Yar’adua returns to work next week – Associates – Daily Trust

The on-going scramble for positions in a soon to be reconstituted Federal cabinet could shortly hit a brick wall because President Umaru Yar’adua intends to resume duties in his office next week, a top source close to the ailing president told Daily Trust yesterday. However, another family source separately told Daily Trust that Yar’adua will be fit to resume work by the end of next month.

According to the top sources, Yar’adua intends to make a national radio and television broadcast to signal his resumption of work as early as Monday or Wednesday next week. They said Yar’adua may not write a letter to the National Assembly intimating it of his return because he did not transmit a letter before he proceeded on medical vacation, even though his spokesman later said Yar’adua recognised Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as the Acting President.

Both sources said Yar’adua has made much progress physically since his return to the country late last month, and that his remaining medical problem now is speech-related. The sources said the ailing president now walks around the house and also around the garden, where there are many birds and animals.

They said Yar’adua brought a speech therapist with him from the Saudi Arabian hospital and the doctor has been working since then to improve his speech. Both sources said he has made progress in his speech. One of the sources told Daily Trust that Yar’adua’s return to the country last month was “premature,” and that he was brought back before he finished his therapy “for political reasons.”