In a powerful and emotionally charged protest, Nigerians under the banner of the Take-It-Back Movement staged a demonstration outside the prestigious London Clinic—the hospital where former President Muhammadu Buhari reportedly died—decrying the hypocrisy of Nigerian leaders who abandon the country’s failing healthcare system while splurging public funds on elite foreign medical treatments.
The protest, which took place on Harley Street in central London, drew attention not only for its symbolism but also for the deep-rooted anger it expressed over decades of systemic neglect. The demonstrators, waving placards and chanting slogans, condemned Buhari’s long history of receiving medical care at the exclusive facility—one of the UK’s most expensive private hospitals—while millions of Nigerians back home remain without access to basic healthcare.
> “This is a hospital where the average Nigerian cannot even enter the lobby,” one protester said. “Yet this was where our former president, who looted public funds and neglected our hospitals, came for treatment, paid for by money stolen from our suffering people.”
The protesters noted that a single night at the London Clinic could cost thousands of pounds—sums that are simply unimaginable to ordinary Nigerians. One of the speakers pointed out that, despite holding a British passport that would have given Buhari free access to the UK’s National Health Service, he still opted for luxury treatment at the nation’s top private facility—further proof, they argued, of the elite’s obsession with grandeur at the expense of national development.
> “He could have used NHS facilities. But no, that wasn’t good enough,” a protester thundered. “He went to the very best money could buy, not with his money—but with ours.”
Anger was also directed at the secrecy surrounding Buhari’s health, both during his presidency and after his death. Activists described this as emblematic of a broader culture of impunity and lack of transparency in Nigeria’s ruling class.
> “When he was sick, we weren’t told what was wrong. Now that he’s dead, we’re still kept in the dark,” said one protester. “Meanwhile, the Nigerian healthcare system is in shambles. Children are dying of treatable illnesses. Women are dying in childbirth. Our parents have nowhere to go for decent medical care.”
They reminded the crowd that Buhari himself had, in 1983, used the sorry state of the nation’s hospitals as part of his justification for a military coup—yet, after decades in power, he failed to leave behind even one world-class hospital for the citizens he once vowed to serve.
> “If every state had two or three hospitals like this, no one would need to fly abroad,” another protester added. “But instead, they loot, they steal, and when they fall ill, they hop on a jet and come here—where your average Nigerian can’t even afford a consultation.”
The protest was filled with raw emotion and unfiltered rage. The Take-It-Back Movement declared the healthcare neglect as “the greatest fraud known to man”—a betrayal that leaves ordinary Nigerians to suffer and die in under-resourced clinics while their leaders live lavishly on stolen national wealth.
> “They say Nigeria saved him. But he was killing Nigeria. That’s the truth. We are here today to say enough is enough. Take it back!”
The protesters concluded by calling on Nigerians, both at home and in the diaspora, to rise up, demand accountability, and fight for systemic change.
> “Your leaders are the ones enslaving you. And unless you take it back, this will never change. When your child is sick, ask yourself: where do you take them? Certainly not to the London Clinic.”
As they dispersed, their final chant rang out into the London air:
“Take it back! Take it all back!”
This protest outside the London Clinic is a searing indictment of Nigeria’s elite healthcare apartheid—where the few live, and the many are left to die.
PIONEER NEWS 