Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Book: Late Nigeria President (Umaru Yar'adua) Wilted Away In Office-AP
Segun Adeniyi's book
By JON GAMBRELL | AP
Nigeria's late President Umaru Yar'Adua grew so weak while in office that at one stage he needed to be carried by a soldier during a state visit to Togo, ultimately becoming unable to speak in the last weeks of his life, according to a new book by his former spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi. Umaru Yar'Adua died in May 2010 and according to a book written by his former spokesman the ill president became a political pawn in a charade that saw soldiers deployed without authorization and rumors of a possible coup in the oil-rich nation.
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's late President Umaru Yar'Adua grew so weak while in office he needed once to be carried by a soldier off a runway during a state visit to Togo, ultimately becoming unable to speak in the last weeks of his life, according to a new book by his former spokesman.
The book by Olusegun Adeniyi tells of how the ill leader became a political pawn in a charade that saw soldiers deployed without authorization and rumors of a possible coup float among the elite in the oil-rich nation. It also describes the rise of militancy in the oil-rich country's crude-producing southern delta, including how a militant leader stole thousands of machine guns from Nigerian army depots.
Though portraying his former boss in a largely flattering light, Adeniyi's book shows how tenuous democracy is in a nation plagued by vote-rigging and that cast off military rule only 13 years ago.
"If we will be honest with ourselves, we all know how we rig elections in this country," Adeniyi quotes Yar'Adua as saying during a closed-door January 2008 meeting about the corrupt election that saw him become the nation's leader. "We compromise the security agencies, we pay the electoral officials and party agents while on the eve of the election we merely distribute logistics all designed to buy the vote."
The Associated Press obtained an advance copy of "Power, Politics and Death: A Front-Row Account of Nigeria Under the Late President Yar'Adua" from the author, who now writes a column for ThisDay newspaper. Reuben Abati, a spokesman for current President Goodluck Jonathan, declined to comment on the book. A spokesman for the ruling People's Democratic Party did not respond to a request for comment.
In the book, Adeniyi acknowledges Yar'Adua's ascension to power through a rigged 2007 presidential election. Yar'Adua, already sickly from a chronic kidney condition, weakened quickly under the strain of the presidency.
Those around him tried to protect his image. Adeniyi recounts instructing a cameraman from the state-run television network to film the president from the side only in one instance in 2008 to hide Yar'Adua's swollen face after an allergic reaction.
Yar'Adua then had "minor surgery" in Germany, but could only work a few hours a day, if at all, after the procedure, Adeniyi writes. As he grew sicker, Yar'Adua began receiving medical treatment in Saudi Arabia with government officials suspecting that "American security agents had penetrated the (German) hospital and had gained access to the president's health profile," according to the book.
At one point during a trip to Togo, the military officer assigned to Yar'Adua had to drape traditional robes over his arm to hide the fact he needed to nearly carry the president off a landing strip, the book claims.
Yar'Adua departure in late November 2009 for a several-month stay at a hospital in Saudi Arabia set up a constitutional crisis that saw government grind to a halt in the OPEC member nation. The National Assembly ultimately voted to empower then-Vice President Jonathan to serve as acting president. Yar'Adua was whisked back into Nigeria's capital Abuja under the cover of darkness days later, apparently unable to talk. He apparently was brought back so those close to Yar'Adua could exert control over Jonathan.
Soldiers deployed to the Abuja airport to escort Yar'Adua home in an ambulance without Jonathan's knowledge, the book claims. The next day, rumors of a possible coup flourished.
"There were fears among (Jonathan's) closest aides he could be shot by the soldiers," the book claims.
It later adds: "Signals from the military were also hazy, with fears that some soldiers could take out both Yar'Adua and Jonathan."
Yar'Adua died on May 5, 2010. Jonathan was sworn in as president the next day.
The book also describes the Yar'Adua-led amnesty program offered to militants in the country's Niger Delta, where foreign oil firms have pumped crude oil for more than 50 years. Despite the billions of dollars earned yearly from oil sales, the region remains desperately poor and polluted.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta was the region's premier militant group, its rise aided by a series of weapons thefts engineered by the group's alleged leader Henry Okah from Nigerian military depots, Adeniyi writes. The theft of thousands of weapons, including pistols, machine guns and rocket launchers, "was so staggering and the crime so well organized that the investigating team could hardly determine the exact amount of arms removed," Adeniyi writes.
Okah, who denies leading the militant group, now faces terrorism charges in South Africa over a dual car bombing Oct. 1, 2010, in Abuja that killed at least 12 people. Six soldiers were sentenced to life in prison over the arms thefts.
