…20 ministers too

•He worked from home –Lai Mohammed

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

There was palpable apprehension at the Aso Rock, yesterday, as President Muhammadu Buhari again failed to make the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting for the third consecutive time.

The meeting held inside the council chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja was presided by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

But Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said Buhari was working from home.

According to him, the President needed some rest and had asked that all the files on his table be brought to him at his official residence at the Presidential Villa, Abuja for treatment.

Apart from Buhari, no fewer than 20 ministers were absent.

Buhari has attended the council meeting only once since he returned from a medical vacation in the United Kingdom, where he spent 49 days.

Following Buhari’s absence at the weekly FEC meeting, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, constitutional lawyer and rights activist has asked the government to come clean on the exact current state of the president’s health.

In a statement, Ozekhome said: “There is nothing to be ashamed of about this. PMB is over 74, for God’s sake. Even younger elements fall ill. There is no need for a shadowing faceless cabal to hold PMB down in a simulated prison, incognito and incommunicado, denying millions of Nigerians who elected him, including those who did not, of his presence, action and Presidency. It is simply callous and inconsiderate of them. There is no need to put Nigeria on a dangerous precipice, through needless anxiety, curiosity, guesswork, permutations, doubts, analysis, gossips, rumours and conspiracy theories.”

He said Buhari ceased to be a private citizen from May 29, 2015, when he was sworn into office as president and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“He automatically became public property, whose deeds, misdeeds, action and inaction, are subjected to rigorous public scrutiny. This is one of the dire prices leaders pay for choosing voluntarily to be leaders. PMB can return to the UK for further medical attention, and rest, whilst his Vice, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, acts in his place. This happened before for 49 days and heavens did not fall.  Heavens will not now fall.”

He wished President Buhari speedy recovery, uncommon energy and vigour and God’s guidance and protection, to be able to lead Nigeria to the promised land.

At the last FEC meeting Buhari attended, he launched the country’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

Since then, he has hardly been seen at public functions, apart from Friday Jumaat service, even as concerns mount in the polity over his health condition.

Penultimate Wednesday, he also failed to show up raising concerns about his health status. But Mohammed  who briefed journalists at the end of the meeting, said: “Mr President is not ill again… Mr. President is in town; Mr. President is attending to other issues. He looked at the agenda for the meeting and decided that the vice president should preside. It is not unusual for the vice president to preside over FEC meetings.”

Last week, the FEC shelved its meeting on grounds that the secretariat had not resumed.

One of presidential spokespersons, Garba Shehu said  the meeting was cancelled as the FEC secretariat workers were unable to distribute necessary documents for the meeting because of the Easter holiday.

According to him, by practice, ministers must receive memos two or three days ahead of meetings to enable them undertake research, if necessary.

“I think it is because of the Easter holiday. The secretariat had no time to circulate the necessary documents.”

He described as “very unfair’’ those attributing the cancellation of the FEC meeting to the president’s health conditions.

However, Buhari’s Chief Security Officer, Bashir Abubakar, had Monday expelled PUNCH’s State House Correspondent, Olalekan Adetayo, from the Villa, Abuja over the lead story of SUNDAY PUNCH of April 23, 2017:  “Fresh anxiety in Aso Rock over Buhari’s poor health” and queried the motive behind it.

He also referred to Adetayo’s column, Aso Rock Lens, published on Saturday, April 22, 2017, titled: “Seat of power’s event centres going into extinction.”‎

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina had distanced the Presidency from‎ the CSO’s action and had assured of amicable solution.

Adetayo, was been recalled after ‎the clearance was given by the Director General State Security Service, Lawal Daura, according to a text by ‎the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu to  Chairman State House Press Corps, Ubale Musa.

The ‎PUNCH management has, however, demanded for an apology from both the Presidency and the CSO before Adetayo will return to the Presidential Villa.