…Says President-elect should rest in Lagos if indeed he built the state

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Tuesday, says the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, has shown the tendency to take after President Muhammadu Buhari who has a knack for medical trips overseas.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, frowned at the action of the two leaders who claimed to have built Nigeria but fly out at every given opportunity to use standard healthcare facilities in United Kingdom, France and other parts of Europe.

The group said it is shameful that Tinubu, who claimed to have built up Lagos to European standards as Governor, between 1999 and 2007, and by installing successive Governors 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 have spent at least 300 days away from the country on medical trips, especially in the United Kingdom, 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 principal’s 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 he was away.

In 2021, Tinubu was away to 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 to the country on Monday, Tinubu said he was hale and hearty and ready for the task ahead.

However, HURIWA 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 to 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, 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 underdevelopment.

“Instances abound everywhere 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.”

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