Buhari's aide tells Nigerians to stop crying about London trips

President Muhammadu Buhari's aide, Lauretta Onochie, has told Nigerians to stop worrying about his medical trips abroad because he won't stop.

The president flew to London, United Kingdom last week for a routine medical check-up with his foreign doctors.

His medical trips have proved controversial in the past when he stayed in London for extended periods, fueling speculations that he was too ill to lead the country.

Onochie, in a series of tweets on Wednesday, April 7, 2021, said the public reaction to the president's latest trip has 'been the same wailing'.

She said it simply makes no sense for her principal to dump the same personal doctors he has used for decades just because of his position.

Onochie, a controversial figure in the presidency, said the president will not succumb to blackmail and will continue to go for check-ups abroad until the expiry of his tenure in two years.

"I don't know any man who will accept a different barber to cut his hair if the one he is used to, is not available.

"Wailing can't take away his rights to see his personal doctors so wailers must get ready for two more years of wailing and fooling around," she tweeted.

Buhari has travelled to London on numerous occasions for medical reasons since he was sworn in as president in 2015, spending over 150 days isolated from Nigerians.

The 78-year-old had been a long-term critic of medical tourism before he occupied his position, but has become a symbol of the practice which many consider an indictment of Nigeria's crumbling health system.

Buhari last week travelled just days before resident doctors commenced a strike action over poor welfare packages, unpaid salaries, among other things.