Why Buhari will resume duty slowly – Presidency

The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Sunday disclosed that the President needs a slow resumption of duty, following his return to the country from a medical vacation abroad.

Featuring on an interview with Arise News Network, on Sunday, Shehu said Buhari will not resume work in a “dramatic way” because he has been away from the country for over 50 days and he needs to get into the “temperature of the place.”

According to Garba, “Let me first of all caution that he (Buhari) is not going to start in a dramatic way. He has been away from the country for nearly two months, so he needs to get into the temperature of the place.

“For instance, yesterday (Saturday), he went through the newspapers page by page, and he read everything that interested him.

“So he needs to get back to that place. The thing is that he’s basically human like all of us. He is coming out of an ailment and like he himself had said, he needs to start gradually.

“Don’t expect the president to be given neck-breaking schedules or punishing schedules like from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., or sometimes to 1a.m. to 2 a.m.”

The Presidential aide said Buhari will be fully in charge once the letter notifying the National Assembly of his resumption gets to them.

Garba also noted that the President does not dictate every detail in governance.

He said: “This is not a president, by his style of leadership, whose hands dictate every detail. People make the observation that perhaps ministers under this government are the most powerful ministers we have had in this Republic.

“He doesn’t call each month to say that a contract should go to Mr. A, B or C, or that road should be channeled through this or that.”

The President who has spent over 50 days on medical vacation in London returned to the country on Friday.