The United
States of America and the United Kingdom have expressed no doubt in the ability
and commitment of Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to continue with the
anti-
corruption war and economic revival in Nigeria.
The two
countries told Punch that they have confidence in Osinbajo to carry on with the
quality leadership President Muhammadu Buhari has been providing the country.
This is
coming on the heels of public outrage and fears expressed by Nigerians over
Buhari’s deteriorating health and continued absence from public.
The
President left for the UK last Sunday to receive medical attention and he is
expected to be there for an indefinite time, according to his media aide, Femi
Adesina.
In his last
medical trip to Britain, Buhari was away for 49 days.
In recent
times, prominent Nigerians had expressed angst over a cabal that has
purportedly hijacked power in the Presidency due to Buhari’s protracted
illness, leaving Osinbajo in the cold.
The US and
the UK, however, told Punch that they believe the VP would take off from where
the President stopped when he jetted out of the country to the UK for further
medical attention.
When asked
if the US Government was worried that Buhari’s poor health could slow down
ongoing anti-corruption war in Nigeria, the spokesman for the US Embassy in
Nigeria, Russell Brooks, said President Donald Trump’s administration believed
in Buhari and Osinbajo.
Brooks said,
“We are very much in favour of President (Muhammadu) Buhari’s campaign against
corruption. We also believe that Acting President (Yemi) Osinbajo is strongly
committed to this agenda and will continue to pursue it while President Buhari
is out of the country.”
Speaking in
a similar vein, the spokesman for the UK High Commission in Nigeria, Joseph
Abuku, stated that while the British Government could not comment on whether
any crisis resulting from Buhari’s protracted ill-health would lead Nigeria
into political instability, he said the UK had confidence in the President and
his deputy.
“The Vice
President is acting President in President (Muhammadu) Buhari’s absence. The
United Kingdom has full confidence in both he (Osinbajo) and President Buhari.
Questions on President Buhari’s health should be directed to his office.”
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