By Ihechi Enyinnaya
President Muhammadu Buhari will on Tuesday proceed to London, the United Kingdom for a routine medical check-up.
This was announced in a statement issued on Monday night by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.
Before departing the country for the UK, President Buhari would meet with the security chiefs in the morning.
He is expected back in Nigeria during the second week of April 2021.
President Buhari had embarked on several medical trips between 2015 and 2019. During one of his trips in 2017, he spent 103 days in London with the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, acting as the president then.
His long absence sparked rumours that he had passed on – speculations which were denied by the presidency.
History of a globe trotter
President Buhari has visited 40 countries, spending 407 days. Out of these, his trip to London, the United Kingdom, where he usually goes for medical treatment, have taken 242 days.
He was in Saudi Arabia twice in May this year. He was there between May 16 and 21 for the lesser hajj. On May 30, hours after he was sworn in for the second term, he left the country for Saudi Arabia for 14th summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), hosted by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. He returned to the country on June 2.
On November 2, Buhari left the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the UK again after attending the Economic Forum of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh and performing the Umrah (lesser pilgrimage) on a private visit.
Earlier in 2019, Buhari was on a 10-day private visit to the UK from April 25 to May 5. Daily Trust on Sunday checks revealed that the president was in the UK in 2018 from April 9 to 21 on his annual leave. In May, he had a technical stop-over there. Between May 8 and 11, the president was also there. Similarly, he was there from August 3 to 18.
In 2017, the president was there from January 19 to March 10 on medical leave. He handed over the affairs of the country to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who acted throughout the period. Two months after he returned to the country, he went back and spent 104 days, from May 8 to August 19.
Buhari was in the UK between February 5 and 10 in 2016 on vacation. From May 13 to 15 of the same year, he was there for an anti-corruption summit. Also in 2016, the president was in the UK for treatment of an ear infection.
The foreign trips have already taken him to China, India, Jordan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Chad, France, Turkey, Poland, Malta, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Ghana.
Other countries visited are; Cameroon, the Gambia, Niger Republic, Mali, Qatar, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Germany, Senegal, Ethiopia, Egypt and Kenya.