Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu
Buhari, Femi Adesina, has said nobody can arm twist the President into
revealing his health status to Nigerians. Adesina made the remark while reacting to a question on the
possibility that Nigerians will be told the actual health status of
President Buhari.
Speaking with Tribune, the Presidential spokesman said, “It is only
the president himself that can declare that. And when he came back from
London on March 10, he said it that he had never been that sick in his
life. That is a declaration of his health status.
“It is within his prerogative to do that. Nobody can do it for him.
Not even the doctors treating him can do it for him. Under the
Hippocratic Oath, nobody can do it except the patient.
“Nobody; under the Hippocratic Oath, it says that even the doctor has
no right to reveal the health status of his patient to anybody. So,
it’s only Mr President that can say what exactly is wrong with him.
“Don’t forget that in June last year, he went abroad to treat an ear
problem. That ear problem had first been treated here in Nigeria and
then, when he was going on vacation, he used that opportunity to also
consult specialists in London.
“When he came back, he told the country that this was what was wrong
with him. So, the prerogative is his own to disclose and if he wants to
disclose, he will. But nobody should be asking him to do it. That would
be an infringement on his right.”
While stressing that the constitution does not compel the President
to reveal his health status, Adesina said, “Nobody should be in suspense
in the real sense of the word. It’s like they say, you don’t have to
use Panadol for another person’s headache.
“If anybody has put himself in suspense, he’s just doing it for
himself because it’s not necessary. The law does not compel a president
to reveal what is wrong with him. It does not.”