Despite sponsored media reports by pro-Yar’adua groups, impeccable sources familiar with the condition of the ailing Nigerian ruler have again told Saharareporters that Yar’adua “will not be returning to Nigeria anytime soon, if he does at all,” in the words of one of them.
Despite sponsored media reports by pro-Yar’adua groups, impeccable sources familiar with the condition of the ailing Nigerian ruler have again told Saharareporters that Yar’adua “will not be returning to Nigeria anytime soon, if he does at all,” in the words of one of them.
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The latest briefing by our sources is consistent with several disclosures by our correspondents on Mr. Yar’adua’s health status. “His return date is uncertain, but it won’t be soon,” said one of our sources. This position is further strengthened by an official declaration by the Nigeria’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Mr. Abdullahi Garba Aminchi, who last week told members of the foreign media that “only Yar’adua’s doctors could determine his date of return to Nigeria.”
Our sources indicated that Yar’adua’s health took a bleak turn last week after three major organs had failed within a 24-hour period heightening fears that his condition might never improve to the point that he could quickly return back to Nigeria as planned by members of his kitchen cabinet.
The unofficial but close-knit kitchen cabinet is led by his wife, Turai, and includes his Minister of Agriculture, Abba Ruma, his Chief Economic Adviser, Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi, the governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki, and former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori. The group had orchestrated media reports and told political groups loyal to them that Yar’adua was returning last weekend. Amongst the group, only Turai has unfettered access to Yar’adua in the intensive care unit of the hospital where he is located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The group’s main motivation was the desire to keep control of power until such a time that Yar’adua can return to Nigeria. “Given his current state, the earliest he can be brought would be late in December, if the group decides to damn the consequences of bringing him dead or alive,” said our source.
The source stated that available information “shows that Yar’adua could potentially make it back to Nigeria with lots of padding, but he will never have the stamina to run Nigeria again.” This source said the doctors treating Yar’adua have told his wife that he would be effectively incapacitated to function as Nigeria’s chief executive, but she has reportedly waved aside the medical advice. “Turai’s position is that all Yar’adua needs to run Nigeria is for him to be able to breathe, and she as well as their closest allies will take care of the rest,” said the source.
Our source, who is very close to the Yar’adua family, revealed that Yar’adua had not run Nigeria for the past two years. The source stated that, since a US hospital rejected Yar’adua’s bid for a kidney transplant earlier in the year, Yar’adua’s condition had deteriorated progressively but had been hidden from the public. The US hospital had stated that, given the advanced stage of Yar’adua’s sickness, he would be unviable for a transplant procedure.
Asked why Goodluck Jonathan was not given the needed instrument to take over, the source maintained that Turai and other members of the “kitchen cabinet” had treated Mr. Jonathan like a piece of trash in the last two years and are dead scared that he would use presidential power to pay them back in kind. Across the political spectrum of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Jonathan is perceived as former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s lapdog and stooge. “There are elements within the party, and in the North especially, who believe that the Vice President cannot be trusted to stand on his own. And these are people who can’t stand the possibility of Obasanjo remotely controlling the affairs of the country once again,” said a PDP source.
Another source said Jonathan also has a problem of lack of guts, contrasting him against former Vice President Abubakar Atiku. “Atiku would have taken over power by now if he were in Jonathan’s shoes,” said the source.” He added that, while Jonathan may have loads of good luck charms, he doesn’t possess a battalion of “area boys” to stand with him in the battle “against Yar’adua’s Katsina mafia boys and the First Lady.”
Investigations by Saharareporters indicate that Jonathan has been numb and static since Yar’adua’s unceremonious evacuation to Saudi Arabia on November 23 on account of a medical emergency. “Jonathan is highly suspicious that all attempts to discuss the current constitutional crisis with him is a kind of set up by people looking to exploit his precarious situation,” revealed a source close to Jonathan. In order to stay clear of the direct attack of Yar’adua’s inner circle, Jonathan has tried to project an upbeat, optimistic stance about his boss’s health. Last week, he assured organizers of the Nigerian Economic Summit that Yar’adua would be able to address them via video tele-conferencing. But the summit took place yesterday with no address from Yar’adua.
Our source said many of Jonathan’s allies and friends were disappointed by his choice to continue in his role as a “social prefect” while allowing Obasanjo to work underground for him. The former president was sighted last week in Kaduna where he met with a handful of Northern political leaders and Emirs to push the candidacy of Jigawa State’s lack-luster governor, Sule Lamido, as a vice president in the event of Yar’adua’s resignation or death and Jonathan’s ascension to the presidency. As Obasanjo left Kaduna, the Northern elites he met with reportedly spoke about him with derision. They accused him of nursing selfish motives in his efforts to impose another Northern weakling as Jonathan’s VP. Shortly afterward, Lamido collapsed at a public function and had to be hospitalized. A relentless Obasanjo is now trying to push the VP candidacy of Senator Jubril Aminu, a 70-plus former ambassador to the US and Adamawa State senator, who is said to be battling with health issues of his own.
