TheCable

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, says those criticising President Muhammadu Buhari for seeking medical care abroad are out to de-market him.

The minister, in an interview with NAN in Washington, on Wednesday, said the President has the right to choose his physician and that “he is not the first head of state going abroad for treatment’’.

“As minister of information and culture today, if I have had a history of using a particular doctor in my life and I have confidence in him, I don’t think the fact that I am now a minister will change that,” he said.

“Irrespective of the nationality of that doctor, it is my personal decision to choose the doctor to use.

“Like I explained to them, he is not the only head of state that have gone abroad for treatment.

“If Mr president has a personal physician for over 30 years, who understands his case and has been managing him, why will it be an issue of contention to seek medical attention from him.

“It will not be right to say that because of what people are going to say, he has to stay in Nigeria to seek treatment.”

The minister berated those criticising the president’s action of seeking medical attention abroad, saying it is an inconsequential attempt to de-market him.

He said in spite of the challenges, the nation’s health sector is not in comatose to warrant a vote of no confidence on the sector.

Mohammed added that even with the state of the sector, the World Health Organisation (WHO) rated Nigeria fourth in terms of national response to COVID-19.