President Muhammadu Buhari’s planned medical trip to London this weekend where he was supposed to stay for some days, has been cancelled with reports indicating his next medical moves.
President Muhammadu Buhari on
Wednesday, changed a plan by which he was due to return to London this weekend
for another round of medical treatment, barely two weeks after his return from a hospital there.
Instead, his doctors will be arriving on Friday to carry out further medical examination on him.
Sources at the Presidency informed SaharaReporters that the president’s advance party had already left Abuja earlier
in the day by Ethiopian Airlines before they were recalled to Abuja.
Sources say the hawks within the
presidency advised against taking the president abroad so soon after his seven weeks away, as that would begin to feed the rumor mill all over again about his
ailment.
The latest developments come as pressure is mounting on the presidency to disclose how
much was spent on his 49-day “medical vacation” in the United Kingdom, with Nigerians saying they have a right to know.
Activists, including well-known lawyer Femi Falana, and civil society groups such as the
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, the Centre for Anti-Corruption and
Open Leadership, and the Campaign for Democracy, among others, argue that the
medical bill is of public interest because Buhari touted transparency and change in
public affairs when he ran for the
presidency.
Meanwhile, the minister of information, Lai Mohammed said that the federal government’s decision to release the
medical expenses of President Buhari was on the basis of national security.
He said: “This matter (the President’s medical bill) has come several times and our
position on the matter is quite straight forward.
“What are the President’s conditions of service? What are his entitlements in terms
of his well-being and health care? The state is supposed to take responsibility for these.
“We believe that asking for how much has been spent on the health of the President is
an issue that we should weigh very well both for national security and also for moral
issues. I don’t know why we must divulge such very sensitive information”
