President Muhammadu Buhari trekking Source: @BashirAhmaad
Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu says President Muhammadu Buhari is mentally and physically fit to run for a second term.
Shittu made this comment on Wednesday, August 22 while speaking with journalists after a closed-door meeting with the President at his Daura country home.
Famzn News had reported earlier that President Muhammadu Buhari trekked for over 800 metres from the prayer ground to his residence amidst chanting of ‘Sai Baba’ by well-wishers.
Last week, Aminu Tambuwal, the governor of Sokoto, had alleged that Buhari was “too old” to lead the country beyond 2019.
Responding on Tuesday, August 21, Shehu said the trekking by the President was a positive response to Tambuwal’s diatribe.
“I think the president has done one thing today – that the issue is not how old one is but how fit he is; how healthy he is. Now that the president has proven his fitness and well-being to continue in office is a settled matter”, Shehu had said on Tuesday.
Apparently displeased with Shehu’s statement, Nigerians including chieftains of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, took to the micro-blogging site, Twitter to condemn the statement.
Responding to the reactions that Shehu’s statement has generated, Shittu said President Muhammadu Buhari is not only fit to trek 800 metres as reported in the media but that the President is fit mentally and physically to continue to pilot the affairs of the country
The minister said: “We were here to pay obeisance. You know the President recently returned from a medical trip abroad.
“The President is not only fit to trek 800 metres as reported by the media, the President is fit mentally and physically to continue to pilot the affairs of our great country.”
Apart from Shitti, a former Abia State Governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu and Plateau state Governor, Solomon Lalong were also at the meeting with the President.