President Muhammadu Buhari allegedly cancelled his scheduled trip to Dakar, Senegal

President Muhammadu Buhari has allegedly cancelled his scheduled trip to Dakar, Senegal, for the 49th extra-ordinary summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Earlier this week, Buhari suddenly cancelled his widely publicized trip to Ogoni land to launch the clean-up exercise in the region. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo represented him at the event. Before then, the president had also called off his 2-day trips to Lagos state, citing scheduling difficulties. However, Garba Shehu, the president’s senior special assistant on media and publicity, revealed that Buhari would still embark on the visit after Ramadan. “The vice president will only inaugurate some of the projects. The president will still embark on the trip after Ramadan to inaugurate the remaining projects,” he said.


Meanwhile, the presidency sources told The Will on Thursday, June 2, that Buhari may have directed Osinbajo to represent him at the one-day ECOWAS summit scheduled for Friday, June 3. According to other sources familiar with the development, the president shelved his Dakar trip to avoid insinuation that he only prefers to do trips to international destinations. “The president cares about Nigerians and their feelings… He is a very sensitive leader. Because he didn’t make the Lagos and Rivers trips he is also shelving the Senegal trip so that he doesn’t seem insensitive to the issues plaguing the nation,” one of our sources said.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party has alleged that Buhari is seriously ill and receiving treatment secretly at the presidential villa in Abuja. The opposition party claimed that the president is likely to be flown out of the country for medical treatment abroad on the guise of a foreign trip.