Buhari orders overseas treatment for ex-Nigerian vice-president

Nigeria

Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that an ailing former vice-president, Alex Ekwueme, be immediately flown abroad for treatment.

A November 3, 2017 press release signed by Garba Shehu, an assistant on media and publicity read in part: “The approval followed a brief the President received Friday on the medical condition of the former Vice-president.

“The approval covers the immediate charter of an air ambulance for the emergency movement and cost of treatment.”

Ekwueme was taken to hospital after reportedly collapsing at his Enugu residence. He is said to be in a coma and family have maintained he will be under close medical attention.

He served as Nigerian vice-president between 1979 to 1983 under the government of Shehu Shagari.

The 85-year-old was Nigeria’s fifth vice-president. Incidentally Buhari – then a military man as responsible for the overthrow of Shagari’s government.

Buhari, 74, belongs to the class of African leaders who have sought medical treatment abroad. He spent over 100 days seeking medical treatment in London.

He is listed along the likes of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Benin’s Patrice Talon, former Angolan president Eduardo dos Santos and Algeria’s Abdul Aziz Bouteflika.