___
Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
Comments
61 comment(s)
Post a comment
Power, Politics and Death
Submitted by IqraBooks (not verified) on December 16, 2011 - 14:56.
You can get copies from us 6k (Soft Copy), 12k (Hard Copy) this includes free delivery in Nigeria.
Iqra Books http://www.iqrabooks.com.ng
half bread is better than none
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 14, 2011 - 17:02.
Kudos to segun Adeniyi, atleast half bread is better than none
Segun makaryaci
Submitted by Anonymous mamman hassan (not verified) on December 13, 2011 - 16:26.
Allah ya isa segun adeniyi for relling a bluntant lies why can to you resign by then
yaradua
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 11, 2011 - 20:43.
Too bad, Nigerians are docile people led by heartless elite who have no conscience and no feelings for the downtrodden. tell me who does not know that all the money allocated to LGAS is shared under trees and the so-called govt spokesmen use their ilk in the medea to cover it up. I weep for Nigeria.
The book not for Nigerians
Submitted by Texbee (not verified) on December 11, 2011 - 12:45.
From the little i read about the book so far,it sound as if he, Adeniyi has just found sactity of moral having study at Havard and he is trying to sell himself to the west.All what he said or wrote are trite obvious to all nigerians.There are lots that he has not revealed. What was the exact nature of Yardua illness? what killed him? who were the cabals? Who signed the 2010 supplementary budget bill?
ADENIYI KE
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 10, 2011 - 19:06.
This clown called Adeniyi is a goner professioanlly. He has breached the code of his profession,DISCRETION. No body would trust him again, ever. Banza.
Supplementary budget
Submitted by Kekedu (not verified) on December 10, 2011 - 17:47.
I want to know how Yaradua managed to sign the supplementary budget bill taken to him by Mr David Edvebie which contained billions for Ruma
Unpatriotic journalist
Submitted by Omolawyer (not verified) on December 10, 2011 - 16:20.
What this traitor wrote shows that he burnt the national flag and coats of arms,why should he expose such secret now but failed to do so at the right time then. He should be investigated
@ Sunday Njokede
Submitted by Sumanguru (not verified) on December 10, 2011 - 15:41.
Who kileed Bayo Owu? Bros, his name is Bayo Ohu. You're degenerating Sunday, you better watch it before you go round the bend. That's how these things start. I should know.
you would shake your head
Submitted by paradigmshift Nigeria (not verified) on December 10, 2011 - 15:35.
read this sensational article about corruption in high places, you will shake your head after reading and direct others to read it to. the link is http://paradigmshiftnigeria.blogspot.com/2011/12/corrupton-in-high-place...
Adeniyi's Revelation
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 10, 2011 - 15:18.
What is Adeniyi trying to achieve with his book? Win his heart back to the heart of Nigerians after deceiving Nigerians? Was it not Adeniyi that told us a day after Yar Adual was smuggled back in the night that The President sent his greetings to Nigerians even though as of that moment, The President was not in a position to say anything? I weep for this country where the so called intellectuals willingly present themselves to thos in power to mess up with. Today, it is Adeniyi telling us disgraceful tales. Tomorrow, it will be the turn of Abati to tell us those controling Jonathan again. God will Judge all decievers.
@ Deri : Uncle Jon Osu(chukwu) Was A Legend, My Hero!
Submitted by Wähala (not verified) on December 10, 2011 - 14:52.
Our banter three months ago about my Uncle Jon Osu was when I first called your Jaja "Dumbo-Dumbo". Now that your diction has recognized my other favourite clichè of "Aborigines", Congratulations! You're learning very slowly.
Correction: "Niger Delta" are civilized areas of Benin City, Asaba, P/harcourt, Calabar etc, while "Aborigine Enclaves" are Nembe, Bori, Yenagua and other primitive villages deep inside the "Rain Forests" of Dumboland.
Thema: Fool, Zik's ethnic group is the "Brain Box of Africa" as revealed by a recent study. When Zik was premier of Eastern region, how polluted were Aborigine enclaves compared to Aboki's reign of terror? Ojukwu once said : "If Jon Osu is not your brother, Adamu will never Be." You're now currying favour from the Yoros, forget it. They don't use slimy snails for Ewedu Soup! You conveniently forgot to mention that your hero Awo actually served term at Calabar Prison, why? Did Zik spend one day in prison for any crime? Stupid fool.
RE- pastor Tunde Bakare
Submitted by uzo okeke (not verified) on December 10, 2011 - 14:02.
