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Nigerian president returning from Saudi: sources

24 February 2010 03:24 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua was being flown back to the capital Abuja on Tuesday, three months after he left for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, Nigerian government sources and a Saudi airport official said, APA reports citing Reuters.

"The president left at 10:22 p.m. (1922 GMT) alone in a plane and another plane carried Nigerian government envoys," the official at Jeddah airport told Reuters.

There was no word on the state of his health.

Nigerian government and presidency officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Soldiers and armed police arrived at the presidential wing of the airport in Abuja, a Reuters witness.

The 58-year-old leader left Nigeria in late November to receive medical treatment at a clinic in Jeddah for pericarditis, an inflammation of the membrane surrounding the heart that can restrict normal beating.

His absence brought Africa’s most populous nation to the brink of constitutional crisis and threatened to paralyze the business of government, until Vice President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as acting leader two weeks ago.

Neither the presidency, the ruling party nor the cabinet has given any details on his health since shortly after he left, fuelling speculation about his true condition.

A delegation of Nigerian ministers travelled to Saudi Arabia on Monday for an update on his health and had been expected to report back to a weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday.