Civil society leaders have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take medical leave so as to recovery from his ill health.
They made this known in a statement on Monday. The statement was signed by human rights activists and lawyer Femi
Falana, Jibrin Ibrahim, Debo Adeniran, Chris Kwaja, Y. Z. Ya’u, Chom
Bagu, Olanrewaju Suraju, Ezenwa Nwagwu, Anwal Musa Rafsanjani, David
Ugolor, ‘Sina Odugbemi, Muhammed Attah and Adetokunbo Mumuni.
Read the full statement below:
When President Muhammadu Buhari was recently in the
United Kingdom on a medical vacation, which lasted 59 days, many public
officers said that he was “hale and hearty.” But upon his return to the
country President Buhari disclosed that he had never been that sick in
his entire life. Even though the President did not disclose the nature
of his ailment, he revealed that he went through blood transfusion.
While thanking the Nigerian people for their prayers, the President
announced that he might soon travel back for further medical treatment.A few weeks ago, the Governor of Kaduna state, Mr. Nasir El-Rufai
urged Nigerians to give President Buhari time to recover from his
sickness. The plea was made after the Governor had visited and
presumably assessed the state of the President at the presidential villa
in Abuja. However, due to the apparent deterioration in the President’s
health condition, he has neither been seen in public in the last one
week nor attended the last two meetings of the Federal Executive
Council. His absence at the last Jumat service in the villa has fuelled
further speculations and rumours on President Buhari’s medical
condition.But instead of embarking on regular briefing on the actual state of
the health of President Buhari, officials of the federal government have
continued to assure the Nigerian people that there is no need for
apprehension over the matter. In defending the absence of the President
at the last FEC meeting and other state functions, the Senior Special
Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu
stated that “the president’s doctors have advised on his taking things
slowly, as he fully recovers from the long period of treatment in the
United Kingdom some weeks ago.”As we join the Nigerian people of goodwill to pray for a speedy
recovery of President Buhari, we are compelled to advise him to heed the
advice of his personal physicians by taking a rest to attend to his
health without any further delay.