Vice-President Atiku Abubakar was on Tuesday expected to have left the London Bridge hospital where he had a knee surgery.
His Media Consultant, Malam Garba Shehu, told our correspondent on Tuesday that the surgery was successful and it was not as complicated as it was initially believed to be.
He said doctors had advised Abubakar to have a bed rest after the surgery.
Abubakar, who has started the process of recovery and has begun walking with the aid of crutches, is expected back in Nigeria on Thursday
The vice-president during a telephone interaction with members of the Atiku Campaign Organisation thanked all Nigerians for their prayers and outpouring of emotions since he injured his knee on Sunday during a work out at the gymnasium in his official residence in Abuja.
�I thank Nigerians for their support and show of concern since my injury. Please tell them that I am well and I feel good. I look forward to returning home on Thursday to join other compatriots in the quest to reposition our country for the well-being of our people,� a statement from his campaign organisation quoted Abubakar as saying.
The Vice-President was flown to London on Sunday night after a knee injury he sustained during an exercise in the gymnasium of his residence in Abuja.
Meanwhile, the Yar�Adua-Goodluck Campaign Organisation has expressed sympathy with Abubakar, who is also the Action Congress presidential candidate, over the injury he sustained in a domestic accident.
A statement made available to our correspondent on Tuesday by the Special Assistant on Special Duties in the campaign organization, Mr. Victor Obodo, described the �incident as most unfortunate� and wished the vice-president a successful operation and recovery.
The statement said, �We also wish to thank Mr. President for his magnanimous gesture in releasing the presidential jet to ferry the presidential candidate of an opposition party for a medical emergency. This further demonstrates the political maturity, leadership and compassionate spirit of our great leader.�
However, the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation in a statement on Tuesday deplored the deteriorating state of health facilities in the country and the refusal of the Obasanjo government to address it in its nearly eight years in power.
It noted with dismay that within two weeks presidential candidates of the two major parties had to travel abroad for �what they say are minor medical problems.�
It said, �In the case of Umaru Yar�Adua (the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate), it was to treat catarrh; and for Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, it was for a minor surgery to repair a torn knee tendon, for which he reluctantly agreed to go abroad when our best local hospitals confessed that they could not handle.
�Where is the trumpeted reform? How can we say that the reforms have benefitted Nigerians when even the highly placed have to travel abroad to treat catarrh?