3 Times president 'missed' FEC meeting

President Muhammadu Buhari was again

Members of Buhari’s cabinet are said to have waited for the president till about 11.00am when a protocol official whispered something in Osinbajo’s ear.

President Buhari was absent from the FEC meeting of Wednesday, April 12.

The President’s absence raised concerns about his health.

But information minister, Lai Mohammed dismissed the concerns saying that the president had other matters to attend to and as such instructed Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo to preside over the meeting.

ALSO READ: 'President Buhari is dying in Aso Rock,’ Perry Brimah says

“Mr President is not ill again. Mr. President is in town; Mr. President is attending to other issues. He looked at the agenda for the meeting and decided that the vice president should preside. It is not unusual for the vice president to preside over FEC meetings," Mohammed said.

The FEC meeting of Wednesday, April 19, was cancelled.

Garba Shehu, the special assistant to the president on media and publicity said the council had no time to prepare and circulate memos to ministers.

“The staff on the Council secretariat resumed on Tuesday after the Easter,” he said.

“There was no time to prepare and circulate memos to ministers. "By practice, the ministers receive council memos two or three days ahead of meetings because they must read them and sometimes undertake research. "It is not a rubber stamp council so everyone must prepare themselves well for debates," Buhari’s aide added.

No reason had been given for President Buhari's absence at today's FEC meeting as the time of filing this report.

President Buhari’s first presided over the FEC meeting on Wednesday, March 15.

The President was last seen on Friday, April 21, when he attended the Jumat Prayers at the Aso Villa mosque.