February 26, 2010
Several sources in Abuja have told Saharareporters that last night’s much-anticipated meeting between Nigeria’s Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan, and Umaru Yar’adua’s wife, Hajia Turai, became an emotional moment for Hajia Turai Yar’adua. The meeting took place at the Presidential Villa.
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Our sources revealed that a tearful and subdued Turai expressed shock and disbelief at the level of opposition and hostility directed at her and her husband’s associates since their arrival from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“The Turai who showed up at the meeting did not display her signature swagger and arrogance,” said a source familiar with the encounter.
Recent statements by Segun Adeniyi, Yar’adua’s spokesperson, also mirror Turai’s mellow manner. After Yar’adua’s team issued a first statement referring to Jonathan as vice president, instead of acting president, Mr. Adeniyi has clarified that Jonathan is properly in charge of the government. In addition, the presidential spokesman today corrected an earlier statement that Yar’adua had been forwarding medical updates to Jonathan.
In the last few weeks, ahead of her decision to rush her gravely ill husband back to Nigeria, Turai had ordered and personally coordinated salvoes of political and media attacks against Jonathan. The attacks were calculated to weaken Jonathan and to undermine his ability to assume any real power.
But at last night’s meeting with Jonathan, it was clear that Turai was slowly coming to terms with the fact that her much-treasured run as “First Lady” was about to end. She begged Jonathan to see them as part of the same family and implored him not to accept or believe the stories circulating that she brought her husband home as part of a strategy to rule Nigeria by force or proxy. She assured Jonathan that she recognized that he is in charge and should do everything he can to keep the Presidency rolling.
Our sources said Jonathan played along, assuring her of his unwavering loyalty to her ailing husband. He reportedly reminded her that since the president left for treatment in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, he had tried to keep a low profile and hoped as well as prayed that his “brother President” would fully recover soon.
However, the tone of their discussion reportedly changed when Jonathan requested to see the “President”. A visibly rattled Turai then said it was not possible, claiming the President was “resting”.
Jonathan reportedly told Turai to convey his greetings to the President, but also to inform Yar’adua that they have to meet the next day to enable Jonathan to check on his health and to discuss the way forward for Nigeria.
Sources have told Saharareporters that, in the wake of last night’s meeting, a panic-stricken Turai has been preoccupied with coming up with excuses to thwart a face-to-face meeting between Jonathan and Yar’adua tonight or anytime in the foreseeable future.
Our sources revealed that Yar’adua’s ambitious wife, who flew in early Wednesday with her husband, had actually hoped to wrest power from Jonathan and to govern in the name of her bed-ridden husband. “She was simply shocked to discover much Nigerians had moved on without her husband and herself,” a source told Saharareporters. Other sources indicated that Turai had had great difficulty rallying “some of their old dependable troops” as information had filtered around that Yar’adua was not making progress health-wise in Saudi Arabia three months after his medical evacuation from Nigeria.
Saharareporters learnt that, by evening on the of Yar’adua’s sneaky return, Turai had become overwhelmed by the torrent of negative press. “She was also shaken up to suddenly realize that her political troops had all disappeared,” said a source close to her.
The source revealed that the collapse of Turai’s retinue of political fighters owed to two factors. “First, she had entrusted the campaign for her husband in the hands of a group of wimps headed by Anyim Pius Anyim. The group quietly melted away in the face of a strong wave of public opposition to Yar’adua in December 2009,” said the source. Another source who worked with the Anyim group disclosed that Ibrahim Mantu and Pascal Bafyau embezzled funds entrusted to them to prosecute the pro-Yar’adua campaign. “So early in the life of the group, there was fierce fighting over money,” he said.
Turai and Tanimu Kurfi then funded a second group of Yar’adua supporters, this time coordinated by Jerry Gana, a former minister in Olusegun Obasanjo’s government. But that also suffered defeat quickly as self-confessed oil-boom billionaire, TY Danjuma, made a bold move to sabotage its agenda. At a meeting, Danjuma reportedly pulled out and handed a blank cheque to Gana, asking the former minister to write himself an amount that would cover how much he was offered to work for Yar’adua. After that encounter, Gana and his group turned against Yar’adua – going as far as pledging loyalty to Jonathan.
