Muhammadu Buhari returned to Nigeria on Saturday after a three-month medical absence—only to find his office infested with rats.
A spokesman for the 74-year-old Nigerian president, who has been in the U.K. since May 7 receiving treatment for an undisclosed ailment, said that Buhari would be working from home while renovations were carried out at his office at Aso Rock, the Nigerian statehouse.
“Following the three-month period of disuse, rodents have caused a lot of damage to the furniture and air conditioning units,” Garba Shehu told Nigerian news site ThisDay.
He explained that Buhari’s home had an office annex and that the efficiency of his work would not be affected by the renovations.
Shehu also said that the maintenance company responsible for the work had been asked to speed up the process, though he declined to put a date on when Buhari would return to the office.
Another of Buhari’s media advisers, Femi Adesina, said that renovations were needed in the regular office because “103 days of absence affected it, there was some deterioration there.” Adesina said that the office in Buhari’s house was almost an identical replica of his main office and that President Buhari was not “luxuriating at home” as some media reports had suggested.