Michael Essien recover from his knee injury until the end of July, more than two weeks after the tournament was to end. Since then, Essien has announced that he will be standing down from the Ghana national side for the near future in order to focus on his career with Chelsea, having suffered two significant injuries while playing for Ghana in recent years. Having recovered from those injuries, Essien subsequently promised his availability to his nation "very soon". Essien returned to Ghana's squad in August 2013 for the team's final 2014 World Cup qualifiers. He appeared as a second-half substitute in a
Emmanuel Essien 2000, he established Ritman Nursery/Primary School and Ritman College. After taking his seat in the Senate in June 1999, Essien was appointed to committees on Works & Housing, Communication, National Planning, Internal Affairs, Information and Tourism & Culture (vice chairman). He was Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate in 1999. In September 2002 he was a strong supporter of a bill to end the onshore / offshore dichotomy in oil revenue allocation, a change that would benefit Akwa Ibom State. Essien was an aspirant to be a candidate in the 2007 elections for Governor of Akwa Ibom State. As of