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There were indications yesterday that the Royal Palace of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia may be getting increasingly uncomfortable with the continuing stay of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital, Jeddah, as they believe “he is well enough to travel back to Nigeria to continue his recuperation,” diplomatic sources told THISDAY. Yar’Adua left Nigeria for Saudi Arabia to seek medical attention for acute Pericarditis, a heart-related disease, 62 days ago. While the Saudis are “happy and indeed honoured” to host the Nigerian leader, they are worried that “his continuing stay in hospital may lead to other complications resulting from long hospitalisation which may expose him to other ailments.” Signals from the Saudi Royalty coupled with last Friday ruling by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Dan Abutu, that the Executive Council of the Federation should within 14 days make public resolution to determine the state of health of the president have intensified the pressure on him to return home to restore his presidency in the face of mounting protests at home over his continuing stay abroad and refusal to constitutionally hand power to Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to act on his behalf. Aside from the Saudi authorities growing unease and the court ruling, the statement on Thursday by former President Olusegun Obasanjo calling on Yar’Adua to take the path of honour and morality if his health would not allow him to perform his responsibilities, has also become a strong source of pressure on Yar’Adua to return to Nigeria as many of his supporters, especially among governors and lawmakers are jumping ship in droves. Obasanjo’s statement had divided the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as some believe the ex-president had spoken the minds of many party leaders who are only exercising restraints for the sake of decorum. The Saudi authorities believe doctors have done their work and that he is well enough to return home while the rest can be taken care of by Nigerian doctors and post-hospitalisation consultations. THISDAY checks reveal that Yar’Adua often moves around his hospital suite unaided but may have lost as much as eight to 10 kilos of his normally lean weight, prompting his wife, Turai and family members to wanting him to regain some of his weight and stability before returning home. It is also believed that his continuing stay in hospital could lead to unenvisaged problems, which long stay in hospital can bring, especially through nurses and other hospital staff. The Saudis are believed to be reaching out to influential Nigerians to urge the First Lady, Turai, to persuade her husband to return home as soon as possible. Hajia Yar’Adua, the Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ambassador Abdullahi Aminchi, who was deputy to Yar’Adua as governor of Katsina State, and a few personal aides are said to be the only ones that have access to the President at the hospital. The access, is said not to always translate to influence while those with influence and constitutional authority have no access to the President in his hospital suite. The Saudi thinking feeds on the political dynamics in Nigeria. For example, it is believed that the Friday court ruling has added to the pressure on ministers who will now have to show their hands in the face of mounting public outcry. The full import of the ruling is such that in line with the provision of Section 144 of the 1999 Constitution, ministers cannot take an informed decision to comply with the court ruling without access to the president by the minister of health and other senior cabinet members. Said an analyst in Abuja, “how can ministers pass a resolution on the health of the president they have not seen or spoken to? Such a resolution would not only expose them to legal challenges, but make them a laughing stock of the nation. For them to pass a credible resolution, they must have access to the president.” It is also believed that since the last Thursday statement by Obasanjo on the options available to Yar’Adua, there are fears in the president’s inner circle that he may return to Nigeria and become a president lacking in crucial support as several governors and lawmakers have jumped ship. The fear of the unsettling impact of the various developments on Yar’Adua’s absence from the country may be constituting intense pressure on the President to return to Nigeria earlier than he and his wife have envisaged and that may be as early as next week.
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When will we stop hearing about this man called Obasanjo ? WHEN !

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan and former President Olusegun Obasanjo met at a secret location in Abuja on Wednesday night, THISDAY can report.

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Although THISDAY could not confirm the venue and details of the meeting, it was learnt that the talk did not take place at the Vice-President’s Akinola Aguda House residence in Aso Rock.

The meeting, which started before midnight and lasted for about three hours, afforded the immediate past president, who was instrumental to the Yar’Adua/Jonathan ticket in the 2007 presidential election, an opportunity to offer far-reaching advice to the Acting President.

