Barring any change in plans again, the President, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua, is due to return to Nigeria on Tuesday.
Friday was initially fixed for the return of the President to the country from Saudi Arabia where he had been undergoing treatment for over two months.
Today makes it 69 days Yar’Adua left the country.
A top Presidency source on Friday told the Nigerian Compass that arrangements have almost been concluded for the President’s return on Tuesday.
It was gathered that the team searching for an air ambulance with life support machine to ferry the President back home had almost concluded its assignment as at press time on Friday.
The source said that the President’s return was delayed “for a few more days till Tuesday due to technical hitches from air medical transport service providers.”
Though the identity of the companies that had been contacted to fly the President back home could not be confirmed, it was gathered that doctors in Saudi Arabia insisted that there must be a life support machine on any aircraft that would carry out the trip to Nigeria.
The source said, “The initial Friday schedule for the President’s return is no longer feasible.
“The change in the arrival arrangement is from the air medical transport service provider.
“The service provider to be employed must have provision for customised services and it is not impossible that the delay is because of the equipment needed for the movement to Nigeria.”
Yar’Adua was diagnosed of having acute pericarditis when he arrived in Saudi Arabia.
Acute pericarditis is described as the inflammation of the covering of the heart.
A source told the Nigerian Compass that it was in the interest of the country for Yar’Adua to return even if he would not be able to discharge fully the responsibilities of his office.
The source said that the furore already generated by his absence and the call for the Vice-President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to take over the responsibilities of the President were capable of derailing the country.
The source said that the worst that would happen is for some of Yar’Adua’s aides, especially the media team, to become more powerful since the President would now appear occasionally in public.
The source said that the President is likely to speak more through his aides than personally.
It was gathered that the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) being constructed by Julius Berger in Aso Rock is also ready for use.
There have been intense agitation over what has been termed Yar’Adua’s failure to formally hand over to Jonathan as specified by Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution.
The pressure reached a peak on Wednesday when the Senate, by a unanimous resolution, told Yar’Adua to formally write a letter to the National Assembly about his absence.
The letter, a principal officer of the Senate told the Nigerian Compass on Wednesday, was to the effect that Jonathan should promptly assume duties as the acting president.
The source also said that the reason why the Senate did not give an ultimatum to the request for Yar’Adua to turn in the letter was because “the National Assembly lacks the power of sanction, if the President refuses to turn in the letter.”
The source added, “The implication of the request by the Senate is that immediately the President turns in the letter, the vice-president automatically becomes the acting president, which means that whenever the President decides to return to his duty post, he would need to write another letter to also notify the Senate of his intention to that effect.”
Also, a Federal High Court in Abuja last week gave Yar’Adua a two-week ultimatum to return to the country.