Nigeria’s President Umaru Yar’Adua, whose health condition has become a source of worry for his compatriots in recent times, returned to the country early Saturday, 17 days after he supposedly left for lesser hajj in Saudi Arabia.
Though details are sketchy, presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi confirmed that the plane ferrying the President touched down at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in the capital city of Abuja at 3.10am local time.
Adeniyi had said the President was travelling to Saudi Arabia 20 August to perform the lesser hajj, but local media reports later said he actually travelled for urgent medical care in the Middle Eastern nation.
Even among the growing reports of the worsening health of the President, his cabinet members insisted he was performing the lesser hajj, infuriating critics who accused them of deceiving Nigerians.
Yar’Adua’s kidney problems became public knowledge while he was campaigning for the 2007 presidential elections.
At a stage during the campaign, he had to be quickly evacuated to Germany for medical treatment when his condition suddenly deteriorated.
Since assuming office 29 May 2007, the President has since returned to the European nation for treatment. Panapress .
