You’re replicating Buhari’s distasteful foreign medical trips, HURIWA tells Tinubu

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), yesterday, took a swipe on recent medical trips by President-elect Bola Tinubu, stressing that he has shown the tendency to take after President Muhammadu Buhari, who has a knack for similar venture.

In a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the group said: “It is shameful that Tinubu, who claimed to have developed Lagos to European standards as governor between 1999 and 2007 and installed successors till date, could not take his ‘deserved rest’ in Lagos or use healthcare facilities in the state, but have to go to the UK and France for medical checkups, just like his predecessor, President Buhari, who has spent at least 300 days away from the country on medical trips, especially in UK, since assuming office in May 2015.”

Tinubu had, on Monday, returned to Nigeria from France after being officially out of the country since March 22, when his spokesman, Tunde Rahman, released a statement, following a controversy that surrounded his whereabouts.

Rahman had said his principal travelled to Paris in France to rest and observe the lesser hajj, but no photo of the President-elect was made public while away.

In 2021, Tinubu was away in the United Kingdom for over three months, where he underwent surgery and therapy for a knee injury. He subsequently travelled to the UK and Paris a few times in 2022.

Upon his return, Tinubu said he is hale and hearty and ready for the task ahead.

However, HURIWA’s Onwubiko said: “Is the President-elect really hale and hearty and ready for the task of steering the ship of a country as big as Nigeria with over 200 million people? This is not for us to answer, but only time will tell.

“We welcome Tinubu back into the country, but condemn the habit of the President-elect going to European soil to rest, while Nigeria has some of the most viable and finest tourism sites in Bauchi, Taraba, Cross Rivers, Enugu and natural waterfalls all over the country.”
“Why does the President-elect go to France and UK meandering and wandering around places that those people sacrificed to build, whereas Nigerian leaders present and past are busy lining their pockets with filthy lucre from the commonwealth of Nigeria, impoverishing the country and causing gross under-development.

“Instances abound where leaders stay home and undergo surgeries or other health needs, but Nigerian leaders are famous globetrotters seeking world-class health needs that they have failed to develop in their country. This is shameful.

“Tinubu must spare Nigerians the Muhammadu Buhari’s culture of spending months in hospital in the UK. As rumoured, if Tinubu is unwell, he should do us a favour by declining to be sworn in. May affliction never arise twice for Nigeria.”