Former presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, has said that his former principal, Muhammadu Buhari, might have died much earlier if he had relied on Nigerian hospitals for medical treatment.
Speaking during a televised interview on Tuesday as part of coverage for Buhari’s funeral, Adesina addressed criticisms surrounding the former president’s death in a London hospital. He explained that Buhari had been using UK hospitals for years—even before his presidency—and had chosen to continue with the same medical team due to their deep understanding of his medical history.
“The doctors in London already knew his medical background,” Adesina said. “It would have been unwise to change them just to prove a point. Some of our hospitals here lack the facilities and expertise required for his kind of treatment.”
He added that the decision to stick with foreign medical care was more about survival than optics.
“You have to be alive first to make a difference,” he noted. “If he had insisted on using local hospitals just to make a statement, he might have died long ago. It wasn’t about showmanship—it was about staying alive.”