Obasanjo flew into Abuja in a private jet around 8pm on the day. After the meeting ended around 2am yesterday, he flew out of Abuja an hour later.

An aide to Jonathan, who confirmed the meeting, said the Acting President was open to support and advice from all quarters, as he had already held meetings with other key stakeholders in the polity.

And the wheel of government, which had virtually been clogged with the power vacuum created by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s prolonged absence, is now running in full force as Jonathan yesterday swore in 17 new Federal Permanent Secretaries.

Jonathan also played host to principal officers of the Senate at his residence and promised to start sending executive communications to the National Assembly soon.

Jonathan became Acting President on Tuesday after the two chambers of the National Assembly passed resolutions empowering him to assume full presidential powers in the absence of Yar’Adua who left the country for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia on November 23 last year.

Meanwhile, the former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Mike Aondoakaa, was also seen at the Abuja airport last night on his way out of the country.

He was said to be heading to somewhere in Europe “to rest” a day after he lost his high-profile job in a minor cabinet reshuffle.

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, and three other members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party left Abuja via London yesterday to brief Yar'Adua on the developments in Nigeria.

The decision of the leadership of the PDP to visit Yar'Adua in Saudi Arabia was taken after the NWC meeting with the principal officers of the National Assembly at the PDP office in Abuja.

Three governors, Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina) and Gabriel Suswam (Benue) had left Nigeria for Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to meet Yar'Adua.

The delayed swearing-in of the permanent secretaries had raised concerns as the Vice-President could not swear them in without full presidential powers and many ministries had been operating without the heads of bureaucracy for months.

The permanent secretaries, comprising three women and 14 men, had been selected since November last year through written and oral process but their swearing-in and assumption of office had been stalled until yesterday.

While receiving the principal officers of the Senate in an early morning visit, Jonathan assured them that the executive arm of government would continue to maintain cordial working relationship with the legislative arm of government.

He also thanked members of the National Assembly for their courage in moving the nation forward in spite of the heated debate occasioned by the President’s absence.

Senate President David Mark, who led the Senate leadership on the visit, prayed God to give Jonathan the courage and wisdom to lead the country in the right direction, assuring him that “we will join you to continue to pray for quick recovery for President Umaru Yar’Adua”.