Turai’s high-handedness also proved costly against her cause, according to our investigative findings. From Saudi Arabia, she made a habit of placing phone calls to berate or intimidate some top northern politicians who called for her gravely sick husband to hand over to Jonathan. As news of her arrogant behavior spread among the circles of northern politicians, many of them decided to distance themselves from her and her husband.
“Her story is one of betrayal of some of her family’s closest supporters,” a northern politician told Saharareporters, adding that “she even didn’t care to take good care of some of the officials who first traveled out to Saudi Arabia when the president was flown out.” He disclosed that the maltreated officials were responsible for providing the first leaks about Yar’adua’s grim medical condition when they were eventually repatriated home. “They told many of us that Yar’adua was a lost cause.”
A security source told Saharareporters that, contrary to the latest propaganda peddled by some of his associates, Yar’adua did not walk into the ambulance brought to the airport on Wednesday. The source told Saharareporters that Yar’adua “cannot walk and it is doubtful if he can speak coherently.”
A highly connected political source disclosed that some of Yar’adua’s core loyalists, including his chief economic adviser, Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi, Minister of Agriculture, Sayyad Abba Ruma, and the Federal Capital Territory minister, Adamu Aliero, “are in a deep quandary as it has become clear to them that power has changed hands.” The source added that many progressive northern politicians have finally convinced Goodluck Jonathan to become more assertive and to act with presidential boldness after the initial setback created by Yar’adua’s unceremonious return to Nigeria.
Investigations by Saharareporters have uncovered some facts about the power struggle that attended Yar’adua’s sudden return. Our findings showed that many political actors played a power game marked by sycophantic behavior and an absence of principle.
Saharareporters learnt that Jonathan displayed fright once he was told that Yar’adua was airborne. In panic, he placed phone calls to several politicians seeking advice and help. One of the people he called was former Vice President Atiku Abubakar Atiku, but the former VP chickened out, pleading that he did know what advice to offer in the circumstances.
The most embarrassing and striking part of the long night was that the politicians who had made a habit of going to pilgrimage at Jonathan’s residence since the National Assembly mandated him to act as President disappeared the moment they heard Yar’adua was on his way to Nigeria.
As soon as Yar’adua was wheeled into the presidential villa in an ambulance, his ADC and CSO rushed to secure his presidential seat, sending a clear message to Jonathan that his days of presiding over the Federal Executive Council were over. Our source said the decision to prevent Jonathan from presiding was taken by Tanimu Kurfi, the CSO and ADC as well as Yar’adua’s principal secretary, David Edevbie, an associate of former Governor James Ibori.
Disturbed when he heard about the plan to humiliate him, Jonathan refused to enter the chambers except on the condition that the CSO, Yusuf Tilde, and ADC to Yar’adua left the room. The two officers reportedly conferred with other Yar’adua insiders and then contacted Turai at the residence through the hotline usually reserved for notifying Yar’adua that the Council was ready to meet. Our sources revealed that Turai insisted that they not allow Jonathan to preside over the meeting if he was going to sit on her husband’s seat.
But when the ADC and CSO tried to enforce Turai’s wishes, they found out that only the Head of Service, Steve Orosanye, supported them. Taken aback, they succumbed and agreed that Jonathan should after all preside.
While the drama was playing out, the cabinet delegation that had gone to Saudi Arabia to see Yar’adua returned. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ahmed Yayale, was appalled to witness the standoff. He called and counseled Jonathan to stand his grounds. Our sources said Yayale was playing an “endgame” with the Yar’adua loyalists, knowing that the prospects of his political survival as a member of Team Yar’adua were slim. Several sources told us that Orosanye’s anti-Jonathan stance arose from his bitterness that Jonathan had become too close to Yayale. “Orosanye regards Yayale as a sworn enemy because Yayale has opposed his civil serice reforms,” said a source in the Presidency.
It remains uncertain if Jonathan met Yar’adua tonight, but our sources said the acting president “is determined to see President Yar’adua regardless of his state.”
A diplomatic source told Saharareporters this evening that some high-level talks had commenced to offer Yar’adua “some concessions if he would turn in his resignation and return to his home state of Katsina to rest.” The source added that one of the deals being discussed is to involve Yar’adua’s team in the decision over a suitable choice of vice president for Jonathan Goodluck.
