Ex-VP slams Buhari over paying medical bills of blind corps member

Presidential aspirant, Atiku Abubakar, slammed President Muhammadu Buhari over his decision to personally fund the medical treatment of a visually-impaired member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

The president's Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, had disclosed on Wednesday, August 22, 2018, that the president made the decision to assist 28-year-old Okenala Ahmed,who's currently deployed in the president's Daura hometown, when corps members paid him a visit as part of this year's Eid-el-Kabir celebrations.

Even though Atiku praised the president's decision to help Ahmed, he said he wouldn't have had to if he had invested the nation's health sector instead.

Taking to his Twitter account on Thursday, August 23, the former vice president said Buhari should have spent the medical bills he used in medical trips abroad to improve Nigeria's healthcare.

He posted, "I commend @NGRPresident @MBuhari for paying medical bills of a blind corps member 5 months to the 2019 election, but I remind him that if he had invested the public funds he spends on his London medicals on public healthcare, he wouldn't need to do this."

President Buhari has been constantly criticised for his numerous trips abroad as he's been to London several times to treat an undisclosed illness. With the president seeking re-election in the 2019 presidential election, the state of his health is expected to constantly come under question.

Atiku is one of the favourites to be Buhari's biggest challenger next year if he wins the ticket of the People's Democratic Party (PDP).