World enews: At Least Omicron COVID-19 Virus Will Prevent Junketing Buhari From Travelling Around World

Lere Olayinka, the spokesman for former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose has mocked President Muhammadu Buhari, saying the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus will stop the President from junketing across the globe.

The Omicron variant was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from South Africa on 24th November 2021. And the WHO designated it two days later as a variant of concern and named it Omicron, the 15th letter in the Greek alphabet.

The variant has an unusually large number of mutations, several of which are novel, and a significant number of which affect the spike protein targeted by most COVID-19 vaccines at the time of discovering the Omicron variant.

SaharaReporters had reported that the Nigerian president has been junketing across the world in the last three months.

Buhari in September 2021 travelled to New York, US to participate in the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Then on October 3, President Buhari left for Ethiopia to attend the inauguration of the country’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for a second five-year term in office.

He was also in Saudi Arabia on October 24 for an investment conference organised by the Future Investment Initiative Institute and lesser Hajj in Madinah and Makkah.

Two days after returning to Nigeria from Saudi Arabia, Buhari left the country for Glasgow to participate in the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The President however on November 2 secretly abandoned the conference and travelled to London for a medical checkup.

His aircraft, a Gulfstream Aerospace GV-SP (G550) with registration number 5N-FGW and serial number 5310 (Mode-S 0640F2) left the Glasgow International Airport at 10:14 pm (9:14 UK time) and arrived at Stansted Airport, London at 11:11 pm (10:11 pm UK time).

On Tuesday, November 09, Buhari departed London for Paris, France.

The Presidency later said Buhari was expected back to the country on Tuesday, November 16.

SaharaReporters had exclusively reported that Buhari would thereafter travel to South Africa, and that his media, security and protocol teams had already left for the Southern African country.

Last Wednesday, Buhari departed the country to attend the Expo 2020 in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In the current 2022 budget proposal, the President will spend N2.3 billion on travelling out of which N775.6 million will be spent on local trips while N1.5 billion was budgeted for international travels.

Reacting to his ceaseless trips amid Omicron, Olayinka wrote that the virus will incapacitate the Nigerian leader from travelling.

Some people have tagged Buhari as Ajala because of his penchant for travelling abroad at the slightest opportunity.

The name ‘Ajala’ is used to reference Moshood Ajala, a Nigerian socialite and travel writer famous for being a globe-trotter.

“At least, Ajala will not travel again for now. #omicroncovid,” Olayinka, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member wrote on his verified Facebook page on Monday.