Highly confidential information reaching Saharareporters indicates that Umaru Yar'adua’s health has not improved enough to enable him to return to Abuja as soon his aides and ministers predicted to the press. Our source disclosed that “The current health crisis is one of the most serious since President Yar’adua came to office.”
Saharareporters had exclusively reported that Yar'adua’s trip to Saudi Arabia was for urgent medical care, not the stated purpose of performing the lesser hajj or umra announced by his aides.
Saharareporters further reported exclusively that Mr. Yar’adua’s trip to Brazil had been cancelled and members of his advance team were recalled to Abuja from the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos as they waited to board an airline to Brazil via London.
Yar’adua’s uncertain state of health has created a political vacuum in Abuja. As in past trips, Yar’adua was flown out of Abuja without handing over to Goodluck Jonathan to act as “president.” As a result, the planned decoration of recently appointed service chiefs had to be put on hold. Aso Rock has been scrambling to come out with an official explanation as Nigerians wait in vain. When Yar'adua did not show up for the second time to decorate the new service chiefs, the officers had to settle for handling handing over ceremonies to their respective successors.
Saharareporters has learnt that Nigeria’s newspaper publishers and other media owners connived to black out news of Yar’adua’s latest health crisis. Our correspondents learnt that the publishers were co-opted into the deception game in the name of “national security reasons,” according to an insider aware of the deal between the media and the Yar’adua regime.
Our sources said that former Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos reportedly met with Yar'adua before he departed to Saudi Arabia and promised to take charge of the publishers on Yar'adua's behalf. Mr. Tinubu owns huge stakes in the The Nation, National Life, and a TV station, GOTEL. Unconfirmed reports put Tinubu in Saudi Arabia with Yar'adua. The former governor is said to have undertaken to persuade Atiku Abubakar to drop his legal challenge at the Supreme Court against Yar'adua's election.
The publishers’ commitment to keep the lid on news regarding Yar’adua’s ill health unraveled when Yar'adua could not be found to preside over the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held at the Aso Rock villa. The meeting held yesterday.
Emerging from the meeting, two of his ministers—Ojo Madueke of External Affairs and John Odey of Information—spoke to State House correspondents in a poorly executed effort to dismiss reports that Yar'adua was bed-ridden in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia as earlier revealed by SaharaReporters.
But our sources within the regime revealed to us that none of the ministers or aides to Yar'adua knew his whereabouts or his state of health. “Only Madam (Turai), the CSO, and two other people can tell where Oga is,” volunteered an Aso Rock insider who spoke to SaharaReporters about the confusion.
However, a reliable source told Saharareporters that Yar'adua might be returning to Abuja on Saturday or Sunday if his doctors certify him fit enough to travel back to Nigeria.
As we reported earlier, Yar'adua is undergoing treatment in one of the Saudi German hospitals in Saudi Arabia. The decision to go to Saudi Arabia was taken by his family and political associates to avoid an embarrassing situation that may fuel further security angst that Yar'adua is not fit to govern Nigeria due to ill health. He left Abuja precisely eight days ago in company of his wife, Turai, one of his daughters, his Chief Security officer/ Aide De Camp (ADC), two German doctors and two State House pilots.
Sources at the Aso Rock villa said insiders in Yar’adua’s regime are making efforts to bring him back by the weekend. “It’s been discussed that, even if it means bringing on a life support, he should not stay outside Nigeria beyond the weekend. If he does, it may be hard to sustain the lie that he’s on umra,” said our source.
Saharareporters is yet to ascertain what forms of treatment Yar'adua underwent on this trip, but a knowledgeable source told SaharaReporters that he was hospitalized for most of the last seven days. The source said he managed to make a short appearance in a Saudi Mosque last week before he was returned to intensive care.
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