Nigeria’s President Buhari returns from UK

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, 76, has returned home after a 10-day private visit to the UK, confounding critics who claimed he had gone for medical reasons and would stay longer, presidential spokesman Femi Adenisa has said.

“Some reckless online media, irresponsible political opposition, and other bilious groups and individuals, had gone on overdrive since the President left the country on April 25, insinuating that he was going for hospitalisation, and would not return after 10 days as stated,” Mr Adenisa said in a statement.

“Now that the President has returned, can these apostles of evil imaginings swallow their words?” he added.

Nigeria’s privately owned Vanguard newspaper said Mr Buhari declined to answer questions about the large number of kidnappings that has hit the country, but said:

“I noticed Mohammed Adamu, acting inspector-general of police, has lost weight, though it is a sign that he is working hard”.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja has warned that Nigeria’s leaders are making the country ‘uninhabitable’, causing young people to migrate illegally to Europe.

Cardinal John Onaiyekan said that if he were the president he would resign. He criticised officials for focusing only on their own lives – building mansions and travelling the world.

The 75-year-old cleric said he felt ashamed when he saw trafficked Nigerian women soliciting on the streets of Rome and other Italian cities.

Cardinal Onaiyekan was speaking to the media ahead of a church gathering to address migration, taking place in the Nigerian capital on Tuesday. BBC News