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Nigeria's Sick President flying back to Abuja?
quote: Nigerian president returning from Saudi -sources Tue Feb 23, 2010 10:59pm GMT
ABUJA, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua was being flown back to the capital Abuja on Tuesday, three months after he left for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, government sources said.
An official at Jeddah airport said Yar'Adua left at 10:22 p.m. (1922 GMT) in a first plane, followed by a second aircraft carrying Nigerian officials. (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: af.reuters.com/ ) (Reporting by Nick Tattersall and Felix Onuah in Abuja, Asma Alsharif in Jeddah; Editing by Louise Ireland)
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Whether Yaradua dies or not, Nigeria is about to teach the so called south-south a very important lesson. Lets see if a vice presidential candidate or vice president from south-south can actually become a presidential candidate or president!
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One of the close allies said Mr Yar�Adua was flying back from Saudi Arabia and would arrive back in Nigeria during the night.
quote: Yar�Adua returns to Nigeria
By Tom Burgis in Abuja
Published: February 24 2010 00:20 | Last updated: February 24 2010 00:20
Umaru Yar�Adua, Nigeria�s stricken president whose three-month absence has plunged Africa�s biggest energy producer into uncertainty, was flying home on Tuesday night, according to two close allies.
Mr Yar�Adua has been heard from only once since he was evacuated to Saudi Arabia in November after developing a heart complaint. His absence has visited on Nigeria the sternest test of a democratic era that began when soldiers handed power back to civilians in 1999.
Mr Yar�Adua�s failure to hand over interim powers to his deputy has been blamed on an inner circle that had resisted relinquishing control even temporarily, resistance critics say is due to a political system based on a network on patronage.
One of the close allies said Mr Yar�Adua was flying back from Saudi Arabia and would arrive back in Nigeria during the night.
The 58-year-old president of Africa�s most populous nation had travelled abroad before for treatment on a long-standing kidney condition but his latest absence has been widely considered to mark an end to his term in office.
Mr Yar�Adua said in a radio interview last month that he expected to return soon.
Earlier this month Goodluck Jonathan, the vice-president, was granted full powers as acting president by the national assembly.
The move appeared to exceed legislators� constitutional powers but closed a power vacuum that had left the nation on edge and prompted the military top brass to state that security services with a long record of participating in coups would not intervene.
It was unclear on Tuesday night whether Mr Yar�Adua would be fit enough to resume office. Elections are due next year and his ill health has prompted intense jockeying among the elite.
Under an unwritten pact within the ruling party that rotates the presidency every two terms between the regions of Nigeria�s uneasy federation, Mr Yar�Adua�s native north has another term at the helm. But there is no single obvious successor.
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February 24, 2010 01:08AM http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/National/5531188-146/story.csp#
Turai Yar'Adua has bundled her gravely ill husband onto an air ambulance and the couple and a coterie of close aides were making their way back to Abuja last night, scheduled to arrive in the pre-dawn darkness, highly placed sources told us last night.
As the nation's capital was gripped in the anxiety and near panic induced by the news, a convoy of vehicles including a new Ford E-250 intensive care ambulance made its way from Aso Rock and arrived in a secluded area of the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, awaiting its fragile cargo.
As at the time of going to press, it was not clear if the aircraft had landed, or in which city it would land. The sources say the ambulance was accompanied by the Presidential jet and that the recent installation of additional life support machine at the Presidential Villa suggests that Mr. Yar'Adua will be taken directly to Abuja, although apparently the flight plans filed on departure also list Kano and Katsina.
The news of the President's arrival is reportedly causing a lot of anxiety in Abuja especially among politicians, many of whom had prepared themselves for a post Yar'Adua era. Speaking to NEXT on condition of anonymity a source said the timing of the President's return is suspect especially as he is still clearly ill and in no position to undertake such an arduous journey. "We face total political chaos and government paralysis," an influential retired general told NEXT.
