Yar’Adua Is Incapable Of Communicating

PRESIDENT UMARU YAR'ADUA.

Diplomatic and medical sources closely involved with president Umaru Yar’Adua’s treatment have told NEXT exclusively that contrary to claims by Nigerian government officials that they have been holding discussions with ailing president, the only person who has had access to the president over the past weeks has been his wife, Turai.

Diplomatic sources said Mr. Yar’Adua has been incapable of communicating with people for the 29 out of the 31 days he has spent in hospital, mostly due to the debilitating effects of his illness. According to the sources, the first two days of Mr. Yar’Adua trip were the only period in which he was able to communicate with people. Since then they say, his condition has made this impossible. It is also unclear if Mr. Yar’Adua will be able to return to Nigeria before the end of the year, but the sources said this is highly unlikely.

The Nigerian Minister of Information, Dora Akunyili had last week Wednesday said that the Federal Executive Council had no idea of when the president would return to the country. ‘It is up to the doctors to decide,” she declared.

The spokesman to the president, Segun Adeniyi, announced on Thursday, November 26, about three days into Mr. Yar’Adua’s trip, that the president has acute pericarditis - inflammation of the lining of the heart-and was responding well to treatment. The announcement was the first time an official disclosure of the actual ailment of the president would be made.

A senior official of the Saudi Arabia government disputed hints from top officials in Nigeria that they had access to the president. “It is only Turai (his wife) that has direct access to him,” the man said. “It is virtually impossible for them have to have a discussion with Mr. Yar’Adua.” He also said it might be difficult for the president to accede to calls for him to either resign or hand over power to his assistant.

As of the time of filing this report, Mr. Adeniyi had not responded to telephone calls, text messages and e-mails asking for a response to what our sources told us.

A lengthy trip

Mr. Yar’Adua has switched hospitals in the past; moving from the European country of Germany to Saudi-Arabia. The President, who has long been known to suffer from a kidney ailment, was in Germany for six days - from March 6 to March 11 2007 - just before the presidential elections, to receive treatment. The following year, he visited that country’s hospitals for the second time, spending 12 days, from April 14 to 25, 2008.

By August 27, he was in the western seaport city of Jeddah, in Saudi-Arabia, where he was admitted for treatment for 11 days, until September 6, 2009.

From August 14 this year, Mr. Yar’Adua spent 12 days in hospital, returning to Nigeria on August 25.

On September 22, the president left for another trip to Saudi Arabia. The presidency claimed his purpose was to serve as a guest at the commissioning of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, but added that Mr. Yar’Adua would call on his personal physicians for “follow-up medical checks.”

In total, the president has made three medical trips in five months this year, with the present one being the longest.

The lengthy period of the president’s absence has resulted in mounting national anxiety, which has culminated in pressure by civil groups for him to resign.