A
couple of days gone since President Muhammadu Buhari was last seen
publicly as it suggests that he has stayed away from his office.
President
Buhari was absent at this week’s Wednesday edition of the Federal
Executive Council, FEC meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The
reasons for the president’s absence has remained unknown as there was no
official position on that .
Muhammadu Buhari has stayed away from his office for the second
time in a row since Thursday, April 13. The president was absent at the
weekly Wednesday edition of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting
at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Vice-President Osinbajo functioned in his place. This is the first
time Buhari would be absent from the FEC meeting since March 10 when he
returned from London where he spent weeks on medical vacation. Reasons
for the president’s absence has largely remained unknown as there was no
official position on that. The reasons for President Muhammadu Buhari’s
absence in office for two days has largely remained unknown according
to reports gathered, while speculations were rife that he had fallen
sick, the minister of information, Lai Mohammed after the meeting stated
that the president was not ill. However the minister assured Nigerians
that the president who was at his official residency would resume duties
in his office later that Wednesday or Thursday (yesterday). He said:
“Clearly when we came in this morning, Mr President was not in the
chambers but the Vice President did preside over the council meeting.
Understandably, that has sparked a lot of controversies and imputations
in the mind of people. “I just want to make this clear, Mr President is
in town. Mr president is attending to other issues. Mr president looked
at the agenda, it was a very light agenda and decided that the Vice
President should preside. “It’s not unusual for the kind of interest
that is shown especially given the fact that Mr president was away for a
while on medical treatment and is not. We are not surprised that people
will be wondering is he ill again? “He is not ill, he is not sick. I am
sure that later in the day or tomorrow morning, he will be back in the
office. I just want to clear that misconception. “It is not unusual even
if Mr president is hale and hearty and everything is going on well, for
the VP to come and preside over meetings of the federal executive
council. “The fact that Mr President is not in the office does not mean
that he is not working. I have just been told now that the secretary to
the government is already with him in the residence working. So, the
fact that you did not see him in the office does not mean that he is not
working at all.” It was learnt that the president was not in the office
on Thursday, as there was no known function he attended yesterday.We
also previously reported that President Buhari was flown to London,
United Kingdom January 19 on a medical vacation.The presidency had first
announced that he was there for a 10-day leave. But he extended the
leave on medical grounds. Some Nigerians likened the situation to that
of Late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua who died in office in 2010 after
his close associates kept his illness secret. But the minister of
information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said that the comparison being made
about Buhari and late Yar’Adua was baseless as there were no
similarities.