Aides silent as Buhari recuperates in London

President Muhammadu Buhari is taking his medical vacation and recuperation seriously at the official residence of the Nigerian High Commissioner to the Court of St James’s- Abuja House- where he has been, since arriving in London to see his doctors today.

Although a very reliable source told The Guardian on Saturday, that the president did receive guests a few days after his arrival. Buhari may have missed Friday’s Jumat service in order to get as much rest as possible. When The Guardian first checked on the President at the Kensington residence on Friday afternoon -between 12:40pm and about 2:30pm- he was clearly not among the group of four that arrived back at the house shortly after 2:00pm.

About 20 minutes before then, when this reporter approached one of the High Commission’s staff about to drive in and asked, “is Mr. President recovering well?” He looked irritated, kept mum and gave the reporter a ‘leave us alone’ kind of look before the security gave him access to the property. Another staff member that was approached on his way out also kept sealed lips as he shunned this reporter’s request to know how the President was doing.

When The Guardian returned on Saturday and asked the handful of staff going in and out of Abuja House, they too kept mum. However, one of this reporter’s sources said “he’s resting now,” when he was asked how Mr. President was doing.

The Guardian pushed further and -despite previous attempts to get him arrested in February, when the President was on similar vacation – went ahead and pressed the buzzer asking to speak to one of “Mr. President’s people,” the security staff didn’t call the diplomatic police this time around. One of the two security staff that responded said, “they are not expecting you,” when this reporter said he was there on behalf of this newspaper.

Some other staff and a close aide of the president later went in and out, but all kept mum, while others gave ‘get behind us’ kind of looks to The Guardian, despite responding to courtesy greetings of “hello sir, and evening madam.”

Around 7:27pm, when this reporter approached a lady being driven out and asked “evening, madam, how is Mr. President doing?” She simply acknowledged the greeting with a nod, before she was driven off. About 30 minutes before then, The Guardian had approached one familiar staff member moving across the house, but he too responded with a look and sealed lips when asked”how is Mr. President doing?”