The
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, says that President
Muhammadu Buhari is still working from London where he is currently receiving
medical treatment.
Kachikwu,
who put up a strong defence for Nigeria’s sick President during a BBC Hard Talk interview
in London on Monday, also stated that Buhari had mandated his ministers to stop
flying private jets.
The minister said that executive members had been mandated by the President to
fly business class in commercial airlines.
When
asked about the state of health of the President as his latest medical vacation
entered its second week, Kachikwu replied, “Yes, he is in London. He is
undergoing hospital treatment, (but) I don’t know the details of that and I
obviously wouldn’t know. But let me say this, he returned from his first trip
in London, even though the doctors advised him to have some rest.
“He’s
back to London and he has continued some levels of meetings and has been able
to play some roles. He has a very efficient Vice-President who is sitting in
for him in his absence. It really hasn’t made much of a difference.”
On
whether the President had been transparent enough to Nigerians as regards his
health challenges, the petroleum resources minister stated that Nigerians were
aware of the fact that Buhari ‘is not too well’.
When
asked what was wrong with Buhari, the minister said, “I don’t know. But let’s
face it; who in the world goes around giving to everybody what their medical
statuses are? The doctors have got to be able to release something official and
he’s working through it. It has not become a major problem.”
When
probed further on the capability of the President to continue in office, the
minister said, “Well, we’ve heard rumours in Nigeria about sick presidents off
and on, most of them sometimes not quite correct. Will he be able to lead
Nigeria? I think looking at the sort of conversations I had with him when he
came back, he was strong enough to do his work, struggled a bit in terms of
trying to fully recover.
“Nobody
plans on illness, it happens. He has an efficient number two man; the system
works, that’s the whole essence of democracy. He’s on top of his abilities to
be able to issue policies and to be able to approve what he needs to be
approved.”
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