Did Buhari Really Spend 6million Pounds to Remove Polyps from Nostrils?

 

In a report which went viral online over the weekend, a senior lecturer at the Department of Political Science, University of Ilorin, Dr. Lukman Saka, criticised the recent trip of President Muhammadu Buhari to the United Kingdom for medical treatment on one of his ear problems. 

 

According to a report by Vanguard, he said that checks at the presidency claimed that, the cost of the trip which includes aviation fuel, accommodation, allowances for aides and medical treatment amounts to about £6 milion. 

 

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Wednesday on the state of the nation, Dr. Saka said that, "this is the government that had been canvassing for ‎the blockage of wastage in the art of governance, now using public fund to fund foreign medical trip."

 

In an official statement in reaction to the above report, Garba Shehu, the senior special adviser to the president on media and publicity, took to his Facebook page, to address the reports.

 

Below is what he posted;

 

In Response to Prof. Farooq Kperogi

 

The disclosure on Prof. Farooq Kperogi's wall that President Muhammadu Buhari's ear treatment in the United Kingdom cost a whopping six million pounds must have shocked many of the respected scholar's followers.

 

The story reads like an incredible tale by moonlight that belongs to a different era, which fortunately is now history. That's when a fortunate lady saved USD15 million for medical treatment!

 

But was it possible that the account of this balanced journalism teacher was hacked?

 

I will give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

Given the austere president we have, Muhammadu Buhari would not have approved this amount if he was shown a six million Pounds bill. I won't be surprised if the President may have asked if the fat bill was for the purchase of a brand new pair of ears!

 

I'm prepared to share documents with Farooq, one of the brightest ever produced from the Bayero University Kano (BUK) that the whole treatment, including a follow-up visit by a specialist to Nigeria didn't cost 50,000 pounds (about N20.5m).

 

For the records, the administration advanced a higher sum, but the President's doctor returned the balance to the treasury.

 

Indeed, it's a New Day, and President Buhari's change mantra is real. Let no one confuse my fellow countrymen and women.