Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir has left Nigeria after demands for his arrest on “war crimes” charges, an embassy spokesman said Tuesday, although he denied the departure was due to the controversy.

Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir has left Nigeria after demands for his arrest on “war crimes” charges, an embassy spokesman said Tuesday, although he denied the departure was due to the controversy.

"He has left. He left in the afternoon (on Monday)," AFP quoted Mohammed Moiz, spokesman for the Sudanese embassy in Nigeria, as saying.

He denied Bashir had left due to calls for his arrest, saying he had another engagement.

Bashir had been attending an African Union health summit which was due to end on Tuesday.

The embassy spokesman said Bashir, who had arrived on Sunday, returned to Khartoum, but gave no further details on the other engagement.

Nigeria's presidency defended welcoming Bashir to the country for the summit scheduled for Monday and Tuesday despite “war crimes” charges against him, saying it cannot interfere in AU affairs.