The regular meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) usually presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in the Presidential villa failed to hold on Wednesday as expected.
FEC, as constituted, is presided by the President and has the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), the National Security Adviser (NSA), Head of Service of the Federation (HoCSF) and the cabinet ministers as members.
Recall that President Buhari had last week also stayed away from the meeting forcing Vice president Yemi Osinbajo to preside.
It was the first time Vice president Osinbajo will be presiding over the meeting since President Buhari returned from his medical vacation in London, United Kingdom (UK).
Explaining the development, the Presidency said that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo presided over the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting because President Mohammadu Buhari was engaged with other pressing state issues.
President Buhari returned to the country on March 10, after spending 49 days attending to his health. He was at the presidential villa as at 11 am when the council meeting commenced.
But, his absence sparked wild speculations that his health status had relapsed and rendered him heavily indisposed to preside over the council.
However, addressing State House Correspondents after the meeting, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed explained that it is not unusual for the Vice President to preside over the council.
Meanwhile, no official reason was given for the failure of President Buhari to convene the meeting today, a development which has again raised another round of speculations over fears that his health has deteriorated.
State House Correspondents had no prior knowledge of the cancellation but it was learnt that FEC was not listed ab initio as part of the President’s itinerary for this week.
__________
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2017 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.
