Aside Buhari, 3 ministers also sick

ÏThe Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday started on a sad note with the disclosure that three ministers in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet are currently sick. This disclosure came during the opening prayers at the commencement of the meeting offered by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), David Babachir Lawal.

Mohammed, who offered the Muslim prayer, was the first to pray before the SGF took his turn. He asked Allah to give them wisdom to take good decisions. The SGF in his prayer asked for quick recovery of three ministers who were not in attendance at the cabinet meeting due to one sickness or the other. First, he committed President Buhari, who he said was on medical vacation in London, into the hands of God for quick recovery. Next, he mentioned the Women Affairs Minister, Aisha Alhassan, who he said was recuperating in America where she had surgery.

He also mentioned the Minister of Education, Malam Adamau Adamu, asking God to heal him of back pain he was having. Just as he was about to close that chapter of the prayer, someone bent over and whispered to him, ostensibly reminding him to mention the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Usman, who is also said to be sick and he did without disclosing the particular illness.

Attendance at the meeting as at the time of filing this report was comparatively poor as only 22 out of the 36 ministers were present at the commencement of business. It would be that President Buhari on Monday left for London on a 10-day vacation during which he is scheduled to see Ear, Nose and Throat doctors in relation to what the Presidency described as his persistent ear infection.