Nigerian President-elect Bola Tinubu is Sick, Flown Abroad for Treatment

Nigerian President-elect Bola Tinubu is sick and has been flown abroad for medical treatment.

Newsone reports that former Lagos State governor, who is Nigeria’s ‘president-elect’, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Bola Tinubu, has been flown abroad on a secret trip overnight, according to two of his associates.

A report monitored on SaharaReporters by Newsone Nigeria, says Tinubu fell ill after the “hectic” electioneering that led to his emergence as the ‘President-elect’ and the tension that built up ahead of the March 18 Lagos State governorship and House of Assembly elections where he also voted.

Quoting authoritative sources, the report said Tinubu travelled to Europe to seek medical care Tuesday night, March 21, the same day Peter Obi’s petition against his emergence as Nigeria’s President made the headlines in the Nigerian media.

One of the sources close to Tinubu revealed that “Tinubu has left for Europe for medical care. He fell ill after voting on Saturday during the Lagos guber election. He was attended to by local doctors but he has left for Europe for proper medical care.” 

“He initially said his doctors should be brought down to Nigeria for him, and that when things die down, he would leave. But I’ve confirmed that he left last night (Tuesday night) because he is definitely ill,” another source confirmed.

“His plane Falcon 9X with registration number VP-CBT can’t be tracked by air flight tracking websites.”

Indeed, efforts made by SaharaReporters to track the flight came back with: “VP-CBT – Unknown Owner (Cayman Islands (UK) This aircraft (VP-CBT) is not available for public tracking per request from the owner/operator.

Despite the report of his illness, his spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, said in a message to Peoples Gazette that his principal travelled abroad to rest and will soon return to the country.

“He travelled to rest after the hectic electioneering,” Mr Onanuga said. “Will soon return home.”

The 70-year-old Tinubu could find himself explaining yet again his medical status that has drawn keen interest from a sceptical public, no thanks to his several emergency trips abroad in recent years, including in late January 2022 when he was rushed to London while the primary campaign was underway.

Tinubu appeared to urinate on himself while visiting a prominent traditional ruler in the country’s southwest shortly after returning from the London trip,  In September 2022, he was again in London, where he reportedly spent several weeks receiving treatments from several doctors. He also strapped a urine bag on himself during the trip.

Despite several indications that Tinubu might not be in good health, including his repeated, the President-elect has maintained that he is physically and mentally fit to govern.

The former Lagos state governor admitted at a point that he might lack physical strength but said his mental capacity would be sufficient to pilot the nation’s affairs.

In a related development, Newsone Nigeria reports that the Labour Party and its Presidential candidate for the 2023 Presidential Election, Peter Obi are seeking to disqualify Tinubu on account of his drug-related forfeiture in the United States of America (USA).

Meanwhile, Newsone reports that Tinubu is inheriting Nigeria’s over 200 million people from Muhammadu Buhari, the incumbent who makes regular trips to London to treat undisclosed ailments. At several points in his eight-year tenure, Buhari spent several months on a single trip to London. He has never publicly acknowledged the nature of his illness and how much of state resources he used.