From: Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has said that President Muhammadu Buhari is recuperating fast and is due back soon.
Osinbajo told State House House Correspondents shortly before the commencement of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, that their discussion which lasted well over an hour he met Buhari in very high spirit and was his usual jovial self.
The Acting President said their discussion was on wide ranging issues but he declined to touch on the specifics.
Asked what they discussed Osinbajo said, “Well, first as you know I went to see him. I went to check up on him, to find out how he was doing. I had of course been speaking with him on phone and I thought it will be a good thing to go and see him and you know generally check up on how he was doing and also to brief him on developments back at home.
“So we had a very good time. We had a very good conversation on wide ranging issues and he is in very good spirit. He is recuperating very quickly and he is doing very well.”
Asked the state of health of the President, Osinbajo replied, “Well, as I have said he is in very high spirit. He is recuperating very well and we had very long conversation. We spoke for well over an hour and his humour is all there. He is doing well and he is recuperating fast.”
When asked when his boss was due back in the country, Osinbajo said, “I think very very shortly. Very shortly. I think we should really expect him back very shortly. Like I said he is recuperating very fast and he is doing very, very well.”
Asked if the report of the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir Lawal and Director General, National Intelligence Agency (NIA) part of their conversation, he said, “Wide ranging issues. I really can’t go into specifics of all of the discussions we had.”
On whether Nigerians should expect Mr. President before 90 days, he replied,
“No no. Deadlines aren’t a very good thing but as I said he is recuperating fast we expecting him very shortly. Much sooner perhaps than you will expect.”
Despite the call by the House of Representatives that the Acting President should swear in the ministers-designate from Kogi and Gombe states, as well as allocate portfolio and official duties to them within the next one week, Osinbajo said that did not come up in their discussion and he could not tell exactly when they would be sworn in.
“No. We didn’t discuss swearing in or anything like that. We didn’t discuss when they will be sworn in.”
Asked exactly when the ministers will be sworn in he said, “Well, I’m not in a position to say exactly, I don’t have a date in mind but I’m sure very very soon we will do that.”
The ministers designate are Mr. Stephen Ocheni, a nominee from Kogi State, and Mr. Suleiman Hassan, who was nominated from Gombe State by President Buhari.
They were screened by the Senate in May.
While Ocheni is to replace the late James Ocholi, in the case of Hassan, he is to replace Amina Mohammed, who joined the United Nations last year.