By; SUNDAY ODE, Abuja
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has explained that the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari from the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday was not a sign that he was sick as he was only attending to other matters of the state.
The Minister who made the clarification while briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the meeting said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo presided over the council meeting, accordingly.
According to him, the President had gone through the agenda of the meeting and found that it was light and therefore stayed away to attend to other matters and allow Osinbajo take charge.
“Clearly when we came in this morning, Mr President was not in the chambers but the Vice President did preside over the council meeting. Understandably, that has sparked a lot of controversies and imputations in the mind of people.
“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 decided that the Vice President should preside.”
Lai Mohammed also noted that he was not surprised at the attention the issue had generated in the public space especially in view of the fact that Buhari had stayed away in the United Kingdom for medical treatment only recently.
He also stated that even if all was well with the President and he was hail and heart, he could decide to stay away from any meeting if he had other competing engagements.
He said: “It’s not unusual for the kind of interest that is shown especially given the fact that Mr president was away for a while on medical treatment. We are not surprised that people will be wondering is he ill again?
“He is not ill, he is not sick. Am sure that later in the day or tomorrow morning he will be back in the office. I just want to clear that misconception.
“It’s not unusual even if Mr president is hail and hearty and everything is going on well, for the VP to come and preside over meetings of the Federal Executive Council.
“The fact that Mr President is not in the office does not mean that he is not working. I have just been told now that the secretary to the government is already with him in the residence working. So, the fact that you did not see him in the office does not mean that he is not working at all.”
