Buhari departs for London for medical check-up

President Muhammadu Buhari will depart Abuja on Monday, October 31, for a routine medical check-up in London, England. The President’s trip on Monday will be one of several medical trips he has taken since taking office in 2015, spending at least 212 days abroad.

This move comes after he presided over an emergency meeting with security chiefs at Abuja’s State House.

According to a tweet by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Buhari is expected back in the country in the “second week of November.”

President Buhari leaves for London October 31, 2022, for routine medical checkup. He returns to the country 2nd week of November, 2022.

— Femi Adesina (@FemAdesina) October 31, 2022

The President took his first medical trip to London, the United Kingdom, on February 5, 2016, eight months after being sworn in. He spent six days there between February 5 and February 10, 2016.

Buhari’s second medical trip would take place on June 6, 2016, four months later.

He was treated for an ear infection for ten days, then rested for three days before returning on June 19, 2016.

The President left on his second-longest medical trip on January 19, 2017. However, before departing, he informed the Saraki-led Senate of his intention to take a 10-day vacation in London.

Buhari stated in the letter that he would hand over to his Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. Despite the fact that the medical leave was supposed to begin on January 23, 2017, Buhari left Abuja on the same day.

He returned to the country on March 10, 2017. The journey lasted 50 days. In May of the same year, just two months after his previous trip, the president left for London on his 104-day medical pilgrimage.

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Although it is unclear what ailment he was being treated for, the country was advised to “pray” for the President.

What followed was rumors and misinformation about his health, with some assuming he was dead and replaced with a body double.

The lengthy treatment must have helped, because the President did not return to London for another medical checkup until May 2018, when he spent four days on “medical review.”

Buhari returned to London in late March 2021 for a “routine medical check-up,” which lasted 15 days.

His visit coincided with a labor crisis in the health sector, with members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors going on indefinite strike over unpaid allowances.

The President flew to London on March 6, 2022, for a two-week medical trip that lasted 12 days.

Buhari was scheduled to travel to London from Nairobi, Kenya, where he was attending the United Nations Environment Programme at the age of 50.

He returned to Nigeria on Friday, March 4, but left for London the following Sunday, March 6.

Mr. Femi Adesina, the president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, had earlier announced that Buhari would travel to London from Kenya for “routine medical checks that will last no more than two weeks.”  Adesina has defended Buhari’s medical trips abroad, claiming that he has “used the same medical team for approximately 40 years.”