Buhari works from home, writes National Assembly

President Muhammadu Buhari receives briefing from Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the State House on August 22, 2017.

Gets briefing from Osinbajo

President Muhammadu Buhari has written to the National Assembly notifying it of his resumption of office after returning at the weekend from his May 7, 2017 medical trip to the United Kingdom.

His Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Abdulrahman Kawu Sumaila, who transmitted the letter, said the exercise was in fulfillment of constitutional provisions.

With the transmission, it is hoped that governance would take full steam and the struggle for powers by the various brokers in the corridor of power while he was away would abate.

Kawu noted that the yearly vacation by the lawmakers did not invalidate the process, as there were legislative staff on ground to receive the correspondence.

He pledged that his principal was fit for the task ahead, adding that there were no indications that the president would be returning anytime soon for another round of medical vacation.

The notification read: “In compliance with Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), I write to intimate the House that I have resumed my functions as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with effect from Monday, August, 21, 2017 after my medical follow-up in the United Kingdom.”

The Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, yesterday confirmed a receipt of the letter. Buhari, on May 7, transferred power to his deputy, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, as acting president.

Meanwhile, there are indications that the president would be running the government from his official residence as a presidency source told The Guardian that renovation was being carried out on his office by construction giant, Julius Berger. The time frame for his governing from home was, however, not disclosed.

Also, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, confirmed the transmission of the letter to State House correspondents. “Yes, some few minutes past 11:00 a.m., the president signed the letter notifying the National Assembly of his resumption,” he said.

On his principal’s nationwide address yesterday, Adesina said “that broadcast was just one step of many steps that are going to be taken in the days, weeks and months ahead so you can’t expect that everything will be said in one day.”

Also yesterday, Osinbajo briefed the President. The Personal Assistant to Buhari on New Media, Bashir Ahmad, who confirmed the development through his twitter handle@BashirAhmaad, explained why his principal was working from home.

In another development, the president and a group, Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA), have disagreed over the indivisibility of the country. While the nation’s number one citizen maintained that Nigeria’s unity remains non-negotiable the group insisted on the contrary.

In his national broadcast, Buhari said agitations for the division of the country was a waste of time, as he and other leaders, including the late Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, had voted for the unity of the nation.

He cautioned Nigerians who use the social media as another platform to fan the embers of division, to desist from the act.

“In 2003 after I joined partisan politics, the late Chief Emeka Ojukwu came and stayed as my guest in my hometown of Daura. Over two days, we discussed in great depth till late into the night and analysed the problems of Nigeria. We both came to the conclusion that the country must remain one and united.  Nigeria’s unity is settled and not negotiable,” the president affirmed.

But ECA, in a statement yesterday by its Secretary General, Elliot Uko, said the situation of the country was indicative that its unity was shaky and should be renegotiated.

Besides, the Buhari Support Organisation (BSO) has warned that the clamour for secession would not advance the cause of Igbo people, saying the agitators were enemies of the Igbo.

During a solidarity rally yesterday in Enugu, the group maintained that the Southeast region would benefit more in a united Nigeria.