The Presidency has defended the Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari’s move to cancel yesterday’s Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting.
Speaking on the move by the nation’s president, the Special Adviser to President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, stated that there is no law which requires the nation to hold the FEC meeting weekly.
Adesina while speaking during a Channels TV programme on Wednesday stated that the president made the decision to cancel this week’s FEC meeting in the interest of the nation.
Recall that president Buhari who is working from his residence stated that he will rather recieve the reports on the probe of the director-general of National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), from the Vice-president, Yemi Osinbajo, than hold the FEC meeting.
Adesina while defending the move said: “There is no law that says the federal executive council meeting should hold every week. There is no law that says it must be weekly. Under a past administration, it used to hold once every two weeks.”
He added: “So, there is no law that says it should hold every Wednesday. It depends on what you have on the agenda to discuss. The president is the chairman of that meeting. So, he has the discretion to hold or not to hold (the meeting).
“The fact that FEC did not hold in one week does not mean anything significant because the president has the discretion to hold or not to hold FEC (meetings).”
Adesina also addressed reports from some quarters that the president has not recovered enough hence his decision to work from his residence.
He noted: “That is not correct. It did not hold every week; when this administration began, it did not hold every week. And right from then, it had been understood that the FEC would hold as often as there are things to discuss.”