Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to pass through London, where he has spent a combined five months on medical leave this year, on his way back home from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), his spokesperson said.
Buhari will leave Nigeria for New York on Sunday, his first foreign trip since returning to Abuja on August 19 from the UK where he went to get treatment for an unspecified illness.
Spokesman Femi Adesina said Buhari would hold a lunch meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders, adding: “President Buhari will transit through London on his way back to the country.”
Buhari will be accompanied on the trip by top cabinet ministers and the governors of three states.
Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama told reporters at the United Nations in New York on Friday that Buhari was in “very good health” and “back to what he was before.”
“We had a very long cabinet meeting two days ago and he was in excellent form in every way possible,” Onyeama said. “He’s really leading, he’s very, very strong and he’s back to his very punishing schedule so it’s just fantastic.”
Adesina however declined to comment on whether the president will have medical treatment during his London stopover.
Unlike his first return to Nigeria in March after spending two months in London, the president has been able to chair cabinet meetings and resume his duties.
Following that first stint, the president reduced his working hours and could only work from his home office, not being able to chair cabinet meetings.
The presidency has been releasing a flurry of photos of Buhari’s engagements since his August return, proving that he is fit enough to partake his presidential functions.
