Malam Adnan Na-Habu, a cousin to President Muhammadu Buhari and the official spokesman for the family has attributed the president’s current health challenges to old age and also stated that the president has the chance of staying in office beyond 2019.
He told the Sun in an interview published on Thursday, May 4, that the health challenges of the President had to do with old age and not any sickness.
He said: “I know some Nigerians especially the critics of this administration have been using age and sickness to propagate the idea that Buhari should not run this country now and beyond 2019.
I don’t think there is a problem with his health as I said earlier. You see there is difference between sickness and being aged. When someone is aged we believe that, he cannot act the way you and I can act because of the age.
The president’s cousin however urged Nigerians to focus on the performance of Buhari and not his age, adding that in Africa, there are leaders that are far older than him, and they are still in power, managing their country successfully. “So being aged is not a deformity.
Instead, the person will be given more wisdom to reason. I believe that most of the statements are coming from his opponents. It is purely politics. Obviously, by 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari has chance to continue, provided he chooses to re-contest the presidency.” Adnan Na-Habu insisted that Buhari’s health was not a hindrance to governance.
The spokesman for the family said: “I know him and I am very close to him in the family, we speak and eat together whenever I am in Abuja. You see in the family if there is anything that will make him incapable to govern this country, we are the first set of persons that will ask him to throw in the towel.
“Mr president is in power not because he wants to be the President but he want to make a significant impact and contributions to the development of the country by correcting the anomalies in the governance which I believe, Nigerians must have seen in his approach.” Meanwhile, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to disclose his health status to Nigerians.
We learnt that the president of the NMA, Prof Mike Ogirima, in interview with the Punch on Thursday, May 4, explained that Buhari’s disclosure of his health status would douse tension and rumours about his well-being. The NMA president also faulted those managing the information concerning Buhari’s health have not done well.