Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Tuesday, May 02, 2017

Another Nigerian Presidential leave

Maybe there's something in Nigerian culture that makes publicly talking about illness a bad thing to do. All we get are nonspecific hints about the illness.

Nigeria's President Buhari urged to take medical leave

Buhari

A group of prominent Nigerians has called on President Muhammadu Buhari, 74, to take medical leave, amid growing concern about his health.

There was an "apparent deterioration" in his health following his failure to attend the last two cabinet meetings, the group said.

Mr Buhari took about seven weeks of medical leave in January, and flew to the UK for treatment.

When he returned home in March, he said he had never been so ill in his life.

Mr Buhari has not disclosed his illness, but hinted that he had had a blood transfusion.

The president had not been seen in public for the last week…

The group included some of the Nigeria's most influential civil society figures, including lawyer Femi Falana, political analyst Jibrin Ibrahim, and Transparency International Nigeria head Anwal Musa Rafsanjani.

The 13 said they felt "compelled" to ask Mr Buhari "to heed the advice of his personal physicians by taking a rest to attend to his health without any further delay".

Mr Buhari's aides have not yet commented on the statement…