Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, has disclosed on ‘Politics Today'(a programme on Channels Television) that he is not sure if it is the federal government that is responsible for the medical bill of his principal.
The 74-year-old President who has been receiving medical attention in London for the past 99 days has generated heated controversy on the issue of cost between his supporters and opponents.
The anchor of the programme, Seun Okinbaloye, asked Adesina, “Who is paying for the president’s treatment?”, He said:
“Does it matter at this point? We need to know, he is our president. He is a public official. This shouldn’t be shrouded in secrecy.”
“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? Most likely. I don not know for sure.”
The presidential spokesman who was in the delegation that met Buhari during the weekend also discussed his experience with his principal at the Abuja House in London and also dismissed the position that Buhari has not returned to the country because he is too frail to travel.
He said:
“The president I saw was sharp, he was smart, he was lucid. The president I saw was almost completely mending,
“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 heal and he has mended, that means he can do what he used to and even more.”