Lai Mohammed The federal government has said that the comparison being made about President Muhammadu Buhari and late president, Umaru ...
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| Lai Mohammed |
The federal government has said that the comparison being
made about President Muhammadu Buhari and late president, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua
was baseless as there were no similarities.
Since President Buhari travelled to the UK on vacation,
there have been rumours that he has passed away although his media aides have
denied them several times.
Some have pointed out that the president’s extended leave
was a testimony to his failing health which they have compared to the situation
of Yar’Adua when he was president.
The Nation reports that the minister of information, Lai
Mohammed has described the comparison as akin to comparing apple and oranges
and said the situations were different.
He said those spreading rumours that he was seriously ill
were looters who were against his anticorruption crusade.
He said: “I think it was one of the newspapers that said
when I was the spokesman of Action Congress (AC) I demanded for hourly bulletin
on Yar’Adua’s health and that I ought to be giving hourly bulletin as minister
of Information on the health of the President. And I said ‘you are comparing
apples and oranges’. Mr. President is not ill; he is not in hospital. There
will be no need to give anybody hourly bulletin about his health – pure and
simple.
READ ALSO: Buhari's Current Health Status
READ ALSO: Buhari's Current Health Status
“Mr. President, like I said elsewhere, is a victim of his
own transparency. He was going on leave; he did what the constitution said he
should do. He transmitted a letter to the National Assembly and an acting
president was put in place and he said ‘while I am on leave I am going to
conduct some medical tests, which all of us do without announcing it. And, of
course, less than six hours after he got there he was pronounced dead by some
people. Even those who saw him climb the aircraft in Abuja said he was flown by
air ambulance.
”I can assure you that Mr. President is well, he is hale and
hearty and no cause for concern. The Acting President speaks to him every day
and he told you so
”I won’t blame Mr. President too because this is the third
time you are declaring him dead.”
When he was asked whether President Buhari has a right to go
on vacation during recession, he said: “Absolutely yes. Our constitution
guarantees that. Did Obama not go on leave? Do other presidents not go on
leave? Mr. President will go on vacation when he has to go on vacation. Do you
know how many ministers have gone on vacation this year?
”To say Mr. President cannot go on vacation that is
ridiculous.”
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