Nsukka Today

By News Express on 07/02/2013

After nearly 140 days of absence from his duty post, Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime arrived Abuja, the Nigerian capital, this morning aboard British Airways flight from London.

“He is now embedded at the Enugu lodge Abuja,” disclosed Save Enugu Group (SEG) Convener, Maxi Okwu (Ikenecheoha II).

It is not clear how long the embattled governor will stay in the nation’s capital before returning to Enugu.

Chime’s return vindicated the SEG, as Okwu had told News Express on January 18 that their campaign to unmask the mystery surrounding the governor’s whereabouts and fate “is a blitzkrieg that cannot last more than four weeks.”

Enugu, the political capital of Nigeria’s South-East, had been thrown into a political crisis as a result of the prolonged absence of Chime, who over-stayed his accumulated leave amidst reports that he was seriously ill and secretly receiving treatment abroad.

The mystery was lifted after the SEG announced mid-January that it had traced Chime to the Wellington Humane Hospital Swiss Cottage, London, where he was under-going post-surgery treatment.

Okwu had told News Express: “The hospital in question takes patients and give specialist medical attention. After surgery the patient as in Governor Chime’s case, is moved to a specialist convalescing home equipped to give delicate and specialist post surgical care. There is enormous pressure on the bed spaces available at the Wellington hospital. The Governor was a surgical patient and the attention is ongoing, according to our information.”

Chime (shown in photo) was last seen in public four months ago, with officials of Enugu State government claiming that he is on vacation and would soon return. The issue has moved to the front burner of national discourse since January 8 when the SEG wrote to Acting Governor Sunday Onyebuchi demanding clear answers on the fate of Chime.

Source News Express