Abuja — Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari failed to attend a third consecutive weekly cabinet meeting, fueling concern about an undisclosed illness that’s prevented him from appearing in public for more than two weeks. Vice-president Yemi Osinbajo led the meeting on Wednesday in Abuja, the capital, while the presidency offered no explanation for Buhari’s absence. The 74-year-old leader hasn’t made a public appearance since April 14, when he attended Friday prayers at a mosque, feeding speculation about his fitness to govern Africa’s most populous nation of more than 180-million. "There are concerns about the president’s health," Razia Khan, chief economist for Africa at Standard Chartered in London, said in an interview at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Durban. With a deputy who can step in when necessary, "there is that absence of really dramatic uncertainty," she said. Buhari stayed in the UK for more than seven weeks earlier this year to receive treatment for an undisclo...

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