Jude Morah, i sincerely hope you are not and agent of the state, Pastor Bakare led a fight for restoration of constitutional principles on the street of Abuja, to wit, that Jonathan be allowed to step in as acting president. He never met Yaradua in his live time and never claimed he did. Is it that you were refering to Bishop David Oyedepo and co that went to ASO Rock at that time after Pastor Bakare turned down the offer to come? pls verify your facts and publish when and where Pastor Bakare made such statement.
Story story STOOORY
Submitted by Anonymous soa (not verified) on December 10, 2011 - 12:52.
Segun thank u, welcome back from harvard,u wan belong again, let ur journalist brother steal his own bucks too,u pple shd keep ur rubish to yourselves and stop playing upon our intelligence, where are all the Ruben Abati's thought provoking articles, we knew he was writting it then just to belong, now that he is there, his voice has change, the other time he was abusing elderly Achebe for turning down their Greek gift. By d time JEGA's tenure endedn he come and tell us a fairy tale. Abeg Segun go and sit down.
power.politics and death
Submitted by ndubisi (not verified) on December 10, 2011 - 11:40.
Adeniyi is a hypocrite and worse he claims to be a born again christian. At a time he told us inspite of the rigging that Yar- Adua could have won the election ie justifying the rigging as it was no crime. Pray if a rich man steals or one who is of a rich parentage steals does it make the act justifiable. Adeniyi was part of the cabal and he along with the others should be made to explain what happened those days.
I have said it once, i will
Submitted by Wilson (not verified) on December 10, 2011 - 04:56.
I have said it once, i will say it a thousand times. Mr Segun Adeniyi cannot fool me again and i hope Nigerians in their millions will throw the nonesense he has written into where it rightly belongs;the trash can! He must have developed the boldness to put pen on paper because of the believe that Nigerians suffer from acute memory loss. Well, not all of us do, for the role he played in collaboration with the cabal when the late president was ill is still very fresh in our memory.
No amount of image laundering will change our knowledge of who he truly is. If the motive behind the book is pecuniary, i pray he achieves his aim. However, if the aim is to re-write or distort history, HE SHALL fail woefully, for the true history is known to us all.
KISS YOUR MONEY AND HEALTH GOODBYE
Submitted by IBRAHIM SAAD (not verified) on December 10, 2011 - 02:14.
"American security agents had penetrated the (German) hospital and had gained access to the president's health profile,"
THAT IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT. THE TRUTH IS THAT A CIA AGENT TREATED HIM AT WORST OR THE CIA OWNS THE MANAGEMENT OF THE HOSPITAL AT BEST. THAT IS WHAT YOU GET BY DESTROYING OUR HOSPITALS. I WILL LIKE TO WARN MILLIONAIRE NIGERIANS FOND OF KEEPING MONEY ABROAD THAT THE CIA HAS YOUR RECORDS. THEY KNOW ALL THE DIRTY THINGS YOU DO IN YOUR HOTEL ROOMS AND MANSIONS. YOU WILL NEVER GET YOUR MONEY BACK. START ANY UNUSUAL WITHDRAWALS AND YOUR NEXT MEDICAL CHECKUP WILL BE YOUR LAST. FOR HIGH VALUE TARGETS LIKE GEJ OR DIEZANI THEY MUST HAVE PLANTED, A NANOTECH SATELLITE CONTROLLED POISON DISPENSER SOMEWHERE IN THEIR BODIES. WHICHEVER WAY IT IS A LOST GAME AS THE DOLLAR WILL SOON COLLAPSE. ITS THEN THEY WILL KNOW THE FUTILITY OF GRAFT.
Thank God the aborigines are not Osus
Submitted by deri (not verified) on December 10, 2011 - 02:12.
@Wahala, not different from Chukwumerije who served Abacha after he had sent over 3m (Ajekutas-mamu-omis) to their early grave during the civil war. Can be forgiven cause he may not know that the aborigines in the Niger Delta, are not cannibals like him. He should also let his ethnic group who act like oil spills in Nigeria, know that(the Yar'Adua-led amnesty program offered to militants in the Niger Delta, where foreign oil firms have pumped crude oil for more than 50 years, once had his uncle Zik as the primier of the region where the oil wells are located.. Despite the billions of dollars earned yearly from oil sales, the region remains desperately poor and polluted) according to Adeniyi. In spite of the fact that Zik was ceremonial president of Nigeria. Awo gave the West, Liberty stadium, free education and the 1st TV station in Africa-while Zik was being charged with the theft of revenue in ACB-by the british--yet they talk when the free borns are talking in Aso Rock!
may be aborigines but thank God they are not Osus
Submitted by Deri (not verified) on December 10, 2011 - 02:10.
