Where is the president? Straight-faced Secretary to the Government of the Federa-tion, Amb. Babagana Kingibe and Vice President Goodluck Jonathan file past the empty seat of President Umaru Yar’Adua to herald the commencement of yesterday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

Despite widespread expectations in the Presidency Tuesday night that President Umaru Yar’Adua would return to chair yesterday’s meeting, it was the president’s empty seat (above) that greeted FEC members, compelling Jonathan to, once again, superintend.

Expectations were high among ministers late Tuesday night that the president would fly in from Saudi Arabia for the meeting, which would serve to douse the current uncertainty in the country over his health.

To underscore the expectations, Daily Sun gathered that many ministers and presidential aides had made it to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, where they patiently waited to receive the president. But the wait was all in vain, as they had to go back home disappointed.
While some left around 11:00pm, many of the ministers and aides waited well after midnight when confirmation came from Saudi Arabia that the president would not be returning after all.
Daily Sun checks however confirmed that President Yar’Adua was in fact ready, willing and eager to return, and had concluded all travel arrangements when the doctors were said to have insisted that he could not return.

“The president was all packed and ready. He eagerly wanted to chair today’s meeting but his doctors prevailed on him to stay back a few more days”, one Aso Rock insider confided in this writer Wednesday evening.

According to him, the president was never as sick as the media were making it to appear.
He assured that, “unless God decrees otherwise, the president would definitely be back by the weekend”.