President returns to Nigeria
Nigeria’s President Umaru Yar’Adua arrived in Abuja after an overnight flight from Jeddah, according to reports. He has not been seen in public since he fell ill in November and went to Saudi Arabia for treatment of a serious heart condition.
Issued on:
A plane landed at the presidential wing of Abuja airport overnight and was met by an ambulance, according to an AFP news agency correspondent. A second plane landed a few minutes later.
Soldiers were deployed around the airport, and journalists were denied access. A close aide to Yar’Adua, Adamu Aliero, Minister of the Federal Capital, entered the airport minutes before the plane landed.
The ambulance left in a convoy of vehicles seen driving towards Yar’Adua’s official residence.
There has been no official confirmation that Yar’Adua is back in Nigeria, though a government source told Reuters news agency that he “just landed at Abuja airport on a Saudi plane escorted by the presidential plane.”
There is no information about the state of the President’s health.
Yar’Adua’s absence sparked a constitutional crisis, with parliament voting to hand over power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan until Yar’Adua’s recovery.
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe