Here comes the consequence of my actions
Buhari’s former spokesman shares why the ex-president died in a foreign hospital
Good morning, Big Brains. Yesterday, I decided to channel my inner fitness influencers by “eating my greens,” but I ended up cooking one pot of okro soup and another pot of efo riro. The fitness instructions were unclear, but I think I nailed it.
- Margaret
Word count: ~ 1, 200
Reading time ~ 7 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
Buhari’s former spokesman shares why the ex-president died in a foreign hospital
Akpabio wants the court to stop Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan from resuming in the Senate
The Big Deal
Buhari’s former spokesman shares why the ex-president died in a foreign hospital
Former President Muhammadu Buhari may have been laid to rest yesterday, but questions about his death are still on many people’s minds. To offer some clarity to Nigerians, his former presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, took it upon himself to participate in a Q&A session with Channels Television on Tuesday, July 15.
He answered one of the biggest questions Nigerians have been asking: Why did the former president die in London? To Adesina, it was more of a “why not?” question because according to him, Buhari might have died much earlier if he had relied on Nigerian hospitals. He also revealed that the former president had been receiving treatment in London long before he assumed office in 2015, and it only made sense for him to continue with doctors already familiar with his medical history.
He acknowledged that critics were questioning why Buhari didn’t return to Nigeria for treatment, especially as a leader who once promised to fix the country’s health sector. But in his words, some Nigerian hospitals simply didn’t have the facilities or expertise needed for the kind of care Buhari required.
Why is this a big deal?
You can question why our former president didn’t rely on his country’s healthcare system, even when he was president, but one topic you’d agree with Adesina on is the quality of the healthcare system in question.
During Buhari’s presidency, about 10,000 doctors relocated to the UK, the US, Canada, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia, with unpaid salaries and outdated hospital equipment being the primary inspiration behind each move.
The budget allocations to the healthcare sector during the former president’s rule also didn’t reflect his commitment to improving it. In 2018, for example, only 4% of the national budget was allocated to the sector. And during the peak of COVID-19 in 2020, the administration allocated only 4.6% of the national budget to healthcare.
One of the worst effects of these events is Nigeria’s current one doctor to 10,000 patients ratio. During his presidency, Buhari spent 225 days on medical trips, visiting at least 40 countries for medical intervention — a luxury that the average citizen of the country could not afford at the time.
If it is true that the former president would have died sooner if he relied on the Nigerian healthcare system, where does that leave regular Nigerians, who have no choice but to suffer the consequences of past and present presidents’ actions?
Akpabio wants the court to stop Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan from resuming in the Senate
Real haters are up again, and yes, we are talking about you-know-who — Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
The Senate President has decided to escalate the Akpoti-Uduaghan vs. Akpabio drama by dragging the matter to the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
In case you missed it, on Friday, July 4, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ruled against Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension, calling it “illegal, excessive,” and without “solid ground.”
But Akpabio and his legal team decided to stand on controversial business on Monday, July 14, arguing that the judge had no constitutional right to meddle in what the Senate president himself calls “internal Senate business.” According to him, things like suspensions fall strictly under the Senate’s authority and are shielded by law from any form of judicial interference. He backed up his claims with receipts from Section 251 of the 1999 Constitution and the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act.
Akpabio is also mad that the court didn’t take his initial objections seriously, especially the part where he said the Kogi Central senator should have followed Senate processes (like going to the Committee on Ethics and Privileges) before taking the matter to court. He also feels the judge overstepped by merging different legal requests and handing out what he called “free legal advice” on how the Senate should handle its own affairs.
Another big part of Akpabio’s argument is that Akpoti-Uduaghan didn’t follow a legal technicality, which involves serving written notice to the Clerk of the National Assembly three months before filing her legal suit. Without that, he claims, the whole case should’ve been dead on arrival.
He’s now asking the Court of Appeal to cancel the earlier ruling and declare that the courts should stay out of the National Assembly’s internal matters.
Whether the Court of Appeal will match Akpabio’s “mind your business” energy or uphold Justice Nyako’s ruling remains to be seen.
Your next big read
→Remembering Buhari: Into the Ex-President’s Rocky Relationship With Young Nigerians: On Sunday, July 13, the former President breathed his last at a London clinic after weeks of illness. Mixed reactions have trailed the news of his death as Nigerians across demographics recount what he was to them.
→10 Viral Memes Muhammadu Buhari Gave Us As President: From long silences that said too much, to tone-deaf quotes like “I’m for everybody and for nobody” or “Lazy Nigerian youths,” the former Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari who passed away on Sunday July 13, 2025, gave Nigerians not just governance (for better or worse), but many golden meme-fied moments.
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Rest in peace (if necessary)
One unspoken and passed-down rule in the “Life in Nigeria 101” book is to publicly announce that every dead person lived a good life, even if this cannot be proven. Nigerian youths seem to be bending that rule following the death of former President Muhammadu Buhari, but our lawmakers are keeping the tradition alive.