I don’t know who is paying for Buhari’s treatment -Adesina

Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina has stated that he does not know who is bearing the cost for the treatment of the president in London.

Adesina stated that as the president, Nigeria should ordinarily foot the medical bills, but he is unsure if the federal government is responsible for it at the moment.

Adesina stated this when he appeared on a Channels TV programme ‘Politics Today’.

Buhari left Nigeria on May 7 for the United Kingdom for follow up treat on an undisclosed ailment.

When the anchor of the programme, Seun Okinbaloye, asked the president’s spokesman, “Who is paying for the president’s treatment?”, he retorted “Does it matter at this point?”

Read also: Presidency knocks Jonathan, says ‘you left Nigerian economy in tatters’

The conversation continued:

Okinbaloye: “We need to know, he is our president. He is a public official. This shouldn’t be shrouded in secrecy.”

Adesina: “I do not know who is paying, but as a president, he has a right to be treated by the country.

“Nigeria is taking care of the bill?” Okinbaloye asked, and Adesina responded, “Most likely. I don not know for sure.”

“The president I saw was sharp, he was smart, he was lucid. The president I saw was almost completely mending,” Adesina said.

“But like I said in the statement we issued, he will come when his doctors say ‘it’s time to go home’.

“We can’t depend on the word out there, but I can depend on what I saw with my eyes. I saw the president and I know that he has recovered considerably.

“Once the doctors certify him, he will surely come back… If you know the president, at the peak of his performance when he just assumed the presidency and went to different parts of the world, you will know that he is a man of tremendous energy and tremendous ability.

“If a man was healed and he has mended, that means he can do what he used to and even more,”‎ he added.

Controversies have continued to trail the president’s stay in London, even as different groups have embarked on protest in support and against his stay abroad.

Adesina was among the media team of the president who paid him a visit in London recently.

 

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