August 19, 2008
Saharareporters, New York
Facing yet another health crisis, Umaru Musa Yar'adua may be flown to a German-operated hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He will be treated for a few days at a Saudi-based German hospital known as Saudi German Hospital.
Mr. Yar’adua's present sickness has provided a public relations nightmare for his wife and closest aides who dread the political fallout of public knowledge that Yar’adua remains in fragile health condition. Last week Tuesday, Yar'adua canceled a meeting with newspaper publishers due to medical emergencies.
A reliable source within Aso Rock told Saharareporters that this concern with public perception led to a decision to announce Yar’adua’s medical trip to Saudi Arabia as a lesser hajj. Muslim fasting commences in two weeks time.
Yar'adua will not be traveling with his aides or his Nigerian doctor in order to make the trip appear like a private religious trip. He is expected to be away for one week starting from tonight.
Yar’adua, who was thrust into the presidency in last year’s massively rigged election, has been bedeviled by a series of health crises.
At the end of July 2008, Yar’adua collapsed in the presidential vehicle on his way to a launch at the Yar'adua Center in Abuja (named for his late elder brother). He was driven back to Aso Rock Villa, missing the ceremony he was to attend.
Dating back to his presidential campaign days, Yar’adua has been flown several times to Germany for treatment. But his present relapse has created a dilemma on how to embark on another international medical trip to Germany. His closest aides calculate that another emergency medical trip to Germany would be politically costly.
“The fear is that another medical trip to Germany might leave the impression that President Yar’adua is too physically ravaged to continue the day-to-day running of the country,” said a source close to the Yar’aduas.
Yar’adua’s wife, Turai Yar’adua, who is personally overseeing the campaign to influence Supreme Court justices to uphold her husband’s election, is particularly worried about any perception that her husband is too frail to continue in office, according to several of our sources. Mrs. Yar’adua has recently rebuffed pleas by some northern leaders to encourage her husband to endorse the idea of new presidential elections—and to announce his retreat from running. She has countered that, even if her husband dies in office, he would not be the first Nigerian ruler to do so, pointing to the case of Sani Abacha, the late military dictator.
The plan to fly Yar’adua to Saudi Arabia became the option once his inner circle decided that it would be politically damaging to return him to Germany to see his doctors.
Saharareporters has exclusively reported that Yar'adua suffers from Churg Strauss syndrome, a condition that kept him hospitalized in a hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany for 10 days last April.
Yar’adua’s medical treatments in Germany have also created a legal problem for Bilfinger Berger, the parent company of Julius Berger, Nigeria's biggest construction company with a reputation for corruption. German State investigators are poring over Bilfinger Berger’s financial documents over improper payments made to Nigerian public officials in relation to several construction projects.
According to published reports corroborated by officials of the Yar'adua regime, Julius Berger has been responsible for flying Yar'adua to hospital in Wiesbaden. Some of the hospital bills footed by Julius Berger are believed to be the subject of investigations and inquiry by the German police, BKA.
The Saudi German Hospital, where Yar’adua is to be treated, has three operational hospitals in different Saudi cities. The hospital’s locations are in Jeddah (with a 250-bed capacity), Asir (400 beds), and Riyadh (300 beds). The hospitals boast world-class facilities, including departments in Nephrology and Psychiatry.
Once his doctors in Saudi Arabia certify him fit enough, Yar’adua plans to embark on a state visit to Brazil and later the United Nations General Assembly in New York early September.
Saharareporters confirmed that Yar'adua would be headed for the Saudi German hospital in Jeddah by tonight or later tomorrow unaccompanied by his aides and personal physician so as to give the impression that his visit is private and religious.
POSTSCRIPT: The planned trip is currently on hold as controversy rages amongst his aides as the news of his latest health crisis is believed to have leaked to Saharareporters.
Facing yet another health crisis, Umaru Musa Yar'adua may be flown to a German-operated hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He will be treated for a few days at a Saudi-based German hospital known as Saudi German Hospital.
Mr. Yar’adua's present sickness has provided a public relations nightmare for his wife and closest aides who dread the political fallout of public knowledge that Yar’adua remains in fragile health condition. Last week Tuesday, Yar'adua canceled a meeting with newspaper publishers due to medical emergencies.
A reliable source within Aso Rock told Saharareporters that this concern with public perception led to a decision to announce Yar’adua’s medical trip to Saudi Arabia as a lesser hajj. Muslim fasting commences in two weeks time.
Yar'adua will not be traveling with his aides or his Nigerian doctor in order to make the trip appear like a private religious trip. He is expected to be away for one week starting from tonight.
Yar’adua, who was thrust into the presidency in last year’s massively rigged election, has been bedeviled by a series of health crises.
At the end of July 2008, Yar’adua collapsed in the presidential vehicle on his way to a launch at the Yar'adua Center in Abuja (named for his late elder brother). He was driven back to Aso Rock Villa, missing the ceremony he was to attend.
Dating back to his presidential campaign days, Yar’adua has been flown several times to Germany for treatment. But his present relapse has created a dilemma on how to embark on another international medical trip to Germany. His closest aides calculate that another emergency medical trip to Germany would be politically costly.
“The fear is that another medical trip to Germany might leave the impression that President Yar’adua is too physically ravaged to continue the day-to-day running of the country,” said a source close to the Yar’aduas.
Yar’adua’s wife, Turai Yar’adua, who is personally overseeing the campaign to influence Supreme Court justices to uphold her husband’s election, is particularly worried about any perception that her husband is too frail to continue in office, according to several of our sources. Mrs. Yar’adua has recently rebuffed pleas by some northern leaders to encourage her husband to endorse the idea of new presidential elections—and to announce his retreat from running. She has countered that, even if her husband dies in office, he would not be the first Nigerian ruler to do so, pointing to the case of Sani Abacha, the late military dictator.
The plan to fly Yar’adua to Saudi Arabia became the option once his inner circle decided that it would be politically damaging to return him to Germany to see his doctors.
Saharareporters has exclusively reported that Yar'adua suffers from Churg Strauss syndrome, a condition that kept him hospitalized in a hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany for 10 days last April.
Yar’adua’s medical treatments in Germany have also created a legal problem for Bilfinger Berger, the parent company of Julius Berger, Nigeria's biggest construction company with a reputation for corruption. German State investigators are poring over Bilfinger Berger’s financial documents over improper payments made to Nigerian public officials in relation to several construction projects.
According to published reports corroborated by officials of the Yar'adua regime, Julius Berger has been responsible for flying Yar'adua to hospital in Wiesbaden. Some of the hospital bills footed by Julius Berger are believed to be the subject of investigations and inquiry by the German police, BKA.
The Saudi German Hospital, where Yar’adua is to be treated, has three operational hospitals in different Saudi cities. The hospital’s locations are in Jeddah (with a 250-bed capacity), Asir (400 beds), and Riyadh (300 beds). The hospitals boast world-class facilities, including departments in Nephrology and Psychiatry.
Once his doctors in Saudi Arabia certify him fit enough, Yar’adua plans to embark on a state visit to Brazil and later the United Nations General Assembly in New York early September.
Saharareporters confirmed that Yar'adua would be headed for the Saudi German hospital in Jeddah by tonight or later tomorrow unaccompanied by his aides and personal physician so as to give the impression that his visit is private and religious.
POSTSCRIPT: The planned trip is currently on hold as controversy rages amongst his aides as the news of his latest health crisis is believed to have leaked to Saharareporters.
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