@Wahala, not different from Chukwumerije who served Abacha after he had sent over 3m (Ajekutas-mamu-omis) to their early grave during the civil war. Can be forgiven cause he may not know that the aborigines in the Niger Delta, are not cannibals like him. He should also let his ethnic group who act like oil spills in Nigeria, know that(the Yar'Adua-led amnesty program offered to militants in the Niger Delta, where foreign oil firms have pumped crude oil for more than 50 years, once had his uncle Zik as the primier of the region where the oil wells are located.. Despite the billions of dollars earned yearly from oil sales, the region remains desperately poor and polluted) according to Adeniyi. In spite of the fact that Zik was ceremonial president of Nigeria. Awo gave the West, Liberty stadium, free education and the 1st TV station in Africa-while Zik was being charged with the theft of revenue in ACB-by the british--yet they talk when the free borns are talking in Aso Rock!
Adeniyi is a typical Yoruba
Submitted by philip Tivary (not verified) on December 10, 2011 - 01:03.
Adeniyi is a typical Yoruba man.
@ Ify-Demo 4ever
Submitted by Wähala (not verified) on December 10, 2011 - 00:13.
You are the slimy liar for claiming the "current President took it up from there...relative peace in that region". Didn't we read about the "Abandoned Aborigines" in Zululand right here on SaharaReporters! What relative peace, when just yesterday we learnt that the JTF stopped six battalions of agrieved ex-militant thugs on their way to protest in Abuja? What are they protesting against if you're here claiming everythng is honky-dory? You are a fence-sitting fraud who doesn't know what side to belong to on issues. You obviously only read the comment sections and jerk into conversations you understand little of. You're even emptier than a combination of Deri & Dumbo! An Aschlecker!
Furthermore, what was Nigeria's daily output (petroleum) before and after Ya'Ardua's peace deal with the militant creek crooks? It was after he sent them to Zululand that Aboki's JTF fully moved-in to occupy the illegal crime camps. Sucker!
Who Killed Bayo Owu, The Onetime Gaurdian Jounalist?
Submitted by Sunday Njokede on December 10, 2011 - 00:08.
No comment!
Fake believers & unbelievers
Submitted by Gasky Truth (not verified) on December 9, 2011 - 23:38.
Yes! because niether Islam or Christainity are African or Nigeria religious. Nigerians are fake believers and Unbelievers of these religion.
So what is New!!
Submitted by naubiko(Original) (not verified) on December 9, 2011 - 23:23.
What Adeniyi has been covering was a know fact for a long time!! We read it on Sahara reporters everyday!!Adeniyi is a Shameless man with no conscience for the truth.He should bury his shame and so is Abati.
What does Adeniyi know about Odili?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 9, 2011 - 23:20.
Segun Adeniyi has many more questions to answer than this, what does he know about Odili and Rivers State stolen billions?
How did Ribadu and his crew, with the knowledge of Adeniyi arm wrestle Odili out of the 2007 PDP primaries paving the way for the ailing Yar'adua? Thtese are cogent questions that must be answered.
http://anjoorinadejuwon.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-does-adeniyi-know-abou...
ADENIJI's book
Submitted by AZA (not verified) on December 9, 2011 - 22:08.
One can say from the highlights that the author intends to insult Nigerians and the memory of the late President with his ill-conceived and ill-motivated publication. If one may ask: what did the author do to protect the interest of Nigerians when the 'cabals' took undue advantage of our vegetable president to loot the national treasury and share oil blocks? If the author did not feel any sense of responsibility to Nigerians the truth concerning the health of the late president when it mattered most, he should be advised to shut up and keep his peace until death. For me, the author is one bunch of rascal looking for attention and should be rudely ignored.
Not Worth More Than a Toilet Roll
Submitted by dandave (not verified) on December 9, 2011 - 21:20.
Adeniyi murdered sleep and could sleep no more. This explains his writing of this no worth than toilet roll book. The book has nothing new to expose other than craving a subtle 'soft landing' for evil errands he carried out for the predators in the then govt of Yardua. I urge all well-meaning Nigerians to boycott this 'satanic' book.
Nigerians dont let any body
Submitted by Lexy (not verified) on December 9, 2011 - 21:18.
Nigerians dont let any body deceive you. I want Nigerians to go and read what Yar dua told Obama about Nigerian oil. One on One, "CONVERSATION" Between Obama and Yar dua, June 25th 2008. You will all open mouth.
Nigerians dont let any body
Submitted by Lexy (not verified) on December 9, 2011 - 21:17.
Nigerians dont let any body deceive you. I want Nigerians to go and read what Yar dua told Obama about Nigerian oil. One on One, "CONVERSATION" Between Obama and Yar dua, June 25th 2008. You will all open mouth.
