THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
Nigerians are furious that President Muhammadu Buhari has travelled to London for a ‘routine medical check-up’ and are venting their anger online.
A statement from the presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, had informed Nigerians on Monday that President Buhari would be travelling to London on Tuesday but he did not reveal Buhari’s condition. Adesina however assured Nigerians that the president would return home in the second week of April.
Many Nigerians have expressed their dismay at Buhari’s trips to the UK to seek medical care. Most say it is the failure of government to provide a functioning healthcare system that has turned many hospitals in the country to death chambers which is why Nigerian leaders travel abroad for treatment and even medical check-up.
Human rights activist Omoyele Sowore has advised Nigerians in the United Kingdom to occupy the London hospital where Buhari plans to have a medical checkup.
Many Nigerians took to Twitter to show their frustrations with the hashtag #Buharimustgo trending on Tuesday.
Buhari has visited London for medical reasons since he was first inaugurated President on May 29, 2015.
On February 5, 2016, Buhari embarks on a six-day medical vacation to London for an undisclosed condition.
He spent 104 days in 2017 after a long medical visit in London.
Buhari, a retired general who headed a military regime in the 1980s, has been dogged by speculation about his health since June last year when he first went to London for treatment.
He then spent nearly two months in London in January and February and said on his return in early March that he had “never been so ill”.
In 2017, there were a series of protests in Abuja demanding that Buhari return or quit if he was unable to go on.
Meanwhile, Nigerian doctors will begin their strike on April 1, to protest about delayed salaries among other vital issues.
The health practitioners are demanding, amongst other things, payment of all salaries arrears, review of the current hazard allowance to 50 percent of consolidated basic salaries of all health workers and payment of the outstanding COVID-19 inducement allowance especially in state-owned tertiary Institutions.
Kola Tella
