A media
adviser to ailing Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has said he has no idea
who is bankrolling the president’s medical treatment in London.
Femi
Adesina, however, acknowledged that as a president, Buhari’s medical bill can
be footed by Nigeria.
“I do not
know who is paying, but as a president, he has a right to be treated by the
country,” Adesina, who is Buhari’s special adviser on media and publicity told
Channels TV on Monday night.
The Nigerian
president left the country on May 7 for London for a second of treatment for an
undisclosed ailment, transferring power to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to lead
the most populous African country.
He had
earlier left Nigeria on January 19 for London to “undergo routine medical
check-ups” during a short holiday. He only returned on March 10 after an
extended period of medical treatment.
He tacitly
acknowledged that he was very ill, telling his cabinet members that “I couldn’t
recall being so sick since I was a young man.” He also said he had “blood
transfusions, going to the laboratories and so on and so forth”.
But Adesina,
who was among the president’s media aides who visited him at the Abuja House in
London on Saturday, said he still did not know the true nature of his ailment.
The president, he said, offered no explanation either.
He, however,
insisted that the 74-year old Nigerian leader “had mended considerably.” He
also said his Saturday meeting with the Buhari was the first time he would
either see or speak with him since May 7 when he left the country.
The
president himself, according to a statement released on Saturday, said his
health had improved tremendously and was ready to return to Nigeria. But said
he would need clarifications from his doctors.
“I feel I
could go home, but the doctors are in charge. I’ve now learnt to obey orders,
rather than be obeyed,” President Buhari told his aides on Saturday.
0 Comments