Former Abia State Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu on Sunday disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari would return to Nigeria before June 11, 2017.
He said this while urging Nigerians to desist from spreading messages of hate and division about the health of President Buhari, who, he said, was fast recuperating from an undisclosed ailment.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari left Nigeria May 7 shortly after receiving 82 Chibok school girls freed by the Boko Haram sect to continue his medical treatment in the United Kingdom.
Femi Adesina, the president’s spokesman, had said “the length of the president’s stay in London will be determined by the doctors”.
Aisha Buhari, wife of the president, Tuesday last week departed Nigeria for the United Kingdom to join her husband.
Speaking with airport correspondents at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, Kalu said he was in London last week to have first-hand knowledge of the state of health of Mr. President.
He insisted that there was nothing special about the ill-health of President Buhari, saying that anyone could fall sick at anytime.
He called on Nigerians to pray for quick recovery of Mr. President.
“Both the Bible and Koran request us to be praying for our leaders and it is good you keep praying for our leaders. There is nothing wrong in anybody being sick, there is nothing wrong with anybody being in hospital, but there is everything wrong in people wishing their fellow human beings death.
“It is unethical; it is not acceptable by any norm, any religion, any person or anybody. President Buhari is sincerely committed to putting the country in its supposed shape. My friendship with him spans across years and I am convinced he is committed to moving our country forward”, Kalu said.
Continuing, the former governor said, “I am excited over the state of health of President Buhari despite the hate messages people were spreading about him. I am disappointed with the statement coming from some Nigerians about the health of Mr. President.
“The messages some Nigerians have been spreading in the social media is unhealthy. I am calling on Nigerians to have a change of heart. Being a president does not mean you cannot be sick, the hate messages are becoming too much. There must be good sense of tolerance among the ethnic groups, we are all one”, he said.
Kalu insisted that it was wrong to embark on any assessment of the duties of the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo who, he said, was carrying out his constitutional duties.
He also commended Buhari’s administration, saying that the government had performed well in the fight against insurgency and the war against corruption.
He, however, emphasised that the government should obey constitutional provisions as it affects the judicial arm of government.
“The government has done well, but there is a lot of suffering in the land. The masses are suffering, going through economic problems; the administration has done well, but must obey the laws of the land, by respecting judicial processes. Government must pursue the hardware and software of democracy. That includes the rule of law and respect of the constitution”, he said.
