The Wednesday’s meeting of the Federal Executive Council, FEC started on a sober note with supplication to God to heal President Muhammadu Buhari and 3 other members of his cabinet who are indisposed.
Recall that President Buhari had on Monday departed Abuja for London, United Kingdom to seek medical treatment for an ear infection. The FEC meeting which was slated for 12 noon started at 12:10pm when the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo entered the already filled Council Chambers, venue of the meeting.
Without much ado, Osinbajo called on the members to recite the national anthem. With the recitation over, he called on the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammad and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir David Lawal for the opening prayers.
While Alhaji Mohammed took the generic approach, asking for God’s guidance and wisdom through out the deliberations, the SGF went specific. First, he handed over President Buhari, whom he said was on “medical vacation” abroad to God. The SGF then zeroed in on the Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan popularly known as “Mama Taraba”, saying she had been down but now “recuperating from surgery in the US”.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu was the next on the list. While revealing that the Minister was also down with “back pain”, the SGF also prayed God to heal him. Lawal was to later handed over the Acting President to God for guidance.
But as soon as the members chorused “amen” and took their respective seats which prompted the departure of journalists from Chambers for the closed door meeting, an unidentified voice was heard saying to the SGF that he forgot to include the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jubril. Impulsively, the SGF reacted “yes, let’s pray for him too.” But if that happened, it was behind the journalists who had left meet place. (Vanguard Ngr)