It's no longer news that President Buhari extended his vacation
indefinitely, leaving Femi Adesina with the job of dousing all the
rumours.
However, Femi Adesina who is the Special
Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, phoned
into Lagos Talk Radio on yesterday morning.
The subject? You guessed right: the health of a President who
embarked on a 10-day vacation last month and sought for an extension
last Sunday.
These are 10 things Adesina wants everyone to know
about what has become of the nation's number one citizen in a London
apartment...
1. Routine medical check-ups began really lateWhen
Buhari was leaving Nigeria for the UK, the official statement on his
trip stated that he was going to use the period of his vacation to
undergo routine medical check-ups.
Adesina said nothing has changed, except that the check-ups didn't commence until very late into the President's vacation.
Here's
Adesina: "What I can tell you is that the checks themselves started
quite late. He got there..note that the order of statements when he was
leaving is that he’s going on vacation and then he’ll do medical
check-ups. We said the purpose of the trip was to rest and then he’ll do
routine checks.
"Those
checks started very late into the day. And when they couldn’t conclude
all the checks and the results, they then said instead of you going home
now and having to come back, why don’t you wait a little while more?
"When I say a little while more, I’m choosing my words deliberately.
"You
know, when a 74-year-old man does tests, they’ll do it comprehensively.
So, that’s what they are doing. And if there’s a course of treatment
recommended, they can start immediately. And you know when you start
some course of treatment, you need to complete it".
2. The President's course of treatment doesn't include a surgical operation"To
the best of my knowledge, the course of treatment doesn’t include
surgery", Adesina said before adding that; "I do not know. I can only
say things I am privy to".
3. The head of the cabal in the Presidency isn't in London with Buhari
There's a guy called Mamman Daura within the Presidency.
He has no official position to his name, but legend has it that he calls the shots within the Buhari administration.
Adesina was asked if Daura is by the President's bedside where he's been his entire life.
According
to Adesina, "I’ll tell you the people that are with him. He has his
ADC, his Chief Security Officer, his chief of protocol and his personal
physician. These are people I talk with every day.
"I don’t know
if Mamman Daura is there. He doesn’t serve in government. I can talk
about those who serve in government that I saw off at the airport. His
wife went, stayed some days and as we speak, she’s at Umrah (lesser
hajj).
4. If Buhari were critically ill, his wife won't abandon him in London for lesser hajj"If
it was a matter of life and death, do you think she (Aisha Buhari) will
go to Umrah? I’m sure the average woman would prefer to stay with her
husband.
"Because she has seen that there’s nothing to worry about, she went to Umrah".
5. Buhari can still speak, thank goodness"Of
course he can speak. The Vice President (Yemi Osinbajo)said he spoke
with him for a long while yesterday", the President's spokesperson said.
6. But the President's spokesperson hasn't spoken with the PresidentLike, who would have guessed that?
"I
have not spoken to him directly", Adesina confessed. "He was to speak
with me last night, I was already put on standby that the President
would speak to me last night. The call eventually did not come.
"But his SA (Special Adviser) Domestic spoke with me and said Mr. President will speak with me later tonight. It did not come.
"So
maybe he slept off or something. But I don’t even need him to speak to
me. Because I don’t need to authenticate that he’s well or is alive. I
speak with people there every day and they tell me how Mr. President is.
So, I don’t need any authentication".
7. There's no law that makes it compulsory for Buhari to address anyone via technologyThat's
according to Adesina. "You talked about tension in the country (due to
the President's absence). It’s a contrived tension.
"And
those who contrived it, know why they contrived it. Now, when a
President has been contrived deliberately, maliciously and
mischievously, you know that the object of that contrived tension may
now say, ‘Ok, is that how they want to play it? Let them continue'.
"There’s
no law that makes it mandatory for him to address anybody. He left the
country, you saw him walk into his plane, and he told you the day he’ll
be back. That day had not even elapsed when all sorts of theories,
rumours and conjectures began flying all over the place".
8. Buhari will be back in Nigeria soon and certain persons would be left shell-shocked"Now,
the President has asked for an extension and what I want to say now
with all sense of responsibility is that the President will be back in
this country, sooner than people expect", Adesina said.
9. Nigeria is owing Buhari some leave days"Even
as President, I’m sure that he’s subject to the rules of public service
and is entitled to vacation in a year", said Adesina.
"Last
year, I think he took six days, he took ten days…even the leave of last
year has not been exhausted, not to talk of the leave of this year. The
country is even owing the President many days of vacation".
10. Be ready for the surprise of your lives"I
have seen malicious stories saying the President will be away for four
months and some people may have tended to believe the story. That is why
I said earlier than some people expect.
"It won’t get anywhere
near four months. A lot of people are going to be pleasantly surprised
when they see the President", Adesina added.
