Onochie: Presidential aide mocks critics over Buhari’s medical trips

Fiery presidential aide, Lauretta Onochie, has mocked critics by stating that President Muhammadu Buhari will not stop going abroad for treatment.

There has been an outrage within and outside Nigeria over Buhari’s medical trip abroad at a period when residents doctors are on strike in Nigeria.

Some protesters, who accused him of wasting taxpayers have been demonstrating in front of Abuja House, Nigeria’s Diplomatic Mission, in London.

In response to the protests, Onochie said no amount of wailing can stop Buhari from embarking on medical trips which he has been doing for years.

“Next year, President Muhammadu Buhari will go for a routine check-up. We have been here since 2016. It’s been the same wailing. So, the response will also be the same.

“At least, once a year, people across the world see their personal doctors, especially (the) one they have seen for about 40 years.

“Buhari won’t dump his doctor of about 40 years so that wailers can be happy. That’s blackmail. Thankfully, he doesn’t pay blackmailers. In 2016, I ran from one media house to the other, educating us on the psychology of the bond between a patient & his/her long-standing doctor.

“He went for check-up in 2017, 2018, 2019 & in 2020, just before the pandemic. Same wailing and same explanations.

“The fact remains that if Buhari chooses, he will go for checkups in 2022 & 2023. He will continue to go. It’s his choice to go or not to.

“I don’t know any man who will accept a different barber to cut his hair if the one he is used to, is not available.

“Wailing can’t take away his rights to see his personal doctors so wailers must get ready for two more years of wailing and fooling around. God bless Nigeria,” Onochie wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi, has stated that the three-month tenure extension granted to outgoing Inspector-General of Police, Muhammad Adamu was terminated following completion of the selection process for a new I-G.

Dingyadi has earlier announced the appointment of Deputy Inspector- General of Police (DIG) Usman Baba as Acting Inspector-General of Police.

The appointment of Usman was with immediate effect.

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Reacting to why the president did not allow the outgoing I-G to last the three months of his extension, the minister:

“The president is aware of this and you cannot take away that responsibility from him; he’s the one who is in charge of appointing or extending tenures.

”He has now decided to appoint a new person. So, please, allow him that responsibility and we cannot do anything about it,” he said.