President Muhammadu Buhari deliberately assigned Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to preside over the Federal Executive Council meeting, Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, said on Wednesday.
This was in response to the uproar generated following the President’s absence at the weekly meeting.
Mohammed’s clarification came on the heels of speculations that the President’s health condition might have worsened, necessitating his absence at the meeting.
BusinessDay had earlier reported that Vice President Osinbajo presided over the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in the absence of President Buhari who was originally scheduled to chair the day’s session.
Osinbajo arrived council chambers venue of the weekly FEC meetings about seven minutes before time as others waited for arrival of the president to. Osinbajo started the meeting at exactly 11 am.
No reason was given for his absence but BusinessDay gathered that he might be actually struggling with his health. There were earlier indications that the president may be travelling back to the United Kingdom for his routine checks but insiders said the president’s doctors had been invited over from London to review his situation.
It is yet to be clear if the President will be travelling back anytime soon. Recall that the President only returned from London where he had gone on a 50 days medical vacation while the country was awash with speculations over his health condition.
However, addressing the journalists after the weekly FEC meeting, the minister of information said the president was busy with other things, adding that it was not unusual for him to be absent.
“Clearly, when you came in this morning Mr. President was not in the chamber and the Vice-President did preside over the FEC meeting understandable that has sparked a lot of controversies and agitations in the minds of people.
“Now, 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 said that the Vice President should preside.
“It is not unusual for the kind of interest that had been shown, especially giving the fact that Mr. President was away for
a while on medical treatment.
“Yes, we are not surprised that the people are wondering that `is Mr. President ill again?’ he is not ill; he is not sick and I’m sure that later in the day or tomorrow morning he will back in the office.
“It is not unusual even if the President is hale and hearty and everything is going well for the VP to come and preside over the meeting of the Federal Executive Council,’’ he said.
He also added that the president, as at the time of the briefing was already meeting with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal.
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