President Muhammadu Buhari has attend a weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 making it the 3rd consecutive week that the ailing leader has been absent from the cabinet exercise.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo chaired the start of the session, which was open to the media, which had to leave after prayers were said and the national anthem played.
Buhari has been resting after treatment of an unspecified illness.
The 74-year old former brutal military ruler has hardly appeared in public since returning home in March after nearly two months’ medical leave in Britain.
He did not attend the last two cabinet meetings.
Buhari had said on coming back from the United Kingdom that he would need more rest.
On Tuesday, his wife Aisha Buhari, seeking to counter growing concerns about Buhari’s ability to run the country, said his health was not a bad as assumed. She gave no details. But alluded to meetings between the president and two members of his kitchen cabinet.
Curiously, there is no photo of the meetings as is common with the Buhari propaganda machine.
The absence of Buhari at key government functions had fuelled speculations about his health, with critics mounting pressure on him to step down.
Femi Falana and other civil rights activists, linked to Bola Tinubu, have also called on the president to go on urgent medical leave.
Additional reports by Reuters.
