Nigeria’s president is under no obligation to disclose his medical condition even if the state is the one paying for his medical bills, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said. Muhammadu Buhari has spent lengthy periods in London since January, sparking speculation about his fitness to govern — and also questions about who was footing the bill.
The 74-year-old former army general has said only that he required blood transfusions and had never been as sick in his life. Claims from political opponents that he had prostate cancer have been denied but civil society groups still want to know whether tax-payers’ money was used for the private treatment. Buhari’s information minister suggested the silence was not unusual, just hours after the president returned to Abuja from another round of check-ups in the British capital. “It’s not strange at all for a sitting president to be ill and it’s not strange either for the state to take care of his medical bill,” Lai Mohammed told AFP in an interview, without elaborating. “I think there’s so much speculation as to what he’s been treated for. “I think we would rather respect his privacy. If Mr President feels like telling the world his ailment, so be it. I don’t think he’s under an obligation to tell anyone.” The health of Nigeria’s head of state is a sensitive issue. Former president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua fell ill and died while in office in 2010, sparking months of political turmoil. Buhari’s mystery illness also comes as political parties and potential candidates jockey for position ahead of the next presidential election in 2019. Buhari’s women’s affairs minister Aisha Alhassan claimed earlier this month that he had said he would only serve one, four-year term of office. --Vanguard
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