Ab-Titchaz
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 30, 2008
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A testimony to the increasing health challenge of Mr. President is the fact that he now looks more emaciated.
"He suddenly started talking in inaudible tone although he was never loud in his speeches before. He was also finding it difficult to walk a long distance," an inside source said.
National Daily sources said that Yar'Adua's ailment made him resume late in office and leave the office within three to five hours of arrival. He allowed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Alhaji Mahmud Yayale Ahmed and his Chief Economic Adviser, Alhaji Tanimu Yakubu to treat most of the official files that demanded the President's personal attention. Most of his visitors were either directed to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan or his wife Turai who is very influential in managing the affairs of the presidency.
Sources said Turai became increasingly worried over the health condition of her husband when he did not regain the level of his usual fitness and had to depend on several hours of medical attention from specialist doctors in the Aso Rock Villa before he was recently recommended for oversea medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.
Turai, apart from concerns over the health of her husband, was equally apprehensive that the health problem may torpedo his re-elections plans if he did not fully regain the required energy to criss-cross the fields of 36 states of Nigeria including the FederalCapitalTerritory, Abuja, to campaign for votes.
National Daily sources said President Yar'Adua's physicians actually recommended that Yar'Adua be flown to Germany for treatment in the hospital where he was usually attended to. But he rather chose a hospital in Saudi Arabia contrary to Aso Rock Clinic physicians preference.
Yar'Adua's choice of Saudi Arabia is to enable him use the opportunity to perform his Umra (lesser hajj) and afterwards check into the hospital for the vital medical treatment.
"Yar'Adua would have loved to see his physicians in Germany but you know as a good Moslem the Umra (lesser Hajj) is important to him.
"Though Aso Rock doctors advised him to go to Germany, he decided to have the treatment in Saudi Arabia" a knowledgeable source said.
"Though Aso Rock doctors advised him to go to Germany, he decided to have the treatment in Saudi Arabia" a knowledgeable source said.
Yar'Adua eventually traveled to Saudi Arabia last week Friday for a scheduled medical check-up.
"In the course of his stay in Saudi Arabia, the president will also perform the lesser Hajj (Umra)," Special Adviser to the President on Media Affairs, Segun Adeniyi, said, adding that the President was expected to be away for one week. But National Daily Intelligence at the weekend revealed that contrary to the much publicised return after one week President Yar'Adua is still being attended to by doctors in the Saudi hospital. There was however, no official explanation to the delay in Mr. President's return to the country.
Sources disclosed that the surprise public announcement of Yar'Adua's treatment by Mr. Adeniyi followed a series of foreign medical trips that were concealed from the public and exclusively exposed by Saharareporters, a citizen journalism website.
In July, it was reported that President Yar'Adua secretly visited a hospital in Rome while attending the G8 meeting. That revelation of his hidden medical sojourn led him to return home.
Yar'Adua's health challenges resurfaced during his recent state visit to Brazil where he suffered serious symptoms and needed intensive medical attention, according to information from a Brazilian source and corroborated by an aide traveling with him.
Also, Presidency sources revealed that, during a recent visit to Egypt, President Yar'Adua met with doctors flown in from Germany. He spent four days in the care of the German doctors in Egypt, returning home in time to co-chair the cancer fundraiser by his wife, Turai, which raked in about N10 billion.
Yar'Adua is expected to stay in Saudi Arabia for one or two weeks, according to medical sources knowledgeable about his medical condition.
Yar'Adua had managed to keep up an appearance of a healthy individual by visiting party carpetbaggers and attending public events that have taken a serious toll on his fragile health. Our sources said Yar'Adua's health has continued to deteriorate despite his public attempts to project a portrait of robust health. "His showy appearances were made possible by the use of anabolic steroids," disclosed one of our sources.
President Yar'Adua who is expected back before weekend is said to be battling Churg Strauss disease, which is reported to have caused a progressive decline in his organ functions, especially his kidneys.
The President travelled to Saudi Arabia for more than two weeks last August. His absence raised serious concerns about his fitness to govern Africa's most populous nation.
On arrival in Saudi Arabia Yar'Adua met with his physicians, to assess the true state of his ailment.
Since the president left for Saudi Arabia last week Friday for medical examination and to perform the lesser Hajj, there have been speculations over the state of his health.
Sources said that Yar'Adua who was officially received as a guest of the Saudi royalty is currently residing in one of the palatial guest houses of King Fahd Ibn Abdulazeez of Saudi Arabia as the king's special guest.
This gesture from the Saudi royalty is because Yar'Adua is regarded as the leader of the most populous black Moslem country in Africa.
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