It is being speculated that Mrs. Yar'Adua, who orchestrated the return, is fearful of acting president Goodluck Jonathan's growing stature and acceptance as de-facto president of the country.
It is still unclear if the intention of this sudden action is to regain the upper hand in a power game that has steadily slipped out of Mrs Yar'Adua's control in the last few weeks.
The final turning of the tide appeared to come on the 9th of February when the Senate and the House of Representatives, invoking a "Doctrine of Necessity", passed resolutions asking the Vice President to assume the position and title of Acting President of the country. The powerful Governors' Forum wasted no time in shifting their pro-Yar'Adua stance and assured Mr. Jonathan of their support.
The Acting President immediately took charge of the government, effecting a minor cabinet reshuffle. He was immediately elected Acting Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to replace Mr. Yar'Adua.
In the last few days Mr. Jonathan has also garnered a groundswell of international support. Over the weekend he met separately with the former Presidents of America and Ghana, George Bush, and John Kuffour respectively, and the former Prime Minister of Britain, Tony Blair, who congratulated him and assured him of their support. The international community has in the last few weeks been vocal in expressing its concerns about the state of affairs in the country.
President Yar'Adua has been away from the country since the 23rd of November, 2009, when he was hurriedly flown to Saudi Arabia to seek medical attention. Days after his departure his personal physician revealed that the President had been diagnosed with pericarditis, an inflammation of the lining of the heart. That announcement, made through the President's spokesperson was the last information that would be revealed regarding the President's state of health, in all the time he has been away.
The three months since the President's departure have been marked by widening intrigues and campaigns of misinformation originating from the President's camp and aimed at concealing the actual state of his health, and obviating the need for a transfer of power to the Vice President. These schemes have been met with rising resistance from civil society groups, opposition parties and groups of influential politicians, including former heads of state.
On the 12th of January, two days after NEXT exclusively reported on the President's poor state of health, the British Broadcasting Corporation broadcast a telephone interview purported to have been conducted with the President.
Mr. Yar'Adua's return is coming barely twenty-four hours after Mr.Jonathan carried out his first official correspondence with the legislature, by sending a letter to the Senate requesting confirmation of his nominees for membership of the Code of Conduct Bureau.
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Yaradua's plane Arrives, Ambulance waiting, no confirmed sighting Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:11am GMT
* Two planes arrive at presidential wing of airport
* Ambulance waiting on tarmac
* State of president's health remains unclear
(Updates with two planes arriving)
By Felix Onuah and Afolabi Sotunde
ABUJA, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Two planes landed at the presidential wing of Nigeria's Abuja airport on Wednesday, hours after government sources said President Umaru Yar'Adua was expected to return from a Saudi Arabian hospital.
There was no immediate word on the condition of the 58-year-old leader, who left for a clinic in Jeddah three months ago to receive treatment for a heart condition.
"The president left at 10:22 p.m. (1922 GMT) alone in a plane and another plane carried Nigerian government envoys," the official at Jeddah airport told Reuters late on Tuesday.
An ambulance was waiting on the tarmac in Abuja as the planes landed, a Reuters witness said.
Nigerian government and presidency officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Soldiers and armed police arrived at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe international airport in Abuja, a Reuters witness said.
Yar'Adua's absence brought Africa's most populous nation to the brink of constitutional crisis and threatened to paralyse the business of government, until Vice President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as acting leader two weeks ago.
Yar'Adua has been receiving treatment for pericarditis, an inflammation of the membrane surrounding the heart that can restrict normal beating, and is also known to suffer from a chronic kidney condition.
The political implications of his return from Saudi Arabia will depend on the state of his health.
Jonathan could continue as acting president until such time as Yar'Adua's health recovers and he is fit enough to resume office. Should his condition be so serious as to render him incapable of holding office, he could step aside, allowing Jonathan to be sworn in as leader and name a new deputy.
Either way, new elections are due in Nigeria by April next year and few expect Yar'Adua to stand for a second term.
