In a swift response to calls in some quarters for the president to address the nation to ascertain his health status, the presidency has said the president is on vacation in London and nobody can force the president to speak if he doesn’t want to.
TheNewsGuru.com recalls that there was tension in the country during the weekend as some sections of the media reported that the president has passed on in an undisclosed London hospital.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, in an interview with CNBC Africa, insisted that Buhari’s trip to London was not on medical ground.
He said, “The President is in London on vacation. He is not in any hospital and he is not ill.
“When he was travelling last week, the statement we put out was that he was going on vacation and during the vacation, he would do routine medical check-up and nothing has changed from what we pushed out last week.
“If anybody has fed something else into the rumour mill, that is just what it is — rumour.”
Asked if Buhari would be willing to talk to Nigerians from the UK, Adesina said such a decision could only be taken by the President himself.
“The fact that he is a President, he still has his rights. Compelling him to come out and talk will be infringing on his rights.
“The President will talk if he wishes to. If he doesn’t wish to, nobody will compel him to talk.
“The truth is that the President is on vacation and he has given a date on which he will return to work,’’
TheNewsGuru.com reports that the president has handed to over to Vice President Yemi Osibajo and he is expected back in the country on February 6.