Adesina made this statement during an interview with Channels Television ahead of Buhari’s burial in Daura, Katsina State.
Former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Femi Adesina has revealed why the former president patronized foreign hospitals.
According to him, the late president might have died long ago had he relied solely on Nigeria’s healthcare system.
Adesina made this statement during an interview with Channels Television ahead of Buhari’s burial in Daura, Katsina State.
According to him, Buhari had always received medical treatment in London, even before assuming office as president in 2015.
“Like I said, he always had his medicals in London, even when he was not in office. So it was not about the time he was president alone,” Adesina said.
He defended the former president’s decision to seek medical care abroad, stating that it was a matter of survival rather than showmanship.
“If he had said, ‘I will do my medicals in Nigeria just as a show-off or something,’ he could have long been dead because there may not be the expertise needed in the country,” Adesina added.
He emphasized the importance of staying alive to enact meaningful change, noting: “You have to be alive first to get certain things changed or corrected in your country.”
The former presidential aide also criticized those who condemned Buhari’s frequent medical trips abroad, arguing that critics often overlook the fact that change requires life and time.
“Those who believably talk of going abroad, going abroad — they don’t know that a man needs to be alive first before he can effect a change,” he stated.
Buhari died on Sunday at the age of 82 at a London clinic, where he had been receiving treatment. He will be buried today in his hometown of Daura, Katsina State.