Buhari to visit London on ‘private visit’

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is set to visit London for a private visit, a government statement said on Thursday morning.

A statement by Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said the president will first make an official visit to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, before leaving for the United Kingdom.

“The President is scheduled to depart for Maiduguri, the Borno State capital for another official visit Thursday,” Adesina said.

Adesina said the president will be commissioning some “developmental projects especially in the sectors of education, healthcare and roads” in the state.

“At the end of the visit, President Buhari will be proceeding to the United Kingdom on a private visit.”

“He is expected to return to Nigeria on May 5, 2019,” he added

It’s Buhari’s eleventh trip to London since his inauguration in 2015. A number of the president’s to London were medical trips.

The first medical trip to London, on June 6, 2016, which lasted for 10 days, was over an ear infection, while the second lasted 51 days for an undisclosed ailment. He was away for 104 days, from May 8, 2017 till August 19, 2017, for his third medical trip to the UK.

On September 21, he left from the US to the UK for the fourth medical trip and returned to Nigeria on September 25, 2017.

In his fifth medical trip to London, Buhari was in the UK for medical reasons on May 8, 2018, and he returned on May 11.

Despite his lengthy stays at the UK the president’s ailments are undisclosed.

The president’s health has remained a hot-button issue in the country as a lack of information from the presidency has opened to door to intense speculation.