Buhari to make second health trip to London this year
He has made several trips to London for medical reasons throughout his presidency, which began in 2015, but the nature of his illness has never been disclosed
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is due to travel to London “for a scheduled medical follow-up”, a statement from his office says.
This is the second time this year that he will have travelled to see doctors in the UK’s capital. He was in London for a fortnight in April.
The 78-year-old has made several trips to the UK for medical reasons throughout his presidency, which began in 2015, but the nature of his illness has never been disclosed.
“He is due back in the country during the second week of July,” the president’s office says.
Mr Buhari has been criticised in the past for travelling abroad for treatment, especially as the country’s public health service remains severely under funded.
Nigerians vent frustrations against Buhari’s medical trip to UK
Nigerians were furious in March after the government announced that President Muhammadu Buhari will be traveling to London on Tuesday for a ‘routine medical check-up’.
A statement from the presidential spokesperson Femi Adesina did not reveal Buhari’s condition but assured Nigerians that the president will return home in the second week of April.
Many Nigerians expressed their dismay following Buhari’s trips to the UK to seek medical care.Some have called it a waste of taxpayers’ money while some criticized the government’s failure to build world-class hospitals in Nigeria.
A human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, has advised Nigerians in the United Kingdom to occupy the London hospital where Buhari plans to have a medical checkup.
Many Nigerians took to Twitter to show their frustrations with the hashtag #Buharimustgo trending on Tuesday. Buhari has visited London for medical reasons since he was first inaugurated President on May 29, 2015.
On February 5, 2016, Buhari embarks on a six-day medical vacation to London for an undisclosed condition.
He spent 104 days in 2017 after a long medical visit in London.
Buhari, a retired general who headed a military regime in the 1980s, has been dogged by speculation about his health since June last year when he first went to London for treatment.
He then spent nearly two months in London in January and February and said on his return in early March that he had “never been so ill”.
In 2017, there were a series of protests in Abuja demanding that Buhari return or quit if he was unable to go on.
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