President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina spoke candidly on his boss recently:

A lot of Nigerians are wondering that the president has severally gone to seek medical attention overseas. What is your take on that?

When you say severally, you make it appear as if it is every other month. It’s been twice. Severally could be two and above but it’s just two.

Even if it is two, one will be wondering why the president will be seeking medical attention overseas. Does it mean the Aso Rock medical facilities and any other medical institution in Nigeria cannot attend to the president’s medical concerns?

You also have what is called medical history, where you consult people who are used to you, your constitution and your health. They have your medical history. Before he became president, he had been using those same set of people. So, it stands to reason that the same people continue to attend to him.

Does he use the medical facilities in the Aso Rock villa?

I can’t say, because when the president is at home, I have never seen him fall sick, but he has a personal physician who attends to him. I will not be able to say categorically whether he uses the Aso Rock facility or not.

At a time, he went to visit the Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist in London and some doctors said we have very qualified ENT specialists in Nigeria who can effectively handle the issue. Don’t you think he should stay at home in order not to encourage medical tourism?

It‘s the same issue of changing the order of our statement. When he went out then, we said he was taking a vacation and during that vacation, he will use the opportunity to see ENT doctors. He had been attended to in Nigeria then, and he was going to ask for another opinion where they will look at him again. He was originally attended to in this country. It was in the statement we issued.

You attend cabinet meetings. There are some openings in the cabinet such as the late Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, James Ocholi, and Mrs Amina Mohammed. Will the president be rejigging his cabinet?

I only know of the late Ocholi. Mrs Amina Mohammed will not be out of the cabinet until March 2nd. On the issue of the president re-jigging his cabinet, it is his prerogative. So, he will do it if he wishes to do it. He has appointed them. He assembled that cabinet. The prerogative is also his own if he wishes to rejig it.

Do you think he needs to rejig it?

I am not in a position to answer that question.

But you advise him, don’t you?

Yes, I advise him on media and publicity

But don’t you hear people talk about his cabinet in the media?

Yes, people have a right to say what they are saying but they will have their say, and the president will have his way because the president is the one that has been elected and he is the one that assembled that cabinet.

Are you in touch with what is happening in the grassroots, in the local areas about the suffering of many Nigerians?

Very much so; I tell you. There are days I decide in the evenings to visit the president at home, after office hours. One day, I went to see him and we were talking and I said ‘Mr. President, people are going through tough times’. And he told me ‘I know. I know. I have people come visit me here even from my own constituency and they tell me what they are passing through’. So, it’s not as if he does not know, he knows.

And what is he doing about it?

What he is doing is governance; good governance, which will translate to better life for the people. It’s not going to be by sudden flight. It’s not a magic wand that he will wave; rather, it is by policies that will yield over time, and lead to the improvement in the lives of the people.

– Culled from Channels TV