I am not sick – Buhari
I am not sick – Buhari
The presidential candidate of the All
Progressives Congress, APC,
Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday denied
rumours of his ill-health, saying they
were unfounded and that he was
physically and mentally fit.
Mr. Buhari made the comments as he
returned to Nigeria from the United
Kingdom where he spent about two
weeks.
The former military ruler who arrived at
the Nnamdi Azikiwe international airport
at about 5.40 a.m., aboard a British
Airways flight, was received by a large
crowd which included journalists who
had laid wait since 4 a.m.
He told the crowd that he merely took
some time off to rest, ahead of the
March 28 polls.
“I just went off for a couple of weeks to
rest. That’s all I did,’’ he said.
When prodded by newsmen on whether
he visited any hospital while in the UK,
Buhari said: “what is wrong for me to go
the hospital?”
“Am I not here now? Aren’t you seeing
me? Are you seeing a sick man?
“I went to Chatham House. I read an
address and there was a question and
answer session, that’s all.”
Mr. Buhari’s trip to the U.K. had been a
major subject of controversy as some
supporters of President Goodluck
Jonathan, his main challenger in the
March 28 presidential election, accused
him of embarking on a secret medical
trip abroad.
The president’s supporters have said Mr.
Buhari, 72, is medically unfit to be
elected president.
While Mr. Buhari was away in London,
some chieftains of the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, notably
Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State,
insisted that he was on a medical trip, a
claim members of Mr. Buhari’s party,
APC, repeatedly refuted.
Mr. Buhari had undertaken the London
trip after leading the APC presidential
campaign train to almost all the 36
states in readiness for the election which
had earlier been scheduled for February
14, before being postponed to March 28
by the Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC.
Despite the allegations of poor health,
Mr. Buhari, while in London, delivered a
lecture at the Royal Institute of
International Affairs, Chatham House,
explaining why he is seeking to return to
power.
He had earlier met with a former British
Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
Mr. Buhari’s participation in the March
28 presidential election will be his fourth
having contested unsuccessfully for the
position in 2003, 2007, and 2011.
(NAN)
