Buhari arrives London for medical check

… Presidency says, transmiting power to Osinbajo, unnecessary

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has arrived in London, the United Kingdom where he is to undergo a routine medical check-up.

  Since assuming office, President Muhammadu Buhari has embarked on several trips to the UK to seek medical care. He, however, has not been to the UK since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  The president is expected back in the country in the second week of April.

Before his departure, President Buhari met with the service chiefs and ordered them to identify leaders of bandits and kidnappers and take them out to restore confidence and normalcy in the affected areas.

   He stated that the criminals would no longer dictate the tone, adding that he was aware of plans by individuals who constitute themselves as authorities to undermine the efforts of the central government.

  In a statement from the presidency, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu said it is unnecessary for President Muhammadu Buhari to transmit power to the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.

  This was made known yesterday in a media program broadcast, explaining that President Buhari has not contravened the laws of the land by not transmitting power to Professor Osinbajo while away from the country for a number of days.

  “He (Buhari) will continue from wherever he is,” Shehu said when asked by a Channel TV reporter if the President had transferred duties to the vice president.

  He added, “the requirement of the law is that the President is going to be absent in the country for 21 days and more, then that transmission is warranted. In this particular instance, it is not warranted.”

  The Presidency had said the President was expected back in the country in the second week of April.

  Speaking about his principal’s condition, Shehu stressed that there was no emergency for the president to travel to London.

  He insisted that the president was not sick in any way, adding that it was just a routine medical check-up, just as he had done in the past.