President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said his deputy, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is now in charge of the country.
President Buhari stated this before he departed Abuja for London, United Kingdom on a routine medical check-up.
The president had initially truncated his plan to travel to London from Nairobi, Kenya after attending the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) at 50.
He returned to Nigeria on Friday but has now left for London. On March 1, his spokesman, Femi Adesina, said President Buhari would from Kenya proceed to London for ”routine medical checks that will last for a maximum of two weeks.”
According to Adesina’s statement, Buhari is due to return to Abuja in two weeks.
Speaking before boarding his plane, Buhari told journalists at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is in charge constitutionally when he was out of the country.
The President said his absence would not affect state function as he was aware of every development taking place in his absence.
Asked about how the country would function in his absence, he said: “Well, I cannot claim to be doing the work alone. The government is fully represented. The Vice President is there.
“Constitutionally, when I’m away, he’s in charge. Then, we have the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and then the Chief of Staff, so, there’s no problem.”
On the anxiety over the March 26 convention of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), he doused tension and said the party had the capacity to organise the scheduled programme.
On what he would tell Nigerians who had expressed doubts regarding the ability of APC to conduct his national convention successfully, he said: “Well, they should wait and see. How did we come as a party to take power from the ruling party which had been there before us for so many years? So, we have the capacity. Everything will be alright,” he said.