Nigeria’s absentee president returns home

NAIROBI/ABUJA - Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua returned home Wednesday after months of treatment for a heart complaint in Saudi Arabia, but officials said he would not return to work immediately.

Yar’Adua’s three-month absence sparked a political crisis, which was eased this month when the National Assembly authorised Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to run Africa’s most-populous country in the president’s absence.

Nigeria’s This Day reported that a plane with Yar’Adua landed in Abuja around 2 A.M (0630 IST) and was met by an ambulance. The president was then whisked into town in a convoy.

Yar’Adua’s spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi said in a statement that the president’s health was much improved.

“However, while the president completes his recuperation, Vice-President Jonathan will continue to oversee the affairs of state,” the statement said.

The president’s return took Nigeria by surprise, amid a great deal of speculation over what will happen next.

While Yar’Adua recuperated, Jonathan reshuffled the cabinet and tried to breathe new life into a faltering amnesty for militants that ended attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta.

However, analysts say there has been much jockeying for position behind the scenes, with Yar’Adua’s backers trying to ensure Jonathan does not get too strong a hold on power.

Doctors said in December that Yar’Adua was suffering from acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the lining of the heart. He is also known to have kidney problems.