Y. Abdulfattah Olajide
10 September 2008
Governors continued to troop to the Aso Rock Presidential Villa yesterday to pay President Umaru Yar'adua solidarity visits.
The governors of Ogun,Abia, Bor-no, Nasarawa, Kogi and Anam-bra States were among these who called at the villa yesterday, bringing the number of gover-nors that have visited the presi-dent since Monday when he resumed official functions to 13.
Governors of Jigawa, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Gombe, Rivers, Ada-mawa and Kastina states, had earlier called at the villa on Monday.
Yar'adua returned from a 17-day religious and medical trip to Saudi Arabia last Saturday. Speculations were rife over his health while he was away, and before he made public appea-rance on his return to the country.
Speaking with State House correspondents after emerging from a meeting with the presi-dent, Abia State Governor Theo-dore Orji said although Yar'adua is fit enough to rule the country, his fellow Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members do not wish him well.
Orji, elected on the platform of Progressive People's Alliance (PPA) said, "We believe in go-vernment of national unity. If you take a good look at the people criticising him, they are even in the ones in the President's party. They are the ones criticising him and wishing him dead. People in the opposition are not wishing him bad, they are wishing him well."
Asked whether he thinks the president is fit to complete his four-year term, Orji said "Sure haven't you heard of presidents who rule on wheel chairs, sure the president is okay and very capable. You see, rumour is part of politics, people will continue to talk and talk, it is rumour. I have seen that the President is okay but the way they were talking about it honestly you will expect that if you come here you will not see any persons in that office but he is there attending to people."
Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel said Yar'adua "was radiating joy to me. He was quite happy, quite excited. I saw him working very hard and I didn't want to bother him too much but we discussed matter of state."
On whether the governors were kept in the dark over the president's state of health, Daniel replied, "That could not be right. We had information about where the president went, and of course there was the insinuation that he combined that with medical procedure and that is normal. I do that myself all the time so they are no issues."
On his part, Borno State Governor Ali Sheriff said, "I think it will be wrong for people to say things about the state of health. We are all human beings. It is only God who does not get sick."
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