Fears grow Buhari may extend his London health trip beyond 10 days to treat nagging cough

FEARS have increased that President Muhammadu Buhari's 10-day medical trip to the UK may end up being extended as he is said to also be suffering from a cough which may also require an operations and extensive treatment.

 

Yesterday, President Buhari arrived in London for a 10-day break during which he will receive treatment on a nagging ear infection and recuperate amid the likelihood that he will have an operation. According to sources within the presidential villa, President Buhari is reported to be seriously ill with Meniere Disease that has hampered his hearing in his left ear.

 

However, according to US-based publication Sahara Reporters, President Buhari needs to undergo treatment for a terrible cough that has persisted longer than the ear infection. It also reported that that President Buhari would stay in Abuja House, the official residence of the Nigerian high commissioner to the United Kingdom during the visit.

 

Meanwhile, President Buhari has said there is no big deal in his having an ear-related infection, telling journalists at the airport in Abuja as he left, that everyone falls ill. He added that despite the infection, it would not stop him from performing his duties as the president of the country.

 

President Buhari added: “I have already told Nigerians that I am going for 10 days to get my ear checked. The National Assembly knows as they have been formally informed.”

 

Femi Adesina, President Buhari's spokesman, said: “The buzz going round the town is that the president is ill but ill’ will be a misnomer and is not the right word to use. The president is going for a 10-day rest and during that period he will see specialists who will look at his ear because he has been treating it locally for some time.

 

“Nigerian physicians have looked at it and now they have said you are going to UK, when you get there, let specialists look at the ear. They have treated it locally so it is not a question of whether the president is ill because if he is ill, it presupposes that there are certain things that he cannot do."

 

Also Mr Adesina said that as a human being, President Buhari was entitled to a vacation. He added that with the latest vacation, the president would have rested for only 15 days since he assumed office last May.

 

He urged Nigerians to pray for President Buhari so that God would take care of him and the country. According to Mr Adesina, rather than going into a frenzy, Nigerians should just show goodwill and patriotism and pray for President Buhari and wish him well.