Mark was accompanied by his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu; the Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin; Senate Chief Whip, Senator Mahmud Kanti Bello; Senate Minority Leader, Senator Maina Maaji Lawan; Deputy Minority Leader, Senator Olorunnibe Mamora; Minority Whip, Senator Ahmed Yerima; Deputy Majority Whip, Senator Mohammed Mana; and Deputy Minority Whip, Senator Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya.
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This post has been allegedly written by a US based Medical practitioner and originally posted online on various blogs around the 15th of December 2009 .Google the first line in bold to see. Quite an interesting read . I just woke up to read this idiotic piece dished out to Nigerians. First, let me say, that beyond all reasonable doubt that if the diagnosis and the muddled up information dished out by the demons in PDP are true, then Mr. Yar'dua is not coming back to Nigeria, at least NOT on his feet. Please do not get me wrong, do not mistake my take as being cold hearted or see me as a woman without African compassion in her. In fact I feel all these because I was once in the shoes of Mrs Yar'dua. Not that my own man had his kind of influence or money, but I loved him with all my heart all the same. OK, look at this, the man is not able to speak or he is inaudible if he does. No mam/sir, the man cannot speak at all. The man is on a ventilator, he is intubated to secure the airway because someone did not have the presence of mind to intubate him, secure his airway, hyperventilate him en route to Saudi Arabia, so he SUFFERED ANOXIC NEURO DAMAGE. It takes only 3mins and at best 5 mins for any one to suffer irreversible brain damage without oxygen. So, his fool of a doctor putting him on oxygen via nasal cannula will only give the man nose bleed without making much difference. . Doctors flown in from Germany and America will not make a difference. The man had a cascade of chemical activities when his heart failed or should I say when he suffered vascular collapse in Abuja. These chemical reactions will open the gates for toxic reactions hence his systemic collapse. It takes only a couple of minutes, 8 mins precisely or may be a little longer in some strange people for the chemical to bring down the whole system. In that case, he will be in a vegetative state . What is happening now is that they have put him on life support, he can neither talk or blink, he is in what we call CATATONIC STATE, with only the severely compromised brain ticking away. In that case , his algorithm will be very erratic on the monitor.. They can give him all the epi. in the world and it will not make a difference. I am almost sure the man is on life support. I want to assume he also has a trach. They will do that to access his lungs to see if miracle can happen as soon as he arrived in the hospital because his airway would have been compromised by the time he got to the hospital. Where we cannot get a line into a patient, we go for O/S, and that is we go through the the trachea to get the lungs filled with oxygen. Sometime, the man will be artificially kept alive as long as his heart is still registering on the monitor, no matter how poor his algorithm may be. In that case, he will be dead and alive at the same time. However, we do keep them on to see if they will make a miraculous come back. There are some things, indeed a lot of things medicine cannot explain. One of which is the phenomenon of the COME BACK KIDS. as we call them. We keep them on as long as per family request until the register a PEA on the monitor and then they go away forever. Those moments are so surreal. So, what is Madam President is doing now is hoping that the man will make a miraculous come back. I am surprised Gov saraki is part of this caper because he is before anything else a medical professional who from all indications does not know what is on in our world anymore. The man will speak to the nation? common guys, this guy ain't speaking to no one but his creator. He cannot speak because he has tubes in his throat or though his nasal septum. Actually he has more than that. let me tell you guys what he has: 1. FOLEY CATH: That is a tube going through his penis to his bladder to drain urine into a urine bag for measurement. The essence of it is to see his urine osmolality and to measure the kidney function. We want to see at least 30 ml of urine per hour. In his case, it is not likely because the reports say his kidneys are gone. Poor guy. besides, we do not want him to void on himself so that we do not have issues of skin break down from the ammonia in the urine. 2. RECTAL TUBE: that is the one that will collect all the feces if at all. That is to maintain hygiene. We also want to see the color, size, viscosity of the feces. It tells a lot. That is besides the fact that he is in ICU or IMU, nurses on those wards are not known to tolerate an incontinent patient. Besides, you do not want to accidentally dislodge a tube because all the alarms will go off at the same time. I once rotated to IMCU and the noise from the monitors almost drove me to drink. I do not drink at all. 3. TRACHEOSTOMY: That is meant to be part of his breathing tubes which will be connected to a ventilator. because the lungs are crappy now, am sure his secretions will be suctioned for him so that he does not drown in his own fluids. 4. G or J TUBe: That is to maintain nutrition for him and to see his if he can make a miraculous come back. 5. OROPHARYNGEAL TUBES: connected to the ventilator. helps him to breathe. 