ABUJA JANUARY 27, 2017 – Again, the Presidency yesterday stated that President Muhammadu Buhari was not ill, but resting in London. Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina, explained that President Buhari is not in admission in any London hospital as being speculated in some quarters.
New Telegraph exclusively reported yesterday that the president was presently resting in the Nigerian House in London and was yet to see doctors there.
The president, in separate letters to the two leadership of the National Assembly, which also transmitted power to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in acting capacity, said he would proceed on a 10-day vacation during which he will undergo routine medical check-ups.
Adesina, in an interview with CNBC Africa monitored yesterday, stressed that: “President Muhammadu Buhari is not ill and not on admission in any hospital in London.
“The President is in London on vacation. He is not in any hospital and he is not ill. “When he was travelling last week, the statement we put out was that he was going on vacation and during the vacation he would do routine medical check-up and nothing has changed from what we pushed out last week.
“If anybody has fed something else into the rumour mill, that is just what it is – rumour.”
Adesina said the President would decide if he wishes to talk to Nigerians from the UK or not. “The fact that he is a president, he still has his rights. Compelling him to come out and talk will be infringing on his rights.
“The President will talk if he wishes to. If he doesn’t wish to, nobody will compel him to talk. The truth is that the President is on vacation and he has given a date on which he will return to work,” the president’s spokesman said. Also, the Federal Government has debunked reports in the section of the press that governors met in Abuja yesterday to send emissary to see President Buhari.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated the position yesterday when he received a delegation of the Presidential Committee on the North East Initiative (PCNI).
His words: “I want to say categorically and emphatically that there is no iota of truth in this. Governors are not meeting in Abuja because there is no need for it. There is no plan to send emissary to London to see the President. “Again, I want to say that the president is hale and hearty in London where he is observing his 10-day vacation.
“Let us all shun the negative reports insinuating the president’s illness and death. We implore those behind this outright falsehood to desist. It is because Nigeria exists that they can practice their profession. We implore them to stop overheating the society.”
