Ailing Nigerian president finally to return home

Ailing Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua will finally return home this week according to reports, ahead of the 14-day deadline given the Federal Executive Council (FEC) by the country’s Federal High Court on Friday.

The court in a stern declaration, ordered the FEC to prove that the ailing leader was fit to perform his duties or face an impeachment process.

Local media reports in Nigeria said today, that the ailing President who is recuperating from a heart surgery in Saudi Arabia is expected in Abuja, the capital, before Wednesday this week.

President Yar’Adua’s return to Nigeria will go a long way in reducing the political tension that has been rocking the nation since two months now and prevent his possible impeachment by the National Assembly.

After a long tussle among Nigerian politicians over the possible replacement of President Yar’Adua by his Vice president Goodluck Jonathan, the country’ Federal High Court on Friday finally challenged the two highest policy bodies in the country, Federal Executive Council and the National Council of States (NCS) with a timeline to end the brouhaha.

Even the members of the Federal Assembly have been under intense heat particularly from civil society organisations to “act on the state of the country and not on the side of one man.”

Hence, the Chief Judge of the Court, Justice Daniel Abutu, in his judgment ordered FEC to comply with the relevant section of the 1999 Constitution especially as it relates to the process of impeaching a sitting president.

In his ruling, Judge Abutu said: “Having regards to the fact that the president has been away on a medical treatment since 23 November 2009, he (Yar’Adua) is incapable of performing his presidential duties. The FEC should resolve whether the president is capable of performing his presidential functions or not and pass a resolution to that effect.’’

Following that order on Friday, reports said the two supreme policy making bodies immediately propelled the necessary apparatus into action by taking the bull by the horn and thereby arriving at the decision of flying in the ailing president into the country by Wednesday and would continue post-hospitalisation medical consultation at home.

But the local media quoting medical sources in Jeddah where the President is being treated reported that he has lost nearly ten kilograms from his already slim posture and thereby making him appear very weak for any task.

Sources further intimated that upon his arrival in Nigeria, President Yar’Adua will be expected to put in motion the process of properly handing over power to Vice President Jonathan.

Inside sources further told the media that President Yar’Adua may have to stay for only two weeks in Nigeria after handing over power and will be flown out to the United States of America for further medical attention.

This is the third time that the President has been flown abroad to undergo a treatment for a heart ailment since he came to power nearly four years ago through heated ballot to replace the then incumbent president Olusegun Obasanjo who selected Yar’Adua as his successor.

Since Yar’Adua’s hospitalisation in Saudi Arabia, the opposition and civil society organisations in Nigeria have been blaming Mr Obasanjo for selecting a successor with a record of ailment but the former president retorted that Mr Yar’Ardua had presented a medical certificate that proved him fit for office.

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