The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina in response to reports circulating that some presidential aides including the Permanent Secretary in the State House, Tijani Umar; the President’s aide-de-camp (ADC), Yusuf Dodo; his chief security officer (CSO), Aliyu Musa, and his senior special assistant on media and publicity, Garba Shehu tested positive for COVID-19 and were in isolation stated that the presidential are just humans and can fall sick.
Adeshina made the statement in an interview with Channels Television on Sunday, stating that presidential aides are also human and not immune to happenings around them.
“What I like to say is that presidential aides are just humans. They can fall sick. If anything happens to human beings, it can also happen to presidential aides,” he said.
“The fact that we are presidential aides does not make us immune to certain things. If there is a virus that is ravaging society, well, it can touch anybody.
“So Mallam Garba Shehu has confirmed that, yes, he tested positive but he said it’s mild. And I believe that by now, because it happened since Wednesday, by now, he should almost have beaten it if he has not beaten it already. There is no cause for alarm.”
But when he was asked how many presidential aides in the State House had contracted the virus, Adesina said he could not reveal the details as it is a private matter.
“That will not be within my purview to discuss, maybe if you get the presidential doctor or anybody on the medical side, they will tell you, I wouldn’t know because it is a private thing,” he added.
“If it happens to anybody, it’s between that person and possibly the doctor. It is not going to be general knowledge. So I may not be able to say.”
“Well, I think Mr. President is quite fine, he is doing his normal routine, following his normal schedule. But if anybody close to him test positive, that person is required to stay away till he tests again, and he tests negative,” he said while answering questions about Buhari’s status since he might have come in contact with the infected aides.
