•President not critically ill-Minister

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

The Presidency has disclosed that Acting President Yemi Osinbajo consults President Muhammadu Buhari on major issues before taking decisions.

This is even as it has described the comparison, on who is a better manager, between Osinbajo and Buhari as thoughtless and handiwork of opposition to cause division in the presidency and prevent Nigerians from enjoying the benefits they voted for.

Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Babafemi Ojodu, said these, yesterday, during an interactive session with newsmen at the State House, Abuja.

He said current policies positively affecting the economy are manifestations of hard work in the past.

Ojudu insisted that Buhari and Osinbajo ran on a joint ticket and both men are implementing party manifestos presented to Nigerians during campaigns.

Reacting to the comparison which has been trending on social media, Ojudu said, “I think it is thoughtless. I also see it as a ploy by the opposition to cause unnecessary division. It is joint ticket, the president and the vice president were elected based on the manifesto of the party and since they were sworn-in they have been committed to implementing that manifesto. The same people who said we never had economic team and policy are the ones saying this. Now that the policies we are implementing are yielding result, it is not a question of one person being better than the other person.”

He said there’s nothing the vice president has done as acting president that was not started by the president.

“A good example is the Niger Delta initiative; the president called the vice president and said, I am giving you the mandate to go to the Niger Delta and meet with every stakeholder, all the communities, talk to the militants and make sure you solve this problem for the benefit of Nigerians,” Ojodu said.

He said the nation loses about 1.2 million barrels of oil per day as a result of the gas pipelines being blown up by militants.

“The president has said unless and until we resolve this problem, we will not get out of recession. The vice president took up the mandate and went to the Niger Delta. It is the initiative of Mr. President not that of vice president.

“This is mischief makers, who do not wish this country well, are always promoting crisis and will not allow the people to benefit from this democracy; they are the ones promoting this kind of divisive tendencies.

Asked if he was implying that Osinbajo has been consulting Buhari, Ojodu replied: “Almost on a daily basis, yes. On major decisions he has to consult Mr. President. The president is still the president.”

On the insinuation that Osinbajo is not in charge, he said: “He is in charge, but like I said earlier on, this is a joint ticket, the president of Nigeria remains the president of Nigeria. The president and vice president work together and I know they both have confidence in this nation.”

Ojodu described as fake news a report that some clerics in Katsina alleged that the president was poisoned.

“Those of you in the media should be careful what you pick from the social media now; it is becoming factory for fake news in Nigeria. A lot of things you see on social media can never be true. I saw that, I read it and I assessed it using the prism of these factors, those indices we use to analyse stories in the media, and I found out that it cannot be true.

“For example, they said somebody kept N77 trillion somewhere, imagine that. What is the total value of Nigeria’s economy that because of somebody keeping N77 trillion, some people want to poison him so they can inherit the money. We have a president that nobody in this country can question his integrity. As a young officer, a middle officer, a senior officer and as a head of state, till now, nobody has been able to tarnish his image. For me, it is not even worth responding to; as soon as I read it, I dismissed it as ridiculous,” Ojodu said.

Meanwhile, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed  said President Buhari is neither critically ill nor in life-threatening situation, stressing there is no cause for alarm.

The minister reiterated this position yesterday in Umuahia at the second town hall meeting for the South East and the launch of national reorientation campaign, “Change Begins With Me’’ in Abia.

“I can say here, very boldly and confidently, that there is absolutely no cause for alarm. Mr president called me at 2.43p.m. on Saturday and we spoke.

“If Mr President is in the hospital or is critically ill, as minister of information, I will give daily bulletin on his health.

“Mr president is neither critically ill nor in the hospital and there is nothing life threatening about the checks he is going through,”’ he said.