Dubai Medical Trip: Those Insulting Me Are Nigeria's Real Enemies

First Lady, Aisha Buhari has slammed those who lambasted her for calling for better health services in Nigeria shortly after returning from a medical trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Aisha Buhari returned to Nigeria on Saturday after visiting the Middle Eastern nation aboard a Presidential Jet allegedly to treat severe neck pain.

In an Instagram post, the vocal First Lady said, “I recall hosting the private healthcare providers earlier in the year and we had a very productive engagement where the issue of building the capacity of Nigeria health sector was the major focus, and funding was discovered to be the major challenge.

“I therefore call on the healthcare providers to take the advantage of the Federal Government’s initiative through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) guidelines for the operation of NGN100 Billion Credit Support for the Healthcare Sector as was released recently contained in a circular dated March 25, 2020, to the Commercial Banks.

“This will no doubt help in building and expanding the capacity of the Nigerian health sector and ultimately reduce medical trips and tourism outside the Country.”

Many Nigerians expressed disappointment in her comment, saying she should put pressure on her husband, President Muhammadu Buhari, to revamp the health sector instead of complaining to helpless citizens.

The First Lady’s spokesman, Aliyu Abdullahi however berated the critics for the attacks in a Monday tweet.

“Those abusing the 1st Lady @aishambuhari for daring to own and speak up on her truth and called for smth to be done to reduce medical tourism based on her recent experience where she sought for medical treatment outside the country are the real enemies of our country & hypocrites,” Abdullahi tweeted.

“Past/present political leaders and their families did/do this all the time but they will never own up to it, talk less of admitting something is wrong with our healthcare system and needs fixing. They simply keep/kept mute, or tell lies except where something goes wrong.

“But not this First Lady, not @aishambuhari, she will rather receive the bashing that comes with speaking up than maintain a deafening silence even where she has a choice to remain quite, a right to her privacy. This is the stuff she’s made up of, transparency and courage.”