President Muhammadu Buhari has arrived in Abuja from London, England, where he had been receiving dental care in the previous week.
Buhari’s Gulfstream aircraft landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja’s Presidential wing.
The President’s NAF 001 carrier was flown to Boeing’s maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Seattle, Washington, on 30 April for a heavy maintenance visit or D Check.
The Nigerian President has travelled aboard another plane from the Presidential Air Fleet in the last two weeks, including his trip to London on May 3 to attend the crowning of King Charles III and the Queen Consort, Camilla.
The presidency announced that Buhari’s stay was prolonged by one week for dental work despite the trip’s original five-day plan.
He “will remain in London, the United Kingdom, for an additional week, based on the advice of his dentist, who has started attending to him,” a statement signed by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, revealed late Tuesday, May 9.
Since taking office in 2015, he has travelled for medical treatment for at least 232 days.
Eight months after taking office, on February 5, 2016, the President left on his first medical visit to London, England. He stayed there for six days, from February 5 to February 10, 2016.
Four months later, on June 6, 2016, Buhari underwent his second medical procedure. He treated an unidentified ear infection for ten days before taking three additional days off. On June 19, 2016, he returned.
The President left on his second-longest medical trip on January 19, 2017. 50 days later, on March 10, 2017, he arrived back in Abuja.
The President travelled to London for his longest-ever medical visit in May of that year lasting 104 days.
The President did not travel to London for a subsequent medical examination until May of 2018, when he spent four days there for “medical review.” This was a year later.
Buhari left for London once more in late March 2021 for a “routine medical check-up” that lasted 15 days.
His visit coincided with a labour dispute in the healthcare industry, which led to the beginning of an indefinite strike by members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors over unpaid benefits.
The President flew to London on March 6, 2022, for a 12-day, two-week medical visit.
Earlier, Buhari was supposed to travel to London from Nairobi, Kenya, where he attended the United Nations Environmental Program at 50.
He did, however, returned to Nigeria on Friday March 4 but left for London on Sunday, March 6.
Earlier, the president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, had announced that Buhari would proceed to London from Kenya for “routine medical checks that will last for a maximum of two weeks.”
The President left Owerri, the capital of Imo State, for London on October 31, 2022, for a second, roughly two-week-long medical examination. The nation welcomed him back on November 13, 2022.
The President’s Spokesman has justified Buhari’s overseas hospital stays by claiming that he “has used the same medical team for about 40 years.”
Adesina contends that it is best for the President to continue with a team that is familiar with his medical background.
