NIGERIAN President Muhammadu Buhari returned to the country on Tuesday, May 16, after spending about two weeks in London.
It is expected that Buhari will not embark on another foreign trip before he vacates office on May 29.
The President left Nigeria on May 3 for the United Kingdom (UK) to attend the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and the Queen Consort Camilla in London. The event held in London on May 6.
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Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the President Femi Adesina disclosed in a statement that Buhari would be attending a Commonwealth Summit in London ahead of the coronation.
After the event, Special Assistant on Digital Communications to the President Bashir Ahmed announced in a Twitter post that Buhari would be seeing a dentist before returning to Nigeria.
“The Specialist requires to see the President in another five days for a procedure already commenced,” Ahmed tweeted.
Buhari had, while campaigning before the 2015 presidential election, promised to tackle corruption and waste, stating that the nation’s commonwealth would not be spent treating public officials overseas.
However, barely a year after assuming office, he left for London to treat an ear infection.
Between June 6, 2016 and August 19, 2017, he had made three medical trips tp London, spending in all, 168 days, according to a report by The ICR.
This exceed that number of days spent by late Nigerian President Umar Mua Yar’Adua, who spent 109 days on medical trips before his death.
In December 2022, The ICIR reported that Buhari made a total of 16 trips outside the country, two of which were for medical reasons.
At the time, presidential spokesperson Adesina defended Buhari’s foreign medical trips, claiming that he “has used the same medical team for about 40 years”
Adesina also said it was advisable that Buhari sticks with the team familiar with his medical history.
The ICIR also reported that the Buhari administration had budgeted at least N33.3 billion for the State House’s medical facility over the last eight years, despite his frequent foreign medical trips.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.