President Muhammadu Buhari has proceeded to London, the United Kingdom, on Tuesday, March 30, for a routine medical check-up.
This was contained in a statement signed by his senior special assistant on media and publicity Garba Shehu.
The president is due to be back in the country during the second week of April, the statement said.
It also added that the president would be meeting with the security chiefs before jetting out of the country.
“The President meets with Security Chiefs first in the morning, after which he embarks on the journey,” the statement noted.
This is the first time the president will be travelling out of the country in 2021.
Some Nigerians have demanded that President Muhammadu Buhari transmits power properly to his Vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as Constitution requires before embarking on his London medical trip on Tuesday.
Some Nigerians on social media expressed concerns over this decision, wondering if the President does not trust his VP or is afraid that Osinbajo may do better in two weeks.
Others feel he should hand over to the Vice President, go to London and stay there forever.
Buhari visited London several times for checkups between May 2016, when he was first elected, and 2017 for an undisclosed ailment.
Buhari had spent over 100 days in the UK for medical reasons in 2017 after leaving for London on May 7. His prolonged absence led to the calls for him to resign and hand over to his vice Yemi Osinbajo
The former general simply said he had “never been so ill” and that he had received several blood transfusions.
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.
Buhari is embarking on the medical trip at a time, members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors have declared their intention to commence a strike on April 1.
The doctors said their strike would be “a total and indefinite” if the Federal Government refuses to accede to its demands on burning issues affecting residency training, healthcare delivery, and welfare.
The First Vice-President of the NARD (Nigeria Association of Resident Doctors), Dr Arome Adejo, who spoke on behalf of the President of the association, Dr Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, in an interview with newsmen in Abuja, said the government failed to implement an agreement it reached with the doctors at a meeting held three weeks ago.
The NARD first vice-president stated this as the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, urged the association to put on hold its planned indefinite strike.
He said the planned industrial action was deemed “apprehended” once negotiation had been opened with the union
NARD had on March 18 told reporters that families of frontline doctors, who died of COVID-19, had been abandoned by the Federal Government.