The weekly Federal Executive Council meeting was shelved on Wednesday owing to the just concluded Easter holidays, Presidency officials said.
This is even as they debunked speculations that the meeting was shelved because of President Muhammadu Buhari’s ill health.
President Buhari was also absent from the cabinet’s meeting last week Wednesday.
Presidential Media Aide, Garba Shehu told journalist at the Aso Rock that the meeting was shelved because staff of the FEC secretariat could not circulate relevant documents for the meeting because of the Easter holiday.
“I think it is because of the Easter holiday. The secretariat had no time to circulate the necessary documents,” he said adding that the law stipulates that memos which will be considered should be circulated to cabinet members ahead of the meeting.
The staff of the secretariat also took a holiday and so could not meet up. “The staff on the Council secretariat resumed on Tuesday after the Easter. There was no time to prepare and circulate memos to ministers. By practice, the ministers receive council memos two or three days ahead of meetings because they must read them and sometimes undertake research. It is not a rubber stamp council so everyone must prepare themselves well for debates” Shehu said.
He said the cancellation of the meeting had nothing to do with the president’s state of health. Such insinuations, he said “will not be fair.”
Last week Vice President Yemi Osinbajo presided over the council meeting as speculations were rife that Buhari’s health may have taken a turn for the worse.
ELIZABETH ARCHIBONG
