NGF Team Returns, Says God has Healed Buhari

By Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja

The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) team which left Nigeria for London on Tuesday to visit President Muhammadu Buhari has returned to the country with a message that God had healed the president.

Buhari left Nigeria for treatment for an undisclosed ailment 82 days ago and was sighted in the public for the first time on July 23 when a delegation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) visited him.

Twenty-four hours after members of that delegation returned, a team of seven governors led by NGF Chairman and Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, also left Nigeria for London to visit the president.

The team comprised two members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) and Dave Umahi (Ebonyi) as well as five APC governors, viz: Yari,  Abdullahi Ganduje ( Kano), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Kassim Shetima ( Borno) and Samuel Ortom (Benue).

Answering questions from newsmen in the Presidential Villa yesterday, Emmanuel said God had answered Nigerians’ prayers and healed Buhari.

“Let me thank God for the life of the president and thank God for Nigerians too and also appreciate Nigerians who have prayed sincerely and earnestly for Mr. President. And I think God has actually answered the prayers of Nigerians. 

However, Emmanuel failed to disclose what the delegation discussed with the president who he said was excited to see them.

“From what you could see from the photographs, you could see that God has actually answered our prayers. So, some of us were quite excited to see Mr. President. He welcomed us, discussed with us and he was also happy to see us. So, what you are seeing both on television and newspapers are genuine and correct. God has actually healed our president and we thank God for that.

“I don’t think when you hold meetings even with your wife and children, you will come and make that public. The president is the father of the nation and we represent the sub-unit of this nation and so, it is not everything that we discussed that we should just come and say. It was a closed-door meeting but be assured that whatever the president will discuss with the governors will be in the best interest of all the citizens of this country,” he said.

Asked to give a hint on the possible date of Buhari’s return in view of his submission that God had healed him, Emmanuel said he was not Buhari’s doctor who would determine that, adding that when he would return or not should not be the issue now.

Instead, he said what should be of paramount interest now should be appreciation to God who had answered prayers, observing that governors and  the president were human beings who were also susceptible to illnesses.

“I’m sorry, I’m not the doctor. I’m just a governor. I’m not a medical doctor. Let me say something here; even when you have a biological father, you love your father, you take interest in his well-being. I mean as a father to the nation, in my personal opinion, I don’t think that is the issue now. 

“The issue is that we should thank God that God has answered our prayers. That is where I am coming from. And let me also say, some of us behave as if the president, the governors are super human. We are normal human beings. We also have challenges. So, let us not think that because we are governors or president, we are super human. No. We are not God. We are mere mortals like any of us here. So, that should also make us play down on the way we look at certain issues,” he concluded.