Buhari had left Nigeria on May 7th to meet up with follow up consultation with his doctors in the United Kingdom.
Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha had led some governors and leaders of the party to visit Buhari in London on Sunday.
Briefing State House correspondents in Abuja on Tuesday, the Special Adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina and Senior Special Assistant on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, said that the new delegation that will meet the President on Wednesday afternoon will include governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
They were accompanied by the Senior Special Assistant on media and publicity, Laolu Akande.
Adesina said “We want to thank you for your cooperation thus far and how you have treated the presidency. You know that on Sunday there was a major development about the health of Mr. President in which we had pictures from London and details from one of those who saw him, the Imo State governor Rochas Okorocha.
“There is a follow up to that and you will get to here in a few minutes. I know you have probably read that there is going to be another delegation visiting him. Malam Garba Shehu will brief you on who and who is on the delegation.”
Listing the new delegation, Shehu said: “The delegation is being led by the governor of Zamfara State, who is the chairman of the governors forum.
“In the delegation are governors of Ebonyi, Dave Umahi, Kano, Umar Gandoje, Borno, Kassim Shettima, Benue, Samuel Ortom, Akwa Ibom, Udom Emmanuel and Oyo, Abiola Ajumobi.
“They will leave by tonight and arrive the U.K. early and will have 3pm meeting tomorrow.” he said
On why Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, who has been vocal on the issue, was not part of the delegation, Adesina replied: “The selection was by the governors forum and you will see that the delegation is headed by governor Yari who is chairman of that forum. So that question should go to the forum.
Asked why the new visit when it has been reported that the president is recuperating fast and will soon come back home, Adesina said “It should be the other way. Instead of being curious it should be the right time for the visit like Malam Garba said earlier. When somebody has recovered or something or the other happened, it is in our culture for us to visit such a person.
“So, this is the right time because the news is that he is recovering and recovering well. I’m sure you are aware of the letter he just wrote to the African Union Chairman when he told him that he is making very good progress. So, this is the proper time for him to receive delegations rather than when he was indisposed.” he said
On whether the ministers designate will be sworn in soon, Adesina said “I like the word soon that you used because that is the real position. The ministers will be sworn in soon, sooner than you think it will happen.”
He added “I think you are quoting the Acting president wrongly, he said the matter did not come up in his discussion with the president. Your paper (Daily Trust) has been stating dates so we should ask you where you get your dates from.
On when the President will return to Nigeria and whether the cabinet will be reshuffled when he comes, Adesina said: “That already is in public domain. He will come back when the doctors certify. It is in the letter he wrote to the AU chairman which was made public this afternoon. He said he was just waiting for his doctors to tell him all is well and then he will return home.
“If anybody is giving a timeline that person might have information that we don’t have yet. But the information at our disposal is that the president will return as soon as his doctors give him the go ahead.
“In terms of whether there will be a shakeup of government or not, the President is the head of the government and it is his prerogative, so nobody can speak for him on that.
Asked why the president didn’t prefer the broadcast option to Nigerians, Adesina said: “It is a question of what he prefers and this is what he prefers for now. He would rather receive that delegation and that is what is happening. If the president opts for address option he will do it.
Speaking on the mission of the governors to London, Shehu said
“The visit is a goodwill visit and there is nothing more than that. I believe Nigerians in various position have yarn to go meet the president and at some point this obviously has not been permitted.
“But given the change in circumstances you can see that is coming from London itself and from the president is welcoming. Is a goodwill visit. As a cultural people we visit people leaving hospital and I’m sure the president himself will be delighted to see people coming six geo-political zones, coming to convey the goodwill of Nigerians.
On why the president media team was not part of the delegation, Shehu said “Well, how about you thinking about it this way, probably we will be saving money. Let me tell you, you know I have respects for photographers, we all do and the cameramen. Bayo Omoboriwo is on the flight which is more important than me being there, which he is.
“They say a picture conveys more than a thousand words, Bayo will be there and I think it will be more beneficial to Nigerians than if the Special Adviser was on that trip without a cameraman.
Asked why must the delegation go and who is sponsoring them, Shehu said “You will notice that those that went at the weekend are members of All Progressive Congress (APC), so those who are going now is on a broader platform which is the Nigerian Governors Forum. As to who is sponsoring I don’t have any information on that.”
Akande spoke on Ogoni clean up and Niger Delta situation.
He said “Next week there is going to be a follow up meeting between the Acting President and the PANDEF. You will recalled that last November the President has held a meeting with the leaders of PANDEF where issues of Niger Delta development was discussed in which the Acting President embarked on the visit to the states of the Niger Delta.
“And since then the president asked that an inter-ministerial committee be composed led by the Vice President to look at all the issues, specifically using the PANDEF demand as the take off point.
“That inter-ministerial committee has been meeting virtually every week. and next week there is going to be a report from the government side, the inter-ministerial committee by acting president and PANDEF.
“Some of the issues to be discussed at the meeting include for instance the issue of modular refineries which we hope that starting from August the will be groundbreaking for the first set of modular refineries.
“Regarding Ogoni clean up, there are also going to give an update of what has been happening. For instance, the coordinating team that was set up for the Ogoni clean up conducted health impact assessment, they have done salt test, water test, they have hired a number of son’s and daughters of Ogoni who are trained on environmental sciences as technical assistants, I think about 15 of them.
“In the next few weeks they are going to go back to Geneva where a wholistic road map on the clean up itself will be concluded with the international partners.
‘Another highlight that will be discussed at that meeting is the plan to open the Maritime University in Okorinko in October this year. At the last meeting the vice chancellor was asked to bring take off budget that will be approved. Already the NUC has approved a number of courses that will take off once the university is ready to open.” he said