Neither the presidency, the ruling party nor the cabinet has given any details on his health since shortly after he left, fuelling speculation about the gravity of his condition.
A delegation of Nigerian ministers travelled to Saudi Arabia on Monday for an update on his health and had been expected to report back to a weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
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quote: Yar�Adua�s health worsens �Can�t eat, talk �Now on rechargeable chips By ADEWALE SANYAOLU Lagos and JAMES OJO, Abuja Wednesday, February 24, 2010 Yar�Adua Photo: Sun Publishing More Stories on This Section
Contrary to claims by Nigeria�s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Abdullahi Aminchi that he saw the president on Saturday and that he was recuperating fast, Daily Sun can authoritatively reveal that the information may afterall be a ruse, as findings revealed that the President�s health has taken a nosedive.
According to sources close to Daily Sun, the President�s health condition started deteriorating in the early hours of Saturday, which prompted the medical team to re-introduce some drugs that had earlier been discontinued. Specifically, it was gathered that the medical team had equally brought in a higher version of a life support machine different from the one that had been used prior to yesterday, a clear indication that the President�s health was not in anyway improving.
The source added that currently, the President can neither talk nor eat. Information available to Daily Sun indicated that the President is currently weighing less than 40 kilograms with no assurance that he can garner more weight in the next couple of weeks due to fatigue. Daily Sun equally learnt that the President�s medical team is in a fix as regards the next line of action, since all efforts to make his health condition improve have proved abortive.
In this regard, the medical team, according to the source, was considering the option of bringing in some medical experts from the UK, US and Israel to help in finding a lasting solution to Yar�Adua�s health crises. The source explained that the team has been in constant touch with the foreign medical team for some time and they have also been around on two occasions but had to leave when there were signs that he was responding to treatment.
The idea to bring back the medical team heightened yesterday when the first lady began to feel very uncomfortable about her husband�s health condition, even though there were assurances from the medical team that he would get better. But a competent source at the Presidency disclosed yesterday that President Yar�Adua has been placed on rechargeable chips to keep some organs functioning. �What we hear from Saudi is worrisome, the report is shocking. Right now, the president�s life is now on rechargeable chips. The chips are programmed, any day the chips packed up, that is the end,� the source said.
The source, who was in constant touch with one of the groups of Consultant Cardiologists who first treated President Yar�Adua when he arrived Saudi Arabia confirmed that the only way the president could be moved was to hire a Boeing 777 Air ambulance fully equipped as a hospital. According to him, the immediate family of the president in Saudi Arabia is aware of his precarious situation and that they have intensified prayers for his recovery. However, Saudi monarch, King Fahd Abdulaziz has ordered the removal of the ailing President from the Royal Fahd Military Hospital to an undisclosed guest house where chartered cardiologists are dotting over him.
Daily Sun had exclusively reported last week that Yar�Adua had been moved to a guarded military hospital on the order of King Fahd. The movement was one of the reasons no delegation from Nigeria was able to see him since he left Nigeria on November 23, 2009. Among the delegations that had visited Saudi Arabia without seeing the president are the team from the Governors� Forum, the leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a delegation from the House of Representatives.
Today, the report of the five-man delegation from the House is expected to be laid at the plenary. Meanwhile, the six ministers who left the country yesterday to Saudi Arabia may not see the President afterall. This gives credence to the exclusive story published by Daily Sun on Monday on why the ministers would not see Yar�Adua. According to the itinerary of the visiting Ministers, visit to the President was conspicuously missing on their agenda to the holy land, a clear indication that the visit would be a jamboree.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Madueke had made it known yesterday that the team�s visit to Saudi Arabia was not to ascertain the health status of the President but to pay homage to the Saudi King and express the appreciation of the government and people of Nigeria for his magnanimity and that of his government in hosting ailing Nigeria�s President in the last three months or thereabout.
