Nigeria leader to fly home Saturday after UK treatment

ABUJA: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will return home on Saturday after spending more than 100 days in London receiving treatment for an undisclosed ailment, his office said.

The 74-year-old left for the British capital on May 7 with his prolonged absence causing tensions back home where calls have grown for him to either return or resign.

A presidency statement said Buhari "returns to the country later today, after receiving medical attention in London."

It said the retired general who headed a military regime in the 1980s would make a national broadcast on Monday morning.



"President Buhari is expected to speak to Nigerians in a broadcast by 7 a.m on Monday," it said, adding that the ailing leader expressed his appreciation to Nigerians for their prayer and support towards his recovery.

Buhari has been dogged by speculation about his health since June last year when he first went to London for treatment of what his aides said was a persistent ear infection.



He then spent nearly two months in London in January and February and said on his return in early March that he had "never been so ill".

In July, members of the ruling party and the opposition went to see him in London and even took pictures in an attempt to douse public anxiety.

The health of Nigeria's leaders has been a sensitive issue since the death in office of president Umaru Musa Yar'Adua in 2010 after months of treatment abroad.

Buhari's main opponents in the 2015 election that brought him to power claimed he had prostate cancer. He denied the claim

There have been series of protest rallies in Abuja since August 7 to demand that Buhari return or quit if he is incapacitated.