President Muhammadu Buhari will stay in London for several more days despite being expected back in the country after health checks, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said Thursday.

“The president will be back on Sunday. I spoke with him yesterday (Wednesday) evening and I think it is just the best that he takes the weekend off,” Osinbajo told reporters in Abuja.

This vindicates News Express, which had exclusively reported that Buhari has been diagnosed with cancer and would not return today as earlier scheduled.

The President left Nigeria on June 6 for tests on what the presidency described as a “persistent ear infection” that forced him to pull out of a series of engagements. He had been due back on Thursday.

The presidency has said the recommendation to see an ear, nose and throat specialist in the British capital was “purely as a precaution”.
Osinbajo said Buhari was “in perfect health and ready to resume work on Monday morning”, adding: “Mr President is in good condition, he is fine, he is very well.”

The Nigerian presidency has historically reticent about disclosing health matters of the head of state and rumours have swirled about the seriousness of Buhari’s condition.

Speculation mounted after Buhari withdrew from a planned visit to Lagos, the launch of an oil spill clean-up operation in the delta region and a meeting of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS.

*Partly based on a Guardian report.