President Muhammadu Buhari has thanked Nigerians for their empathy for him but said he will not return home immediately because his physician has asked him to take more rest in London.
Buhari, who has spent 33 days in London on medical vacation, disclosed that medical results from tests conducted on him indicated that he requires more time to rest in London.
The President, left Nigeria for London last month for medical checkup and his long stay in the United Kingdom has generated a lot of controversy in the polity.
His spokesman, Femi Adesina, in a press statement issued yesterday, said that Buhari has however assured Nigerians not to panic even as he thanked them for their good wishes.
Adesina said: “President Muhammadu Buhari thanks millions of Nigerians who have been sending goodwill wishes and praying for his health and wellbeing in mosques and churches throughout the country.
“The President is immensely grateful for the prayers, show of love and concern. President Buhari wishes to reassure Nigerians that there is no cause for worry.
“During his normal annual checkup, tests showed he needed a longer period of rest, necessitating the President staying longer than originally planned”, Adesina explained.
Shortly after he released the press statement, Adesina told State House correspondents that Nigerians should believe whatever the President has told them about his health.
He stressed that the statement transmitted to him for the public did not say how long the President needs for his extended rest, and the doctor is not bound to disclose further details to the public.
Adesina pointed out that Buhari “is the one who owns the body and there is nobody who will know his body more than him and he says ‘no cause to worry’.
“It makes sense to say that maybe from the results of the tests, further rests had been recommended. The statement did not say how long the rest will last.
“I speak for somebody, I do not speak for myself. So, it is what he tells me to say that I say and the statement transmitted to me is that the President needs to rest for some further time.”
Asked what exactly is wrong with the President, Adesina replied: “Don’t you know that the Hippocratic Oath even forbids a doctor from speaking about the condition of his patient except the patient authorises it?
“It is only the patient himself who can speak about what he is going through. This is the person going through these series of tests and rest and he says no cause to worry, let us believe that”.
On reports that Buhari may remain in London for several more months, the spokesman said “what we have just said is what I will want us to believe. The President said that he needs to rest more. The same President that communicated that to us, when it is time for him to come, he will also communicate to us.”
He also dismissed the claim that the President has lost his voice, saying that “those people need to prove it. He spoke with United States President Donald Trump. Did Trump say he did not speak with the Nigerian President? Anybody can allege anything.
“My message to Nigerians is that let us learn to believe our leaders. This is a man we elected into office and he says no cause to worry, let us believe him.”
Reacting to the harassment of the correspondent of a Nigerian newspaper that sought to speak with Buhari in London, Adesina said: “I do not consider that as an harassment. Presidents are not hijacked and interviewed. Those things are scheduled. So, I do not consider that as harassment”.
Asked if there is any possibility that the President will speak directly to Nigerians, Adesina replied that “what he has just done is to speak to Nigerians.”
Meanwhile, the Senate President Bukola Saraki has said that President Buhari is optimistic he would return to the country soon, insisting that the President is “healthy and in good spirit.”
Saraki who briefed his colleagues on his recent visit to the President in London at the resumption of plenary which had been suspended since February 2, 2017, to pave the way for budget defence, said that Buhari conveyed his best wishes to members of the National Assembly.
The Senate President’s briefing was sequel his reading of the President’s letter to NASS, informing the Senate of his decision to extend his initial vacation for 10 working days indefinitely.
Saraki also read two letters addressed to him by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on the nomination of the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, as the substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria, following the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (CJN).
The letter, dated February 7, 2017 sought the Senate’s confirmation for Onnoghen in accordance with Section 231 (1) of the 1999 Constitution.
In his second letter, Osinbajo sent the name of Adeyinka Asekun (Ogun State) as an additional non-career ambassadorial nominee for the Senate’s confirmation.
Source :the authorityngr
