UPDATED: Buhari returns to Nigeria after London ‘rest’

President Muhammadu Buhari has returned to Abuja after weeks in London for medical consultation.

The presidential aircraft conveying Mr Buhari and some of his aides landed at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja at about 4.45 p.m.

Those at the airport to welcome the president included the Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Muhammed Bello, and the National Security Adviser to the President, Babagana Monguno.

Others were the service chiefs, acting Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali, the Director-General, National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufa’i, the Director General of the State Securitt Services, Yusuf Bichi and other presidential aides.

President, Buhari, after a brief welcoming ceremony at the airport, boarded a presidential helicopter that conveyed him to the Presidential Villa.

President Buhari had on March 30 departed Abuja for London, United Kingdom, for routine medical check-up.

The president has been criticised by many Nigerians for travelling for medical treatment at a time resident doctors in the country were preparing for a nationwide strike. The doctors commenced the strike two days after the president’s trip. They have since suspended the strike.

While Mr Buhari was airborne on March 30, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lashed at him, saying his medical trip abroad was a direct indictment of his presidency over its failure to fix the country’s healthcare system.

In a statement by its spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP said it was worrisome that under Mr Buhari, even the highly-rated State House Clinic had become moribund that it could not provide medical check-up for the president.

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The opposition party said although it had nothing against any person, including Mr Buhari seeking medical services abroad, it was worried that “the Buhari presidency is taking no decisive steps to fix our healthcare system, ostensibly because Mr President can afford overseas medical treatment at taxpayers’ expense.”

It advised the president to think of “millions of Nigerians cannot afford overseas treatment and have become despondent by his failure to take decisive steps to address our national healthcare needs”.

On March 3, a group led by a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, organised a protest in London, an action they said was conceived to harass Mr Buhari out of the United Kingdom.