‘Buhari should hand over to Osinbajo,’ PDP leader says

Factional leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ahmed Makarfi has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to hand over to Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo if he is too ill to perform his official duties.

Makarfi made the comment in reaction to Buhari’s absence from three Federal Executive Council (FEC) meetings.

“It cannot be okay and it can never be okay. My take is that if the President is not fully fit to stay in office, it is better that he tell Nigerians, so that the Vice President will continue to be Acting President, exercising the powers of acting president,” Makarfi told The Nation.

“Then you run away from this kind of situation when we allow time for the President to fully recover and assume his mantle of leadership. Me as PDP person, as a human being, I will never wish any human being ill-will, even if I disagree with you politically.

“So, it does not matter that it is APC that is the person that is sick. My prayer is that he will be fit to serve his term. As a politician, I equally want him to finish his term. So when some people begin to insinuate things, of what interest would it be to PDP should the President be unable to finish his term.

“We don’t wish him ill will, we want him to be well, we want him to be fit enough to be on seat when in 2019 we go for election and defeat the APC. For a number of reasons, the PDP wishes the President well, for stability of this country, political stability and the fact that we want to defeat a sitting President.

“We don’t want any confusion politically in this country. It is not good for anybody and as a human being; I never wish anybody ill will irrespective of political differences,” he added.

Meanwhile, Information Minister, Lai Mohammed has said that Buhari’s absence from FEC meetings is not synonymous with non-performance.

“The fact that a President or a minister does not come to office, does not mean he is not working. I’m here today for instance, those who have come to my office would not see me," Mohammed told Channels TV in Ilorin.

Buhari had earlier been absent from the FEC meeting of April 12 leading Osinbajo to preside over the gathering.

In explanation of Buhari’s absence on April 12, Mohammed said that the president had decided to attend to other matters because the agenda was light.

Mohammed also said, on April 26, that the president would work from home because he needed to rest.

Buhari's absence from the April 12 meeting was the first since his March 10 return to Nigeria from a 49-day medical vacation in London.

Buhari had said, on arrival in Nigeria, that he did not remember being so sick in all his life.

He also said that he would soon need follow-up treatment for the undisclosed ailment.

ALSO READ:

Meanwhile, Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose says that Buhari has become a Friday only president in reference to the president's publicized visits to the mosque for Juma'ah prayers.