Buhari officially back to work: Presidency
ABUJA: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari returned to work on Monday after nearly two months’ medical leave in Britain, the presidency said.
“President Muhammadu Buhari today resumed duties after his vacation,” presidential spokesman Femi Adesina said in a statement.
Buhari, 74, who returned to Nigeria last Friday, hopes to end weeks of uncertainty about his health and fitness to lead.
In line with the constitution, he returned to work by sending a letter to the country’s Parliament.
During his absence, his office had repeatedly denied claims the leader was ill and insisted he was “hale and hearty.”
But when he returned to Nigeria’s capital of Abuja on Friday, a gaunt- looking Buhari said he “couldn’t recall being so sick since I was a young man” and described receiving “blood transfusions.”
He also said that despite feeling better, he still required rest and further treatment for his undisclosed sickness in the coming weeks.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said he had an hour-long meeting with Buhari on Monday to “bring the president up to speed” on the state of the nation.
“He has given a few directives on what we should be doing on so many areas, the northeast, budget, the economy, a wide range of issues,” Osinbajo told reporters after the meeting.
“His readiness for work is not in doubt at all. In fact he is overready.”
Another presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said Buhari would take some time to ease back into his job after so long away, warning that there would not be a “dramatic” return.
“He is coming out of an ailment and like he himself had said, he needs to start gradually,” Shehu told Nigerian- owned Arise News television in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
Police said 35 people are dead after a truck lost control on a Nigerian highway.
Adamawa state police spokesman Othman Abubakar said another 28 people were injured in Sunday’s crash between Yola and Ngurore.
Abubakar said the speeding truck had been loaded with cattle and merchants.
Witness Abdu Ngurore said 15 cattle died in the crash.
The state chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Bello Adamu Ngurore, said the trailer had been coming from the town of Song in eastern Nigeria.