The Peoples Democratic Party and the Coalition of United Political Parties on Thursday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to disclose his reason for embarking on a 10-day trip to the United Kingdom.
They said it was wrong for the President to embark on a journey without telling Nigerians what he would do while away.
Their reactions followed a statement from the Presidency that President Muhammadu would travel to the UK on Thursday on a “private visit.”
The President, who was on an official visit to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, on Thursday, was expected to travel to the UK after the trip to the north-eastern state. He will be away till May 5.
Due to this, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo presided over the Federal Executive Council meeting where the Federal Government approved N52bn for the electronic monitoring of Nigeria’s borders with neighbouring countries.
The statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, stated, “Further to the official visit by President Muhammadu Buhari to Lagos on Wednesday where he inaugurated a number of projects executed by the state government, the President is scheduled to depart for Maiduguri, the Borno State capital for another official visit on Thursday.
“He is expected to inaugurate developmental projects especially in the sectors of education, health care and roads.
“At the end of the visit, President Buhari will be proceeding to the United Kingdom on a private visit. He is expected to return to Nigeria on May 5, 2019.”
However, the National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, who spoke with one of our correspondents, said it was improper for the President to travel with public funds but fail to “disclose his movements.”
He said it would be wrong for the President to allow Nigerians to be speculating on whether he (the President) was attending to his health or not.
Secondus said, “The President is not travelling as an individual. He is travelling as the President of Nigeria who was elected by Nigerians in 2015 to lead them.
“He is not going to the UK on a commercial airline; but on a presidential jet that is being maintained by taxpayers. Nigerians are going to be responsible for his welfare and the welfare of those who are going with him.
Source: Punch Newspaper.
