President – elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, will be fully recharged when he arrives in Nigeria today, concluding a short trip as a private citizen before assuming office.
His flight was scheduled for Wednesday night at the Heathrow Airport in London.
An official of the All Progressives Congress (APC) UK chapter, who spoke with the Daily Times on Wednesday afternoon, disclosed that Buhari , who had been in London since last Friday, would be seen off at the airport by the High Commissioner to the UK, Dr Dalhatu Tafida.
When asked whether the President – elect actually refused entering the official car that the High Commission arranged to welcome him at Heathrow last Friday, the official who sought anonymity dismissed the media report ( not the Daily Times ), as mere speculation, saying, “don’t believe all those reports.”
When asked if Buhari came in the company of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, the President he overthrew about 30 years ago, the APC top shot in the UK said: “Don’t forget it is a private visit, so I don’t know,”
Buhari, meanwhile, has been causing uneasy among the top echelon of the APC and a Daily Times source revealed on Wednesday how Buhari allegedly humiliated a leader of the party, who had paid a visit to the President-elect along with the Vice -President elect, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, at his Abuja residence about two weeks ago.
“Buhari told the leader to wait aside and let Osinbajo come him first. He said Osinbajo is the one elected as Vice-President,” the source said.
Another source in the UK expressed disappointment that Buhari shunned the party leaders since his arrival in London.
“He (Buhari) came for something and has no time for anyone,” the APC UK official said.
Asked if he and some executives who organised support for Buhari before and after the Chatham House visit of February and for the March 28 presidential election had seen the President- elect, the official said: “He didn’t meet with anyone. Only professional people. ”
Continuing, the official said: “Don’t forget that he’s now the President in waiting, so he can choose those he wants to see.”
Asked how he and others were feeling, considering the pre-Chatham House event that they organised for Buhari at the Everlasting Arms Church on Old Kent road, and other rallies opposite the Nigerian High Commission as well as the rally outside Chatham House itself during Buhari’s famous visit, the Daily Times source simply shrugged.
Alluding to a report (not in the Daily Times) that the APC’s National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and outgoing Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi were not having enough access to Buhari and had to travel to the UK for that purpose, the UK official said: “It is no big deal if we can’t have access to him, if people like Amaechi and others cannot see him in Nigeria and are struggling to catch up with him here, then we can’t really complain.”
Though the address where he stayed was kept secret, the Daily Times learnt that he was around Green Park.
“He only came with one person from Nigeria, but others made their way here to come and see him,” the source revealed on Wednesday.
