Special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, yesterday said there is nowhere in the Nigerian law which states that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting must be held every week.
Recall TheNewsGuru.com had earlier published that Buhari cancelled the FEC meeting he was supposed to hold for this week .
The FEC meeting cancellation generated heavy criticisms of the presidency and was also debated upon by the general public.
Buhari’s spokesman, Adesina, however, defended his superior during a Channels TV programme, Politics Today, he said the president’s decision to cancel FEC meeting should not be a cause for concern.
“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 said.
“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 dismissed rumours that the president had not recovered, saying though Buhari is working from his residence, the president is strong enough to perform his duties.
Asked by Seun Okinbaloye, the anchor of the TV show if the cancellation of Wednesday’s meeting meant that FEC would no longer be meeting weekly, he responded: “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.”