quote: Yar�adua is back News Written by Theophilus Abbah & Nasir L. Abubakar Wednesday, 24 February 2010 03:12 President Umaru Musa Yar�adua�s long medical sojourn in Saudi Arabia ended early this morning when two planes landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja. While the first plane, an air ambulance, landed at 1.47am, a second one, the presidential aircraft, landed at 1.54am. As soon as the first plane landed, the small convoy of cars already waiting at the Presidential Lounge drove to the tarmac and came to a stop near it. There were about five cars, one of which was a Ford ambulance recently acquired by the State House. Soon after the two planes landed, Daily Trust learnt that a large group of security agents and Foreign Ministry protocol officials who moved towards them were chased away by presidential bodyguards. Only a handful of bodyguards and the planes� crew members were allowed near the planes as the president alighted, so it was not clear whether he walked into the waiting cars or was helped into them. The scene was also dark, but the ambulance was seen moving towards the parked planes. Yar�adua had been away from the country for 90 days. He had earlier departed Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at 9pm Nigerian time [11pm local Saudi time] last night in a convoy of three different aircraft. Indications that Yar�adua was about to depart the Saudi Kingdom first became manifest yesterday when a long convoy of royal cars and police escort vehicles were seen at the Royal Guest House in Jeddah, where he had been recuperating for several weeks since he left the King Faisal Hospital in December. At around 7pm Nigerian time yesterday, the convoy drove out to the airport, and two hours later the president�s plane departed for Nigeria. Signs of his return however became more visible as the night wore on, and our reporters saw columns of soldiers with armoured personnel carriers taking positions at Wuse, at the intersection between the Airport Road and Olusegun Obasanjo Way. Our reporters also saw a small convoy of cars sweeping into the airport�s presidential wing at about 11pm. It included a Ford ambulance. Yar�adua�s return plans were a tightly-kept secret, as several government officials said last night that they were unaware of the president�s impending return. However, there were indications that Acting President Goodluck Jonathan�s office got wind of them, because some items on his itinerary for today were hastily cancelled. Jonathan�s office had earlier invited media chiefs from all over the country to dine with him in Abuja tonight, but late in the afternoon yesterday, officials called and cancelled the dinner without advancing any reasons. Earlier yesterday, Jonathan held a long meeting with Niger Delta community leaders and state governors, following which he suspended the on-going Niger River dredging project. Daily Trust also learnt that the 6-man delegation of Federal Ministers that arrived in Jeddah early in the morning yesterday delivered the Nigerian government�s letter of thanks to the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal. The letter, addressed to Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz, thanked him for his generous hospitality to Yar�adua while the treatment lasted. However, the ministers� plans to fly on to Jeddah to see Yar�adua were aborted when they heard that the ailing president was already on his way to the airport, on his way home. The ministers then quickly changed their plans and are expected to return to the country this morning, in time for today�s meeting of the Federal Executive Council, likely to be chaired by Yar�adua himself. The ministerial delegation, led by Foreign Affairs Minister Chief Ojo Maduekwe, comprised Secretary to the Government of the Federation Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, Health Minister Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, Petroleum Minister Dr. Rilwanu Lukman, Agriculture Minister Dr. Abba Sayyadi Ruma as well as Attorney General and Minister of Justice Adetokunbo Kayode, SAN. Their trip was at the behest of the FEC, which directed them on Wednesday last week to undertake the trip, officially billed to thank the Saudi King and to see Yar�adua. Many observers however saw it as the first step in invoking Section 144 of the Constitution to declare Yar�adua permanently incapacitated from holding his office. Yar�adua had been out of the country since November 23, last year when he left for Jeddah to treat an ailment later described as pericarditis, or inflammation of the heart�s linings. The president also has a long history of kidney disease. Two weeks ago, when Yar�adua failed to transmit a letter of medical vacation, the National Assembly unanimously passed a resolution recognising Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President. He is expected to relinquish the role today with Yar�adua�s return.
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