Health minister, NCDC DG update Buhari on coronavirus

Amid calls and concerns about President Muhammadu Buhari’s whereabouts, the presidency released a video showing the president receiving updates from the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire on coronavirus.

The presidency had earlier announced in a tweet accompanied with pictures that the Minister of Health and the Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu will brief the president at the State House on Saturday, March 28, 2020.

A few minutes later, the presidency shared a video of President Buhari receiving the minister and the Director-General at the State House.

Many Nigerians that commented on the video on Twitter believed it was meant to silence critics that asked for a motion picture of the president following claims that the president is not in the country.

On Thursday, March 26, 2020, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina took to Twitter to condemn claims that the president had snuck out of the country following a rumour that he had contracted coronavirus.

He said, “Why do some people imagine vain things and concoct lies and evil? Simple. Their minds are diseased and incapable of clean and edifying thoughts. President Buhari is on top of ensuring that Nigerians are kept safe from Covid-19. The good work continues”.

He also condemned Buhari’s critics on his Facebook page describing them as merchants of fake, hateful news.

He wrote; “Quite a challenging week it has been for Nigeria, and, indeed, the rest of the world. Except perhaps in China only, where the affliction started from, figures of Coronavirus infections continue to mount in other parts of the world. Italy and Spain have been particularly badly hit.

“But as the world reels under the impact of a most pernicious pandemic, a suicide bomber wreaking deadly havoc, merchants of fake, hateful news remain fully at work.

“Aso Villa, the seat of presidential authority, has been their focus for most of the week. They have kept churning out spurious reports after the other about President Muhammadu Buhari, and some other people who work with him.

“If you choose to believe them, the President by now has even been evacuated, and is receiving medical attention at an undisclosed location somewhere in the wide world”.

Meanwhile, coronavirus has spread to 10 states as the total cases of the virus as of Saturday, March 28, 2020, rose to 81 with one death as