Forces within and outside the House of Representatives failed to get the lower chamber to set up a medical panel on the health of President Muhammadu Buhari, Daily Trust has learnt.
Sources told Daily Trust yesterday in Abuja that the forces had wanted the panel to be made up of six members – one each from the six geo-political zones.
The panel was to visit President Buhari in London to determine his state of health, sources said.
The ultimate aim, the sources said, was to get a report stating that the president was incapacitated and so should “honourably resign” from office.
The president has been away on medical vacation in London since May 7.
Daily Trust gathered that the move began last month following rumours that the president was incapacitated.
According to sources, some members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House made several attempts to come up with a motion to constitute a panel, made up of medical doctors, to visit the president in London.
A source said 19 members, mostly from the South South and South East, met several times on how to come up with the motion, which would have been presented before the House embarked on its annual recess late July.
However, it was gathered that the leadership of the House, led by Speaker Yakubu Dogara, resisted the move and told the members that the situation did not warrant any such action.
Responding to Daily Trust inquiry on the matter, a lawmaker said: “It is very true. 19 members from the southern part of the country were the ones meeting and spearheading the whole thing.
“In fact, one of them told me how they went about it. They signed a document regarding that, and they were poised to recruit more of their ilk.
“But Dogara was gentleman enough to stop it. He said that would never happen under his watch. He counselled them, so they couldn’t even come up with the motion on the floor of the House,” the lawmaker, who did not want to be named said.
Another source said: “Some powerful forces in the country made spirited attempts to get the House of Representatives to set up a panel of seven members: one from each of the six geo political zones to visit London to ascertain the true health of the President.
“The forces that represented powerful interests used some members of the House to approach the Speaker to constitute the committee.
“Sensing what they were up to, the Speaker told them to bring up the matter as a motion. In fact, he said they should come under a substantive motion, and you know what it means to do that.
“They pushed hard and tried to convince him that the issue does not require a motion; that it is too sensitive to table a motion on it as it may generate tension in the chamber, so he should just use his powers as Speaker to announce that the leadership has set up the panel.
But he refused. He told them that matters like this can only be decided by the whole House and as such, it should be presented under a substantive motion and will be subjected to vote by members.
“If it scaled through, the House would proceed to set up the panel. They told the Speaker that they will go and draft the motion. He never heard from them again,” another source said.
Yet another lawmaker told Daily Trust that had the movers succeeded in bringing the motion before the House, they would have “killed it.”
“The plan was that someone from one of the
