12th September, 2012
The Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, is back from the United Kingdom where she was said to have been hospitalised over an undisclosed ailment.
She made a surprise appearance at today’s Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
According to our correspondent, some of Diezani’s excited colleagues surrounded her before the FEC meeting began and told her that they tried unsuccesfully to reach her on the telephone.
She was absent from the last FEC meeting held on Wednesday, 5 September.
Menwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan hurriedly returned to Abuja on Tuesday night from Botswana, Gaborone, 24 hours ahead of schedule from a visit to Malawi and Botswana.
Though his sudden return sparked off speculations that it may have been caused by concerns over the health condition of his wife, Patience, he told his aide after his return that his wife is alive and well.
Patience has been hospitalised in Wiesbaden, Germany with an undisclosed ailment for about two weeks.