Nigerian president returns home amid health questions (AFP)
27 minutes ago
LAGOS (AFP) - Nigeria's President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua returned home from Saudi Arabia Saturday, a government official said, amid questions about his health.
A Saudi hospital official last weekend said the head of state had been hospitalised there for several days, but did not disclose any details.
Nigerian independent media has been awash with reports that Yar'Adua, 57, underwent surgery there for renal problems.
"The president came back this morning," the official in Yar'Adua's office told AFP, without providing further details.
Speculation has mounted about the president's health in recent days after he left the country more than two weeks ago for a religious pilgrimage. It later emerged that he had been in a Jeddah hospital for several days.
Officials, however, have insisted he was in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage with Information Minister John Odey stating on Wednesday that he had taken the "opportunity to undertake a medical check-up."
The opposition on Thursday demanded that the authorities provide details of the president's health, which they said was not a private affair, but one with implications for the stability of the country.
