The significance and purpose of the visit of the Christian community in Abuja to President Muhammad Buhari on Christmas day did not make the News as much as half a line of his statement, that he thought he was 74 but was told he is 75, did. Yet legitimate concerns exist over how much context the President’s words have been put into.
In the course of the visit, the President spoke of his health and looks after his illness, saying
“It has been a tumultuous year. I am thinking I am 75, I thought I was 74, but I was told I am 75. I have never been so sick, even the 30 months civil war when I was stumbling under farm of yams or cassava but this sickness I don’t know… I came out better because all those who saw me before and when I came back said I look much better.”
It, however, did not mean much to many that the President linked his thought that he was 74 to his illness and how he now looks better. A fact which would suggest the disparity in his age and his thought of his age was meant to emphasize either how ill he was or how healthy he now looks.
Reacting in a statement on Tuesday, Diran Odeyemi, deputy spokesman of the PDP wondered how many more inconsistencies are in the President’s BioData as submitted to INEC. Even though the President’s public data shows that he is indeed 75.
“Come to think of it, a leader that does not know his real age, could not be said, to have sound knowledge of the people and country he governs, let alone knowing the peculiarities of the governed. This is simply not the kind of president Nigeria needs at the moment.” Mr. Odeyemi added.
In March, however, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was President for 8 years on the ticket of the PDP, announced to the world that he does not know his real age.
“I do not know the date of my birth, when I started school, we were asked to give our date of birth. I used to ask my mother, and she would say ‘You were born on Ifo Market Day’…I decided to choose a date. At least if I don’tknow the exact date of my birth, I know my age group,” he said.
It is commonplace among senior Nigerians to not be sure of the date they were born. Some are told, like Obasanjo was, the event of the day, others are told the event of the period and calculation is later made.
The PDP, however, says its reference is to the President knowing and forgetting, as Mr. Odeyemi says
“We advise Mr. President to consider turning in his resignation letter to avoid further slowing down the country because of his age, and to also save our corporate image as a country that has a president with occasional memory failure.”
Leaders have however been known to slip. While running for president in 2008, Barack Obama told supporters in Oregon that he has been to 57 States in the US. Whereas the US has just 50 states. Obama added that he had one more State left to visit, giving America 58 states.
In 2000, then-President George Bush did not know the new President of Pakistan. The conversation went thus
Bush: The new Pakistani general, he’s just been elected – not elected, this guy took over office. It appears this guy is going to bring stability to the country and I think that’s good news for the subcontinent.
Interviewer: Can you name him?
Bush: General. I can’t name the general. General
Former Russian President, Boris Yelstin, completely forgot what he was saying in a public address, and in 1993, John Redwood, then secretary of state for Wales, tried to cover up not knowing the Welsh national anthem at the Welsh party conference. Redwood was caught miming.
In a study by Camelot UK, Age is listed as 12th thing a person of any age is most likely to forget.
