Femi Falana, human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on Thursday criticised President Muhammadu Buhari over his trip to the United Kingdom for medical treatment.
Falana speaking on Channels Tv said Buhari’s treatment abroad was exposing Nigeria to ridicule in the international community.
According to him, it is illegal for the president to use public funds to treat himself abroad while millions of Nigerians are dying due to strikes by doctors and ill-equipped hospitals.
“While I wish the president well and a quick recovery, as a nation these medical trips by the president and the rich expose our country to ridicule which we cannot justify that a nation of enormous resources cannot fix a few hospitals to the extent that everybody can be treated in Nigeria.
“A few years ago, I was compelled to go to court with a view to restraining public officials from being allowed to go abroad for treatment at our collective expense. Even though court said I had no locus standi, the case is on appeal.
“We must get to that level whereby if you occupy a public office in Nigeria, you cannot go abroad for medical treatment, you cannot educate your children abroad. Unless we get to that state, we are not going to fix our hospitals and we won’t fix our schools. It is not allowed.
“I can even go further to say it is discriminatory and illegal for anybody to use public funds to treat himself while majority of people are dying in public hospitals that are not maintained.
“There is equality before the law. So, you can’t take the rich out of town while the poor in their millions are dying in ill-equipped hospitals” he said.
