The presidency has said President Muhammadu Buhari was not under any obligation to disclose details of his health, especially when he is on vacation.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, gave this position on Thursday during a live interview programme on CNBC Africa.

Adesina was apparently reacting to rumour mills from a section of Nigerians that the president was critically ill with a life threatening ailment.

He said the president is hale and hearty and was not on admission in any known hospital in London.

Adesina also emphasised that the president was in London on vacation and that he had duly transmitted power to his vice, Yemi Osinbajo.

In the programme monitored in Abuja, Adesina said that the rumoured hospitalisation of the president was a figment of people’s imagination.

“The president is in London on vacation. He is not in any hospital and he is not ill.

“When he was travelling last week the statement we put out was that he was going on vacation and during the vacation he would do routine medical check-up and nothing has changed from what we pushed out last week.

“If anybody has fed something else into the rumour mill that is just what it is- rumour”, Adesina said.

The president’s spokesman said it was at the discretion of the president to choose whether to talk to Nigerians from the UK or not.

“The fact that he is a president he still has his rights. Compelling him to come out and talk will be infringing on his rights.

“The president will talk if he wishes to if he doesn’t wish to, nobody will compel him to talk.

“The truth is that the president is on vacation and he has given a date on which he will return to work,” he said.

•Excerpted from a report by Independent.

Update news