6. NASO GASTRIC TUBE: Not likely because the oro is already in, but may be they were not able to get in the oro tube and since he did not have a facial or cranial wound, he may be a candidate for the naso tube. If his his oral airway had been compromised before he got to Saudi Arabia. The dumb doctor did not intubate him, his airway would have become occluded and so we go through the nasal septum. 7. CENTRAL LINE: that is to medicate him, draw labs which will be done round the clock at least B. I.D to see his chemistry. I hope they gave him the triple lumen so that if he cannot tolerate a g-tube, he will be getting parentral nutrition. His eyes may be wide open which is kind of creepy or it may be shut. If it is my facility, we will close the eyes so that there is no corneal damage. If the eyes are left open, his people will ignorantly think he is looking at them and some times families think they see the man blinking. yeah right..The rise and fall of the chest may look even tot he uninitiated, they may think his respiration is even and unlabored, but it is the ventilator working. The man may no longer be taking spontaneous respiration. it is the machines breathing for him. The family may think other wise. Is there something am missing? please remind me in your reply. The point is Mrs Yar'dua might be going through the stages of grief which is understandable. Look, when mine was in the throes of death, I walked in the icy rain of Washington, DC and I did not feel it. I went into denial. I almost gambled away my license. I went to Dr Yamamoto, my daughter's instructor when she rotated to Cardiology. He is the 5th cardiologist in the USA. I asked him to do a miracle. I wept like a baby because I saw him slipping into death. Stages of grief are 4: 1. DENIAL : no it is not happening. He will come back. Lightening will strike and all of you will be shamed. I feel her pain. 2. ANGER: You feel betrayed by the patient. You blame him for being sick. You cuss at him and at every one who tells you anything contrary to what you want to hear. 3. BARGAINING; you attempt to bargain with God and get all the prayer warriors to pray to God to give you a second chance. 4. ACCEPTANCE: You accept the party is over and allow the man to go. I feel her pain. She will get there. I went through it. I cussed at mine on some occasions, I cried and rocked him like a baby in the next minute. I dropped 5. dress sizes. I went into deep sadness. I blamed every body, lashed at him while he was sick. Tried all the hospitals all over the world. Got through to a friend practicing in South Africa for a heart transplant and blew all my savings including my childrens' money hoping for a miracle. he eventually expired and I almost suffered a melt down. Now, guys, having said that, I have zero respect to all those fools in Nigeria who have what we call the FOOT MOUTH DISEASE. Seriously, there is a disease like that, but IT IS FOUND IN COWS. Those folks in the national assembly are mentally below cows in the realm of things. May God help us, and am genuinely praying, but it is not likely the man will come back. That is however, based on the premise that all what we have read is true. ANONYMOUS for good reason ___________________________________________________________________________ *Prof Bolaji Aluko Commentary* The sentiments of the above compelling communication by a qualified medico with a personal story to tell to boot can be indepedently verified as hitting some of the medical marks with respect to this important health matter of President Yar'Adua. The President is apparently in no position to sign anything under such physico-medical distress/duress that would be legally acceptable. It is left to the National Assembly and/or FEC to act - or to wait on Fate. One hopes that we are not in a Death Watch..... Bolaji Aluko Saddened
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Nigerian President, Umaru Yar’Adua, is returning to Saudi Arabia, the second time in about two months, sources at the presidency said on Monday. Consequently, he might not be present at this year’s United Nations General Assembly, which is currently on in New York, where more than 150 world leaders will be in attendance. Again, Nigeria might just miss out on another opportunity to lobby for a permanent seat at the UN. African leaders are also expected to meet with the president of the United States, Barack Obama, to discuss issues of concern to Africa and the US. No representation named (Speculations are Turai The First Lady might be chosen as She did a "great"Job Represneting Nigeria in Vienna for the Atomic Energy Conference The president, who had earlier planned to attend the Assembly with some of the ministers, has scaled back on his plan even though he was offered a slot to address the international forum. As of Monday evening, no one knew if the Minister of External Affairs, Ojo Maduekwe, will still attend the event. Mr. Yar’Adua was in the Arab country last month for a three-week break, during which he attended the lesser Hajj and also saw doctors in the country for medical examination. The trip was announced ahead, although presidency officials have refused to state what is wrong with the president and what kind of medical treatment he is receiving in Saudi Arabia. The UN Assembly will, on Tuesday, start a session to salvage the climate, and on Wednesday, after the grand opening, the debates will begin, with the agenda of the international body ranging from Middle East Peace to Terrorism and Global Poverty. We gathered that instead of planning a trip to New York, aides of Mr. Yar’Adua were actually focused on a trip to Saudi Arabia, where one of them said he might have to attend to unfinished business. Sources in the presidency said the president had planned to attend the grand opening of the Assembly on Wednesday; but as things stand, no further plans have been made for the trip to New York.
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