President Yar’Adua Regains Voice But Still Sick

PRESIDENT UMARU YAR'ADUA.

San Francisco (THEWILL) – Reports reaching THEWILL say Nigerian president has regained his voice after not being able to talk all through the week.

The ailing president who was admitted about 20 days ago at the King Fiasal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah for acute pericarditis was reported to have stopped talking last week Monday which alarmed doctors at the hospital and prompted arrangements to fly him to either the United States or Germany, where he has previously been treated.

THEWILL sources in Jeddah acknowledged that there is a consensus within the hospital management to keep information concerning the president private at the request of the Nigerian Government, but did confirm through a trusted hospital source that the president is still sick, frail and unable to leave his hospital bed without help.

There have been deliberate attempts to misinform the public on the president’s state of health since he was admitted at the hospital. Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alhaji Garba Aminchi, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Michael Andooaka and the vice president, Goodluck Jonathan have all said at different times that the president is okay, but the reality is that he is still not well and unable to do anything.

Our highly informed source in Saudi Arabia has gathered that the president may not be returning to Nigeria this year saying that, “the chance of that happening is very remote taking into account that his health has been erratic since he was admitted.” The source confirmed that an expert consultant nephrologist, urologist and cardiologist were invited to observe the Nigerian leader, but was not sure where they were flown in from.

Explaining further, the source said the president’s health is being closely monitored and only his wife and daughters and very close aides have been allowed to see him all week. 

Meanwhile, the crack amongst top players in Nigerian politics has started rearing its head along two divides; the “pro- Yar’Adua advocates” and the “anti-Yar’Adua advocates”. THEWILL findings show that ex president, Olusegun Obasanjo, some retired ex soldiers, some state governors including Sule Lamido, and some members of the House of Assembly are some of the major forces pushing for the president’s resignation on the grounds of ill health. While the likes of Isa Yuguda, Bukola Saraki, Abba Sayyadi Ruma and James Ibori see no reason why the president should not continue his time in office. Investigations further show that Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, Senate President David Mark and House Speaker Dimeji Bankole are threading softly not to be seen as anti-Yar’Adua but would really want to see the logjam resolved with the president at least formally notifying the Assembly of his ill health so that the business of government can continue smoothly.

Last week, a Nigerian paper reported that before the President left the country for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, he wrote, signed and sent a letter of his intention to go on vacation to the National Assembly through the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Mohammed Abba-Aji, but curiously the Presidential aide did not deliver the letter for political reasons. Senator Mohammed Abba-Aji has since refuted the report.

Interestingly our source in Abuja who is privy to the activities in Aso Rock has revealed that getting the president to authorize another letter is no big deal if he truly did send a letter in the first instance. He says the report is an attempt to cover up the fact that the president has never deemed it fit to write the National Assembly except once when he wrote informing them of his decision to go on vacation.

“If they say the president did write a letter, they should have a copy on file, they should send that file copy to the National Assembly and they will accept it. And if for some reason a copy is not available, did they not say the president has recovered and is jumping all over the place in the hospital, they should send another letter for him to sign and send to the Assembly.”

“The fact is that the president neither authorized nor signed any letter, you guys can confirm from David Edevbie.”

The Nigerian Intelligence Service especially the NSA, SSS and DMI are currently on red alert since the president’s hospitalization has technically left the country without a substantive leader. A source in the community revealed successive trips to Washington DC by the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Major General Babagana Monguno, son of Alhaji Shettima Mongono, Nigeria’s first petroleum minister, since the president’s sudden admission at the Jeddah hospital. It is suspected he may have travelled to meet with US officials to seek their support for the present administration. THEWILL was however unable to confirm if he met with officials of the United States Intelligence Service.

The Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Dr. Abba Sayaddi Ruma, another Yar’Adua loyalist was in Los Angeles some days ago to consult with General Ibrahim Babangida whose wife Mariam, is also not feeling well. Governor Isa Yuguda, who is married to one of the president’s daughters, has also consulted with the former Head of State, to solicit his support for the ailing president.

There are confirmed reports that the Vice President refused to sign the 2009 supplementary budget passed by the National Assembly last week knowing that he was not allowed to do so constitutionally. He also knew it was a ploy to drag him into an impeachment drama by forces wanting him out of the way. A member of the House of Representatives who spoke to THEWILL anonymously said, the idea to push the budget to the vice president to sign was a trap by those scheming to remove him from office because if he had signed it, they would have pushed for his impeachment and that would have “rocked the House,” he explained.

No one is sure how all this will be resolved, but the facts are these; that President Yar’Adua is still sick and hospitalized in Saudi Arabia, the Vice President is not acting president, The National Assembly did not and has not received any letter(s) formally informing it of the president’s hospitalization from the Presidency, and public opinion favours the president’s transfer of power to the vice president since he is ill and unable to perform presidential duties as enshrined in the constitution.