The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said President Muhammadu Buhari is unfit to attend to state matters.
The opposition party said this while reacting to the president’s medical trip to the United Kingdom on Tuesday.
Speaking with journalists on Tuesday, spokesman of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said it is unfortunate that the president’s aides often shroud their principal’s health in secrecy.
He said Nigerians have been taken for granted, deceived and “treated like lesser men and women without reasoning capacity”.
He said: “The confirmation of the presidency that President Muhammadu Buhari is unwell, ailing and unfit to attend to state matters, resulting to his latest journey to the United Kingdom for medical attention.
“This admission, though belated and coming after intense public pressure, has now put to rest, speculations on the health status of the President, as well as his attendant inability to effectively govern.
“It is however very unfortunate that the president and his handlers had chosen to shroud the issue of his persistent illness in secrecy under a government that prides itself on claims of transparency and integrity.
“Nigerians will recall that shortly before the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in April, Mr. President, without transmitting a letter to the National Assembly, as required by the constitution, undertook a private visit to the UK, where his doctors are known to reside, five clear days ahead of CHOGM. Nigerians were left in the dark for the period despite demands for full disclosure by the PDP.
“Only last week, two days after his departure from the United States where he had gone for a state visit, Mr. President went ‘missing’ again.
“When concerns began to mount on his whereabouts, the presidency claimed he had a technical stopover in the UK, citing flight issues, only for revelations to emerge from the same Presidency, on Monday, that Mr. President was actually in the UK to see his doctors. In these circumstances, Nigerians were taken for granted.”
He said while the PDP does not have anything against the president for treating himself, Nigerians detest the deception that has trailed the health issue.
“The PDP therefore counsels President Buhari to be well guided and take charge of his health challenges,” he said.
…PMB never promised not to receive treatment abroad – Femi Adesina
Spokesman of President Muhammadu Buhari, Femi Adesina, has said that his principal never promised not to receive medical treatment abroad.
He said this in reaction to a statement in circulation quoting Buhari as making the promise while speaking as a presidential candidate at Chatham House, London.
Buhari was alleged to have asked: “What is the difference between me and those who elected us to represent them, absolutely nothing. Why should Nigerian president not fly with other Nigerian public? Why do I need to embark on a foreign trip as a president with a huge crowd with public funds? Why do I need to go for a medical trip abroad if we cannot make our hospital (sic) functional?”
But in a statement issued yesterday, Adesina said the comments are false and are “a new dimension in the plot to diminish the stature of President Muhammadu Buhari before millions of Nigerians who love and adore their president”.
“First, it was a pernicious twisting and misinterpretation of the words of the president by mischievous elements, perhaps they can earn him opprobrium and infamy When they see that the gambit is not achieving the desired results, they have now gone into utter fabrication of apocryphal statements, which they purvey through the social media,” he said.
“Fortunately, the Chatham House lecture of 2015 is in the public domain. The concoction by haters and agents of disunity is not part of the text of the lecture at all.
“The morbid minds that created the falsehood simply want to de-market and demean the president, having seen that defeating him in a free and fair electoral contest is a tall order.
“Therefore, they desire to instigate the electorate against him by creating statements that never existed, and attributing such to him.”
The presidential spokesman, however, added that the “dubious” people will not succeed, as Buhari’s reputation “has been built over time, and sustained for decades.”
“That is why he is widely acclaimed for integrity, transparency, honour, and accountability, both home and abroad. Negative minds can never erode or corrode this,” he said.
