General NewsLaw and OrderNews

Nigeria not in complications on account of Buhari’s absence – Presidency

By Kemi Kasumu, General Editor

“…people should stop creating artificial fears of crisis or uncertainty, noting that governance has not grounded to a halt because President Buhari had duly complied with the constitution.  Malam Shehu appealed to conspiracy theorists not to pollute the polity by needlessly seeking to create an atmosphere of fear, uncertainty and suspicions in the country.”

The Presidency has dismissed an article by a Nigerian historian,  Max Siollun, entitled “The Gentleman’s Agreement that Could Break Apart Nigeria,” published in the  United States-based Foreign Policy magazine.

Description of image

The piece speculates that Nigeria faces imminent political and constitutional crisis on account of President Buhari’s absence to attend to his health in London.

But in swift reaction to the article he described “needlessly sensational and exaggerated speculations by conspiracy theorists”, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, explained that it was misleading to compare President Buhari’s case to that of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, adding that the circumstances are completely different.

According to Shehu, unlike President Yar’Adua, President Buhari has duly complied with the constitutional requirements by formally notifying the National Assembly of his intention to go for medical treatment  and handing over to Professor Yemi Osinbajo as Acting President.

Malam Shehu  added that, “While Yar’Adua was too severely ill to transmit a letter formally to the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, President Buhari is not in such medical state, and therefore, the country is not currently facing any complications on account of his absence.”

The presidential aide  noted that under President Yar’Adua, there was uncertainty about the role of the Vice President because the late President was not in a position to formally transfer power to his deputy, which necessitated the resort to the doctrine of necessity to enable Dr. Goodluck Jonathan act in his absence.

Malam Shehu explained that, currently, none of these circumstances prevailed in Nigeria on account of President Buhari’s absence for medical treatment.

According to him, having transferred power formally to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, President Muhammadu Buhari did not leave Nigeria with any power vacuum, adding, therefore, that any suggestions of uncertainty or constitutional crisis are imaginary and exaggerated.

He explained that with the Acting President Professor Osinbajo already running the affairs of the country in the absence of President Buhari, people should stop creating artificial fears of crisis or uncertainty, noting that governance has not grounded to a halt because President Buhari had duly complied with the constitution.

Malam Shehu appealed to conspiracy theorists not to pollute the polity by needlessly seeking to create an atmosphere of fear, uncertainty and suspicions in the country.

The Media aide said  that the President publicly admitted he was sick and taking treatment and that he never pretended about his health condition with that open admission.

Related Articles

Back to top button
Close

Adblock Detected

We noticed you're using an ad blocker. To continue providing you with quality journalism and up-to-date news, we rely on advertising revenue. Please consider disabling your ad blocker while visiting our site. Your support helps us keep the news accessible to everyone.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Sincerely, Defender Media Limited