The Presidency recently announced that President Muhammadu Buhari will be going to London on a medical trip, news that lots of Nigerians took with mixed feelings – considering how many times he has embarked on a foreign trip for medical reasons.
Here we have chronicled all the times he has jetted off abroad for one medical reason or the other since he first became President in 2015.
On June 6 2016 Buhari left Nigeria for his first medical vacation. He was away on a 10-day medical trip to London to treat an ear infection. He extended his trip by 3 days to rest, returning on June 19, 2016.
On January 19, 2017 President Buhari left Nigeria to the United Kingdom on medical leave, returning on March 10 after spending 51 days out of the country!
On May 8, 2017 Buhari travelled to the United Kingdom for medical attention and was there till till August 19, 2017. This time he spent a whooping 104 days, a record which surpassed that of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.
On September 21, 2017 he travelled from the US to the UK for medical purposes and returned to Abuja on September 25, 2017.
On May 8, 2018, four days after returning from the United States where he met President Donald Trump Buhari returned to the UK for medical reasons and returned on May 11, 2018.
On April 25, 2019 Buhari travelled to the UK for what his office called ‘a private trip’ which lasted for 10 days.
March 30, 2021 President Buhari jetted off to London for medical checkup after having barely travelled out of the country in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Officials did not state how long he was going to be on the trip.
