Tokunbo Adedoja and Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
8 September 2008
Lagos — Ahead of his resumption of work today, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua played host to Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, Senate President David Mark and some state governors at the Presidential Villa in Abuja last night.
As reported by THISDAY yesterday, the President will decorate the newly promoted service chiefs with their ranks today.
THISDAY confirmed that the President's meeting with key government officials started around 9 pm and was still on by 11 pm.
Aides to the President and other government officials kept sealed lips over the meeting, but THISDAY learnt it was part of his planned resumption activities having been absent from office for over two weeks.
The President had travelled out to Saudi Arabia on August 20 ostensibly for lesser hajj, but apparently underwent a comprehensive medical check-up, leading to speculations that he was seriously ill.
Yar'Adua returned to the country in the early hours of last Saturday and had not been seen publicly since then, further fuelling media reports that he had barred visitors from seeing him.
Meanwhile, Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki has slammed Nigeria's political elite for carrying out a "campaign of calumny" on the health status of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.
He said they "should wait for their time" instead of spreading false rumours that can cause instability in the country over the health of Yar'Adua.
Saraki, who spoke with newsmen yesterday at the Ilorin International Airport Presidential Lounge, shortly after returning from his vacation abroad, said: "Power comes from God. If it is not your time, it is not your time. We should not create unnecessary crisis. People should not invite unnecessary crisis."
According to him, the speculations over the ill-heath of President Yar'Adua might have been fuelled by power tussles among political elite whom he warned to put a stop to such insinuations "so the country can move forward".
He said: "The President's issue is an important one. I really believe that in matters like this, it is not something that we should speculate on. It is the President of the country we are talking about, not just of another country. Yes, there might be arguments that there was not enough information but then, two wrongs don't make a right. We need more prayers and understanding. We need to avoid speculations."
Saraki added: "Last night, a newspaper called me that they were doing a story on the President and that they learnt I was the only one who could see him at Aso Rock yesterday. I told the newspaper it was all a lie but they did not believe so I gave them a London landline to call me from where I spoke with them because as at that time I was not in the country."
While appealing to the media to treat the matter in the interest of the nation's democratic growth, the governor said the reports in some newspapers over the matter were all lies.
He agreed that the issue of the President's health was important to the nation but "it is a sensitive issue that should not be treated with levity".
He confirmed that he saw the President while in Saudi Arabia following the various reports on his health.
On his long vacation, Saraki said: "I was on a well-deserved long vacation. Normally, I intended to take short vacation but after five years I thought a long one was all right. Twice, I had to break the holiday to attend to issues of national importance. One of them was the teachers' strike, which thankfully has been resolved."
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If the Queen goes to the hospital, it will be part of the news, they wont hide it from the populace, so what is the big deal that Nigerian government is hiding that of their president. This man is sick, you can see it on his face. PDP should let this man to go and rest, he cann't cope, unless they want him to died in aso rock like abacha. If it is in the western world the man himself could have resigned. Turai, you better advised him, so that you don't become the first lady of the widow.