Many top Northern politicians are reported to be uncomfortable with the fact that Obasanjo controls most PDP State governors. A source that worked with him during the 2007 elections said he personally imposed most of the state governors in PDP on their respective states, including in Katsina State, where Yar’adua hails from. Obasanjo remains the chairman of the ruling party’s board of trustees. “In the absence of Yar’adua, Obasanjo and his group will re-emerge as the dominant cell in the PDP,” said a source in the party’s headquarters in Abuja. “A lot of people don’t want to see that, which is why many of us are praying for Mr. President’s recovery in Saudi Arabia.”
PDP sources disclosed that the jostle for the VP ticket is raging quietly between three groups: one revolved around the Obasanjo group, a group sponsored by Secretary to the Federal Government, Ahmed Yayale, and a group anchored by Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara.
Politically, the Obasanjo group is seen as the strongest. Our PDP source said that, despite his frequent outbursts, Senate President David Mark and several pro-third term lawmakers and close to 16 state governors are working together with Obasanjo to find a suitable Vice President for Jonathan should efforts to bring Yar’adua back fail.
However, all the groups are super-careful because of what has been described as the “Yar’adua effect," referring to Yar’adua’s habit of sacrificing several of his lieutenants and political associates each time he suffers a prolonged bout of illness and somehow miraculously survives the illness. Sources who knew him well in Katsina said Yar’adua’s greatest strength is his ability to hide information about his real condition of health from those who should know. Although his handlers were compelled to disclose this time around that he suffers from acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscles, his inner circle has since refused to provide further information about his condition or progress.
“Yar’adua is a taciturn politician with a disdain for giving information to the public,” a former Katsina aide of his told Saharareporters. “You can imagine that since he fell ill, no delegation of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) or even members of the kitchen cabinet have gone to see him. The only exception is Governor Saraki who was turned back last week. Besides, no delegation from the Saudi king has gone near Yar’adua’s hospital to visit him as is the global tradition.”
To underscore Yar’adua’s strategy of keeping his cards close to his chest, members of his kitchen cabinet have been authorized by his wife to start a media blitz this week about Yar’adua’s strong recovery and also to drum up the theme of a second term campaign. “The group has decided that the only way to drown out reports of Yar’adua’s failing health is to tell Nigerians that the man plans to be around for another five or six years as president,” said a source. “If he ever makes it back into Abuja, that propaganda will take off in full force.”
As the crisis of legitimacy dogs government operations, members of Yar’adua’s kitchen cabinet have become more desperate in fueling propaganda that Yar’adua was rebounding. They have tried to put access to information about Yar’adua’s true health condition in a lockdown. The conspiracy to hide information also involves Saudi Arabian authorities. Our source said Saudi authorities swore Yar’adua’s medical doctors to an oath of secrecy and banned further reporting of his health situation in the local media, claiming that Yar’adua is a “trust” of the Saudi king. Every medical information regarding Yar’adua’s prognosis, treatment and so-called “recovery” have been taken down from the hospital computer system.
Meanwhile, Yar’adua’s absence has enabled officials in his government to engage in a looting frenzy, according to a source in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The source told Saharareporters that government officials and ministers are having an end of year bazaar with public funds. Before Yar’adua’s departure to Jeddah, only about 20% of the 2009 budgets had been implemented, “But since his departure there is a rush to guzzle up federal allocations to the various ministries,” said the source.
One particular concern pertains to the Yar’adua government’s pledge to generate “6,000 megawatts” of electricity by the end of December 2009. The project, mainly handled by Yar’adua’s economic adviser, Tanimu Kurfi, has so far gulped $5 billion this year alone, with most of the funds coming from the Excess Crude Account. Even so, numerous power industry sources told Saharareporters that the project has become a huge drainpipe for monumental graft by a group led by Tanimu and Rilwan Olanrewaju Babalola, the minister in charge of power. Both men are said to be organizing what one source described as the most expensive gas supply contracts to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria. Babalola is chairman of PHCN, being the supervising minister, while Kola Adesina, who is a director with Sahara Oil and Gas Limited, is vice chairman of PHCN. Sahara Energy is linked with the gas supply contracts.
Yar’adua is known to ask for the return of unspent annual budgets as a way of claiming that that he runs a “transparent government.” However, sources knowledgeable about the practice, which Yar’adua imported from Katsina State where he was state governor for eight years (amidst frequent and often prolonged medical leaves) said he simply does that because of his inability to implement budgets due to ill-health.
Meanwhile, Turai and other allies of her bed-bound husband are making long-term plans to “continue to rule on Yar’adua’s behalf” if he makes it back to Abuja, said a source, adding that the group already knows the value of acting as proxies for a “deadbeat president”.
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