buhari and some ECOWAS leaders led by the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the sub-regional organization, President Issoufou Mahamadou of Niger Republic, agreed to meet in Mali to engage in further consultations towards finding a political solution to the crisis in the country. Host President, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, and Presidents Machy Sall of Senegal, Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, and Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire are expected to participate in the Bamako meeting.”
Comrade Malik Oseni, a student of OAU, Ile Ife said despite the fact that he believes it’s high time the global world learn to stay and live with coronavirus, he’s surprised that face–to–face meeting amongst Presidents will first have its way in Africa of all continents.
According to him, “A resistant group in Mali stands up against their President and calls for his resignation because of corruption, insecurity, and abnormal use of the judiciary. What’s currently going on in Mali is just one of those things that happen in Nigeria. The only difference I could deduce was the consciousness level of each country. In Nigeria today, we don’t really care about governance”, stating frankly that in his own view the president has a big soup to fry in his nation before deeming himself fit to participate in such peace-keeping exercise.
The vibrant agricultural economist also expressed his concern over the credibility of foreign relations stressing that the show of shame shaking the waves in Nigeria at present concerning Nigerian leaders and people is a big predicament which also requires urgent third-party intervention.
However, Mr. Oyedele Oyeleke, a political science lecturer of Federal College of Education (Special) Oyo told our correspondent that even though COVID–19 has necessitated that all meetings go virtual and video conferencing taking full force, the mediating talk is equally important considering the gravity of the issue on ground and because Nigeria commands a giant population, history and father figure in west Africa particularly, it will be a mere gainsaying for such exercise to go on without the highly placed Nigerian president in attendance. To him “the physical meeting said to hold in Bamako is a necessity because if such a big issue is not strongly nipped in the board as soon as possible, it could degenerate into something that the Malian authorities would be unable to control and gained ground to become another menace that would be tormenting all ECOWAS member countries as Boko Haram is doing at present or a tragic altercation as that of Sudan”.
On if our President is safe to travel at this time when the curve of COVID–19 hasn’t flattened in Africa, the political scientist said he’s quite confident that Malian government would have put in place soft landing protocols that would not in any way be detrimental to the health status of every head of states that would be present in such meeting.
Meanwhile, Mr. Oyedele who attributed portions of the blame of Nigeria undeveloped state to the colonial masters expressed his joy over the sudden rapour between the immediate past Nigeria President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan who was at the State House in the company of President of ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, on Tuesday to brief President Buhari on the unfolding situation in Mali, necessitating the visit of ECOWAS leaders to consolidate on the agreements reached by various parties and the current president Muhamadu Buhari.
He said ” governance should be a continuum, once a government leaves office, the succeeding government should learn to pick up from where the predecessor left the mantle. The gentle and positive–minded image of Mr. Jonathan is one of the good vibes we need for Nigeria to come out of the unpalatable pit of insecurity, corruption, failure in the health sector, and so on that we find ourselves. Don’t forget that he’s the first president in Nigeria who willfully handed over power to a successor from a different political party. We need collaboration and cooperative effort from our leaders. GEJ is as gentle By Yusuf Oyetunji Adua nice as been seen and we will need more of people like him to move our dear country forward”.
Similarly, Mrs. Rayomi Airat, an Ogun state-based business planner wished Mr. President a safe trip and remained hopeful that we will defeat COVID–19 soon and begin to lead our normal lives.
By Yusuf Oyetunji Adua
