FLASHBACK: In 2016, Buhari Banned Medical Tourism. EFCC Later Froze Patience Jonathan’s $15m for Medical Bill
Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the late former president Muhammadu Buhari, claimed on Tuesday that his principal’s death would have come sooner if he had entrusted his health to Nigerian hospitals.
While Adesina claimed that Buhari needed time to fix the country’s healthcare, the former president did say on April 28, 2016, that his government would no longer sponsor medical trips abroad for government officials.
Isaac Adewole, Minister of Health at the time, was representing Buhari at the opening ceremony of the 56th Annual General Conference and Delegates’ Meeting of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in Sokoto.
There, Adewole said, “While this administration will not deny anyone of his or her fundamental human rights, we will certainly not encourage expending Nigerian hard-earned resources on any government official seeking medical care abroad, when such can be handled in Nigeria.”
Two months later, Buhari travelled to the UK on June 6, 2016, for what Adesina described as ‘precautionary’ treatment for a persistent ear infection. At the time, Adesina also said his principal had been consulting the London-based doctors since the 1970s.
By December 4, 2022, Buhari had spent 225 days outside Nigeria for medical reasons alone.
In March 2021, the then-president was in London for 15 days while members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) were protesting unpaid allowances.
During these medical trips, it was unclear how much the federal government was spending on his health, but in 2017, when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) froze four Skye Bank accounts, they learnt $15 million was set aside for the medical bills of former first lady Patience Jonathan.
These companies, Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited, Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Globus Integrated Service Limited, were in the names of a houseboy, a driver and other domestic workers of Waripamowei Dudafa, a former Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan.
Patience wrote to the EFCC to say $15 million in the accounts belonged to her and was set aside for medical treatment. She said she underwent eight surgeries in February 2013.
The anti-graft agency said the recovered sum was part of an investigation into fraudulent activities, and it would not hand the money over to Jonathan as her details were not linked to the accounts.