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Our sources revealed that a tearful and subdued Turai expressed shock and disbelief at the level of opposition and hostility directed at her and her husband’s associates since their arrival from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“The Turai who showed up at the meeting did not display her signature swagger and arrogance,” said a source familiar with the encounter.
Recent statements by Segun Adeniyi, Yar’adua’s spokesperson, also mirror Turai’s mellow manner. After Yar’adua’s team issued a first statement referring to Jonathan as vice president, instead of acting president, Mr. Adeniyi has clarified that Jonathan is properly in charge of the government. In addition, the presidential spokesman today corrected an earlier statement that Yar’adua had been forwarding medical updates to Jonathan.
In the last few weeks, ahead of her decision to rush her gravely ill husband back to Nigeria, Turai had ordered and personally coordinated salvoes of political and media attacks against Jonathan. The attacks were calculated to weaken Jonathan and to undermine his ability to assume any real power.
But at last night’s meeting with Jonathan, it was clear that Turai was slowly coming to terms with the fact that her much-treasured run as “First Lady” was about to end. She begged Jonathan to see them as part of the same family and implored him not to accept or believe the stories circulating that she brought her husband home as part of a strategy to rule Nigeria by force or proxy. She assured Jonathan that she recognized that he is in charge and should do everything he can to keep the Presidency rolling.
Our sources said Jonathan played along, assuring her of his unwavering loyalty to her ailing husband. He reportedly reminded her that since the president left for treatment in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, he had tried to keep a low profile and hoped as well as prayed that his “brother President” would fully recover soon.
However, the tone of their discussion reportedly changed when Jonathan requested to see the “President”. A visibly rattled Turai then said it was not possible, claiming the President was “resting”.
Jonathan reportedly told Turai to convey his greetings to the President, but also to inform Yar’adua that they have to meet the next day to enable Jonathan to check on his health and to discuss the way forward for Nigeria.
Sources have told Saharareporters that, in the wake of last night’s meeting, a panic-stricken Turai has been preoccupied with coming up with excuses to thwart a face-to-face meeting between Jonathan and Yar’adua tonight or anytime in the foreseeable future.
Our sources revealed that Yar’adua’s ambitious wife, who flew in early Wednesday with her husband, had actually hoped to wrest power from Jonathan and to govern in the name of her bed-ridden husband. “She was simply shocked to discover much Nigerians had moved on without her husband and herself,” a source told Saharareporters. Other sources indicated that Turai had had great difficulty rallying “some of their old dependable troops” as information had filtered around that Yar’adua was not making progress health-wise in Saudi Arabia three months after his medical evacuation from Nigeria.
Saharareporters learnt that, by evening on the of Yar’adua’s sneaky return, Turai had become overwhelmed by the torrent of negative press. “She was also shaken up to suddenly realize that her political troops had all disappeared,” said a source close to her.
The source revealed that the collapse of Turai’s retinue of political fighters owed to two factors. “First, she had entrusted the campaign for her husband in the hands of a group of wimps headed by Anyim Pius Anyim. The group quietly melted away in the face of a strong wave of public opposition to Yar’adua in December 2009,” said the source. Another source who worked with the Anyim group disclosed that Ibrahim Mantu and Pascal Bafyau embezzled funds entrusted to them to prosecute the pro-Yar’adua campaign. “So early in the life of the group, there was fierce fighting over money,” he said.
Turai and Tanimu Kurfi then funded a second group of Yar’adua supporters, this time coordinated by Jerry Gana, a former minister in Olusegun Obasanjo’s government. But that also suffered defeat quickly as self-confessed oil-boom billionaire, TY Danjuma, made a bold move to sabotage its agenda. At a meeting, Danjuma reportedly pulled out and handed a blank cheque to Gana, asking the former minister to write himself an amount that would cover how much he was offered to work for Yar’adua. After that encounter, Gana and his group turned against Yar’adua – going as far as pledging loyalty to Jonathan.
