By Attah Ede
Femi Adesina, former special adviser to former President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday said that, his former principal, the late former President, Muhammadu Buhari may not have survived his ill- health issues if he had failed to access foreign hospitals.
He further stated that Buhari’s relying solely on Nigerian hospitals for treatment couldn’t have kept him longer.
Adesina made the remark during a live programme on Channels TV on Tuesday in honour of the late president monitored by our correspondent.
Responding to criticisms over Buhari’s repeated medical trips to the United Kingdom while in office, Adesina defended the decision, saying it was a matter of survival.
“Buhari always had his medicals in London, even when he was not in the office. So it was not about the time he was president alone. He had always had it there.
“The UK doctors had been managing Buhari’s health before his election in 2015 and were well acquainted with his medical history, making it unwise to change medical teams mid-treatment” Adesina maintained.
He insisted that the decision to continue treatment abroad was based on professional expertise and the limitations of Nigeria’s healthcare system at the time.
“One has to be alive first to get certain things corrected or changed in the country. If Buhari had said he would do his medicals here as a show of patriotism or something, he could have long been dead because there may not be the expertise needed in the country,” he said.
“His survival and ability to lead the country were directly linked to the quality of care he received abroad.
Buhari needed to be alive to be able to lead the country to a point where we would have that expertise. So those who complained about his frequent medical trips abroad don’t know that the man needed to be alive first before you can make a change,” he stated.
