Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua returned on 24th Feb, in Negirea after three months in hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Nigerian ambassador in Riyadh, Abdullah aminche, confirmed the return home of Umaru Yar’Adua, first announced by information from Saudi Arabia.
Abdullah aminche stated that his health has improved enormously. Two planes landed in succession early Wednesday in the area reserved for the head of state of the Abuja airport, surrounded by large security forces.
Soldiers were deployed at strategic locations along the airport road, including members of the elite unit that is responsible for protecting the head of state.
The Nigerian president, aged 58, fell seriously ill in November and had been hospitalized in the wake in Jeddah on the Red Sea.
Since his departure, he has given only one sign of life, consisting of a brief interview with BBC radio, January 12. It has not been seen in public since.
The long nonattendance of President Yar’Adua has aroused a constitutional crisis and fears of unrest in Nigeria, the eighth largest exporter of crude.
On 10 February at the request of Parliament, Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan has accepted to chair ad interim. Jonathan was carried on in the wake in a cabinet reshuffle.
The assumption of Goodluck Jonathan at the acting president had also pulled the approval of the international community, including the African Union, which had asked the army to support this transition.
It is expected that Yar’Adua will not resume office anytime soon. Yar’Adua also suffers from a chronic kidney ailment.