Ibrahim Baba, a member of the House of Representatives, explained how the supposed plan by several members of the House to receive a medical panel from visiting Nigeria’s president in the UK, was terminated.
As it is known, since May 7, President Muhammadu Buhari has been receiving medical treatment in London. This year he has already spent almost two months in one of the UK hospitals.
Many forces both outside and within Nigeria made pressure on the House leadership to constitute up to a special medical panel on the current president`s health (Section 144 of the Constitution of Nigeria).
The final aim of such a panel was supposed to receive a report declaring that President Buhari was out of action and, therefore, should leave his office honorably.
A member of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Baba, who stands for Katagum federal constituency of Bauchi State, told that such a plan was terminated when some lawmakers opposed to it. They argued that since current Nigeria`s president sent a letter to the National Assembly notifying that he ceded power to his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, there wasn’t any need to appeal to the Constitution.
“There isn’t any need for a medical panel since the president already informed us that Yemi Osinbajo would be an acting president. Osinbajo has already signed administrative orders. He has already signed the budget, swore in ministers and had done plenty of other things. Therefore, no vacuum in governance is present,” the lawmaker explained.
Moreover, Ibrahim Baba added that the current president of Nigeria is not out of action. “He is recovering quickly. Some governors and some party leaders visited him. Nigerians regularly see him on TV and other media. So, if President Buhari was incapacitated, we would invoke the Constitution of Nigeria and would have used the Doctrine of Necessity,” summarized the lawmaker.
At the same time, Nicholas Ossai, a member of the PDP, told that he did not know about any plan concerning medical panel on the president`s health.
So, what is actually happening with President Buhari`s health?