Turai’s high-handedness also proved costly against her cause, according to our investigative findings. From Saudi Arabia, she made a habit of placing phone calls to berate or intimidate some top northern politicians who called for her gravely sick husband to hand over to Jonathan. As news of her arrogant behavior spread among the circles of northern politicians, many of them decided to distance themselves from her and her husband.
“Her story is one of betrayal of some of her family’s closest supporters,” a northern politician told Saharareporters, adding that “she even didn’t care to take good care of some of the officials who first traveled out to Saudi Arabia when the president was flown out.” He disclosed that the maltreated officials were responsible for providing the first leaks about Yar’adua’s grim medical condition when they were eventually repatriated home. “They told many of us that Yar’adua was a lost cause.”
A security source told Saharareporters that, contrary to the latest propaganda peddled by some of his associates, Yar’adua did not walk into the ambulance brought to the airport on Wednesday. The source told Saharareporters that Yar’adua “cannot walk and it is doubtful if he can speak coherently.”
A highly connected political source disclosed that some of Yar’adua’s core loyalists, including his chief economic adviser, Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi, Minister of Agriculture, Sayyad Abba Ruma, and the Federal Capital Territory minister, Adamu Aliero, “are in a deep quandary as it has become clear to them that power has changed hands.” The source added that many progressive northern politicians have finally convinced Goodluck Jonathan to become more assertive and to act with presidential boldness after the initial setback created by Yar’adua’s unceremonious return to Nigeria.
Investigations by Saharareporters have uncovered some facts about the power struggle that attended Yar’adua’s sudden return. Our findings showed that many political actors played a power game marked by sycophantic behavior and an absence of principle.
Saharareporters learnt that Jonathan displayed fright once he was told that Yar’adua was airborne. In panic, he placed phone calls to several politicians seeking advice and help. One of the people he called was former Vice President Atiku Abubakar Atiku, but the former VP chickened out, pleading that he did know what advice to offer in the circumstances.
The most embarrassing and striking part of the long night was that the politicians who had made a habit of going to pilgrimage at Jonathan’s residence since the National Assembly mandated him to act as President disappeared the moment they heard Yar’adua was on his way to Nigeria.
As soon as Yar’adua was wheeled into the presidential villa in an ambulance, his ADC and CSO rushed to secure his presidential seat, sending a clear message to Jonathan that his days of presiding over the Federal Executive Council were over. Our source said the decision to prevent Jonathan from presiding was taken by Tanimu Kurfi, the CSO and ADC as well as Yar’adua’s principal secretary, David Edevbie, an associate of former Governor James Ibori.
Disturbed when he heard about the plan to humiliate him, Jonathan refused to enter the chambers except on the condition that the CSO, Yusuf Tilde, and ADC to Yar’adua left the room. The two officers reportedly conferred with other Yar’adua insiders and then contacted Turai at the residence through the hotline usually reserved for notifying Yar’adua that the Council was ready to meet. Our sources revealed that Turai insisted that they not allow Jonathan to preside over the meeting if he was going to sit on her husband’s seat.
But when the ADC and CSO tried to enforce Turai’s wishes, they found out that only the Head of Service, Steve Orosanye, supported them. Taken aback, they succumbed and agreed that Jonathan should after all preside.
While the drama was playing out, the cabinet delegation that had gone to Saudi Arabia to see Yar’adua returned. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ahmed Yayale, was appalled to witness the standoff. He called and counseled Jonathan to stand his grounds. Our sources said Yayale was playing an “endgame” with the Yar’adua loyalists, knowing that the prospects of his political survival as a member of Team Yar’adua were slim. Several sources told us that Orosanye’s anti-Jonathan stance arose from his bitterness that Jonathan had become too close to Yayale. “Orosanye regards Yayale as a sworn enemy because Yayale has opposed his civil serice reforms,” said a source in the Presidency.
It remains uncertain if Jonathan met Yar’adua tonight, but our sources said the acting president “is determined to see President Yar’adua regardless of his state.”
A diplomatic source told Saharareporters this evening that some high-level talks had commenced to offer Yar’adua “some concessions if he would turn in his resignation and return to his home state of Katsina to rest.” The source added that one of the deals being discussed is to involve Yar’adua’s team in the decision over a suitable choice of vice president for Jonathan Goodluck.
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