An international human rights organisation, Opinion Nigeria (ON), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to tender his resignation letter without delay to pave way for the confirmation of (acting) Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) as President.

ON, which premised its demand on health reasons, argued that Buhari’s trip to the United Kingdom “came to Nigerians too sudden to bewilder our imagination concerning the state of affairs of the country for the new year."

The President of ON, Jeff Okoroafor, in a petition to Buhari entitled, “A call on President Muhammad's Buhari’s resignation without further ado”, and obtained in Abuja, said the response by Presidential spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, that Buhari was “on a short leave which is part of his annual vacation”, was “the beginning of an unending tale.”

According to him, on February 7, 2017, the Senate confirmed receipt of Buhari’s letter, informing the National Assembly about the resolve to extend his annual vacation in the United Kingdom.

He however said that going by the statement issued by Adesina, Buhari in the letter “was not categorical on the new date of his return.”

Okoroafor said this scenario has left the Vice President in an acting capacity “for too long”, especially at a time when the country was in dire need of affirmative actions to put things in the right perspective for the year.

He said: “Although there seem to be a general assumption that the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is acting in the place of the president as such no vacuum is created in the system. But, we are quite aware that there are so many pending issues on the desk of Mr. President that awaits his return. We cannot be operating in secrecy at the presidential level expecting the information hungry Nigerians to keep mute. We have the right to know what is happening and we are committed to a functional and operational Nigeria which is not halted for any political gains or satisfaction.

“Based on this, we call for the immediate resignation of President Muhammadu Buhari quoting his health as the reason to fully function as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, followed swiftly with the immediate confirmation of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as a substantive President of the country.

“We hope that this petition will reach deserving authorities in good faith, understanding that the urgency of this request is born out of the desire to salvage the country from total collapse. We pray and urge that this letter will be treated without prejudice or sentiment from whatever sphere of reasoning.”

Continuing, ON said: “As the days on vacation recede, Nigerians yearn insistently to know the circumstances surrounding the president’s seemingly emergency exit from the country. It is ponderous to put on record that this so-called all important vacation was coming at a point when the country’s economy was demanding the innovation or yet still budgetary intervention to ameliorate the sufferings of many Nigerians.

“The social media in Nigeria within these seven-over-ten day vacation was awash with stories competing for public attention about the reason behind the trip. The stories expanded with time with the climax asserting the death of President Buhari over failure to respond to treatments from the medical team in some named hospital in the UK.

“The presidency so far has come up with conflicting versions of comments to diffuse the tension but their words further rambled the suspicion of most Nigerians who requested that the president relay a video to Nigerians assuring them that he was hale and hearty but, he never succumbed.”

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