Buhari Not Only President Visiting Foreign Doctors – Lai Mohammed

Nigeria’s information minister, Lai Mohammed, has again flayed those criticising President Muhammadu Buhari for patronising medical doctors in foreign countries.

Mohammed said there was nothing wrong if Buhari visits foreign countries to improve his health as no law forbids it.

The minister was responding to critics who have countless times asked the president to lead by example by using Nigerian doctors and facilities instead spending scarce resources on overseas medical trips.

“Like I explained to them, he is not the only head of state that have gone abroad for treatment,” Mohammed told NAN during an interview on Wednesday in the United States.

“If Mr president has a personal physician for over 30 years, who understands his case and has been managing him, why will it be an issue of contention to seek medical attention from him.

“It will not be right to say that because of what people are going to say, he has to stay in Nigeria to seek treatment,” he said.

Mohammed added that, “As minister of information and culture today, if I have had a history of using a particular doctor in my life and I have confidence in him, I don’t think the fact that I am now a minister will change that.

“Irrespective of the nationality of that doctor, it is my personal decision to choose the doctor to use.”

Buhari had during one of his medical trips in 2017 stayed for more than 100 days in London, the United Kingdom.

The president, on August 13, 2021, returned from a two-week visit to London where he attended an education summit and stayed back to see his doctors.

The Presidency, which typically describes the trips as “routine medical check-ups”, recently explained that “President Buhari has used the same medical team for about 40 years”.