Buhari’s health: Obasanjo, Babangida, Abdulsalami in closed door meeting

Three former Heads of State – Generals Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar – on Monday met behind closed doors over the health status of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The meeting, which took place in the Hilltop Mansion of Babangida in Minna, the Niger State capital, was said to have taken place between “late afternoon and evening”.

Informed sources said that only Obasanjo, who was equally civilian president from 1999 to 2007, Babangida and Abubakar attended the meeting.

It was learnt that the Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, who picked Obasanjo from the Minna International Airport, was excused shortly before the meeting commenced.

The meeting was said to have lasted over two hours.

The meeting, according to a reliable source at the Hilltop residence of Babangida, was in relation to the ill health of Buhari.

It was learnt that the three former rulers considered the implications of the exit of Buhari at this point based on the unwritten arrangement for the rotation of the Presidency between the North and the South and the fallout of the emergence of former President Goodluck Jonathan after the death in office of former President Umar Yar’Adua.

It was gathered that the concern centre largely around the response and approach that should be taken in the case of Buhari exiting the Presidency at this time.

Since his return from the United Kingdom for medical treatment over a month ago, Buhari has not been seen in public except twice when he went for the Friday prayer at the Aso Rock mosque.

He has not attended the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting in the last three weeks.

One was cancelled based on the excuse that the secretariat could not put together the files for the meeting.

Unconfirmed reports have it that Buhari has offered to step down in order to attend to his health, but a cabal in the Presidency has been holding him against his wishes.

Sources said that in the bid to keep the meeting in Minna a closely guarded secret, several visitors who ordinarily Babangida would attend to were prevented from entering the house ahead of Obasanjo’s arrival.

It was gathered that Obasanjo was led straight to the inner meeting room of the Hilltop mansion where Babangida and Abubakar were already waiting for him.

Bello was said to have left immediately after pleasantries, leaving the trio to discuss for over two hours.

Obasanjo, it was learnt, left the Hilltop Mansion in the late hours of Monday unnoticed.