President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled his first Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting since his return from three months medical leave in Britain.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, announced the cancellation of the meeting in a short statement on Wednesday.
He did not disclose the reason for the cancellation, which will further fuel speculations about the President’s health.
“The meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) will not be held today,” Adesina said.
Buhari returned to Nigeria on Saturday after travelling to Britain on May 7 for an unspecified illness, and had written lawmakers on Monday to confirm he had returned and was resuming his duties.
The refusal by officials to disclose details of his illness has caused widespread speculation about the ailment and whether the 74-year-old is well enough to run Africa’s most populous country and biggest economy.
In a televised address on Monday, Buhari looked thin but sounded stronger than his last broadcast in June. He walked unaided off his plane when he arrived on Saturday, though at a slow pace, holding rails on either side of him.
The medical leave was Buhari’s second in Britain this year after one that began in January and lasted nearly two months.
He reduced his working day to a few hours after returning to Nigeria from his first stint of medical leave on March 10, missing three FEC meetings in a row.
Despite the cancellation of Wednesday’ cabinet meeting, Buhari is expected to receive a report on an investigation into corruption allegations levelled against two senior government officials.
The President, Adesina’s statement concluded, will “receive the Report of the investigation committee into the allegations against the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayo Oke, headed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, at 12 noon, in his office”.
