Buhari embarks on medical trip to London Tuesday

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari will on Tuesday proceed to London, the United Kingdom for a routine medical check-up.

This was announced in a statement issued on Monday night by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.

According to the statement, before departing the country for the UK, President Buhari is billed to meet with the security chiefs in the morning.

He is expected back in Nigeria during the second week of April 2021.

President Buhari had embarked on several medical trips between 2015 and 2019. During one of his trips in 2017, he spent 103 days in London with the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, acting as the president then.

His long absence sparked rumours that he had passed on – speculations which were denied by the presidency.

Buhari’s health became a subject of debate in the last election in February 2020 when the opposition claimed he was not physically fit to govern — but Buhari won a second term.

The president’s state of health became a sensitive subject in Nigeria after former leader Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, died in 2010 and it emerged that his ailment had been kept secret for months.