President Umaru Yar'adua is not in a severe health condition as being rumoured and he is getting better after being attended to by doctors in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria's ambassador to the Kingdom Abdullahi Garba Aminci told Daily Trust yesterday.

"He is getting better, and he is having some rest," Aminci said by telephone from Jeddah, while reacting to rumours circulating in Nigeria and abroad suggesting that the president died yesterday.

Yar'adua, 58, is at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Jeddah. He left Nigeria on Monday to, according to the presidency, "call on his personal physicians in Jeddah for follow-up medical checks."

Reports on Tuesday said he was hospitalised and was undergoing some tests. But yesterday, there was apprehension around the country as people make frantic telephone calls and send text messages to their contacts, seeking for confirmation on the state of the president's health.

"He is not in a bad situation as is being rumoured," Aminci said yesterday. "Right now as I speak to you (4.23pm in Nigeria, 6.23pm in Saudi Arabia) he is at the hospital, he is being attended to by doctors. I and his wife are now on our way to Mina to perform the Hajj rites there. If he is in a bad condition, we would not have left him at the hospital."

There has not been any official information as to the nature of the president's ailment, but reports say he is suffering from a chronic kidney problem.

Aminci did not specifically mention what was wrong with the president, but said, "From what doctors said, he needs rest. He has an illness, yes, but they said what he needs is some rest."

He added: "When I was with him yesterday (Tuesday), he asked for tuwo miyar kuka (a Nigerian cuisine). This morning he asked me if we had koko da kosai (cereal pap and beans cake), but I told him we did not prepare any, so he took tea. Many well wishers also came here, a lot of others sent goodwill messages. And when I told him, he said I should tell them he is getting better."

Asked how long the president would stay at the Saudi hospital, Aminci said, "I honestly cannot say for sure, only the doctors can say that when they finish the tests and everything. What I do know for sure is that after the tests, he will have some rest for a while and will return to Nigeria to continue his job. I know he won't be here for a long time."

On how the president received the rumours about his health, the ambassador said, "You see, the president is used to this. When he had cause to seek for medical treatment abroad at the time he was governor of Katsina State, that was before I became his deputy, people circulated all kinds of rumours that he had died.

"The last time he came here, I received calls from some African leaders, including the Ghanaian president, they said they saw on the internet that the president had died. They were surprised when I said, hold on while I link you up with him. They spoke to him. So he is used to this, anytime he goes to hospital abroad, there would be rumours that he's dead. But we all know that our lives are in God's hands.

"Nigerians should pray for their leaders instead of spreading unfounded rumours. They should also remember that Allah alone gives power."

This is Yar'adua's fifth foreign medical trip since early 2007, when he was PDP's presidential candidate. In the midst of the presidential campaign that year, he was rushed to Germany for medical attention after he developed health problems. Six months into his presidency, Yar'adua also seized the opportunity of attending the G-8 Summit in Germany to receive medical attention. Last year, he went to a hospital in Jeddah, and returned there in August this year.

Monday's medical trip by Yar'adua appeared to be frantic, as this time there was scant notice of the president's departure, unlike in August when the presidency announced the planned trip well ahead of time.