On February 5, 2016, eight months after being sworn in, President Buhari took his first medical trip to London, the United Kingdom, spending six days between February 5 and 10.
By Jeffrey Agbo
President Muhammadu Buhari will on Monday, October 31, depart Abuja for London, United Kingdom for a routine medical check-up, his spokesman Femi Adesina has said.
Buhari is expected back in the country in the “second week of November,” Adesina added in a tweet.
The trip comes shortly after he presided over an emergency meeting with security chiefs at the State House, Abuja.
The trip will add to Buhari’s history of medical trips since assuming office in 2015. He is alleged to have spent more than 200 days away from the country on such trips since 2015.
On February 5, 2016, eight months after being sworn in, President Buhari took his first medical trip to London, the United Kingdom, spending six days between February 5 and 10.
Buhari’s second medical trip would follow four months later on June 6, 2016.
He spent 10 days treating an ear infection after which he rested for three extra days before returning on June 19, 2016.
On January 19, 2017, the President embarked on his second-longest medical trip. Before leaving, however, Buhari wrote to the Saraki-led Senate revealing his plan to travel to London on a 10-day vacation.
In the letter, Buhari said he would hand over to his Vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. Though the medical holiday was due to commence on January 23, 2017, Buhari left Abuja the same day.
READ ALSO:
Buhari’s needless medical tourism
On March 10, 2017, he returned to the country. The trip lasted 50 days.
In May of the same year, barely two months after his last trip, the president departed for London for his longest medical pilgrimage lasting 104 days.
In late March 2021, Buhari departed for London again for a “routine medical check-up,” which lasted 15 days.
His trip came amid a labour crisis in the health sector which saw members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors commencing on an indefinite strike over the unpaid allowance.
On March 6, 2022, the President jetted out to London for a two-week medical trip which lasted 12 days.
Earlier, Buhari was scheduled to visit London from Nairobi, Kenya where he was attending the United Nations Environmental Programme at 50.
He, however, returned to Nigeria on Friday, March 4, but departed for London on Sunday, March 6.
