Yar'adua admits to "Kidney Challenge".
Last View on Fri 5th September, 2008
Last Modified on Thu 04th September, 2008 2:30:21 am
Author: Posted by Admin Sahara
“President” Umaru Yar'adua, who has spent two weeks battling a serious illness, may have made a radical decision about dealing with his perennial health problems, according to our sources.
Just as speculations run riot in Abuja and the local press about Yar’adua’s medical fate, Saharareporters was told by sources in Saudi Arabia that Yar'adua has concluded plans to end his "kidney challenge" by seeking and receiving kidney transplant before returning to Nigeria. But his handlers are insisting that he return to Nigeria first, latest by Saturday, speak to the Nigerian people about his condition, and then take off abroad—most likely to Germany—to seek a more permanent solution to his kidney crisis.
In the last three days, members of Yar’adua’s kitchen cabinet had farmed out misleading leads to several Nigerian newspapers to the effect that the ailing president would return as early as Tuesday and that he would chair this week’s meeting of the federal executive council.
But news that he would not be coming back filtered into Abuja at 12 noon when his plane failed to file an arrival notice to the presidential villa as expected. A source close to him had told Saharareporters that he was arriving midweek to Nigeria for a few days as soon as final tests were concluded to determine the compatibility of persons to donate a kidney to him.
He was expected to make a brief return to Abuja, address the nation, and then leave for Germany to explore the possibility of undergoing kidney transplant.
The plan felt apart, however, when his doctors in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia scheduled further tests to determine whether to attempt renal transplant before he departs for Nigeria. If the decision is made to go ahead with the procedure, then Yar’adua’s stay abroad could be prolonged for another eight weeks, according to a source close to his medical team.
Back in Nigeria, Yar’adua’s ministers put up a show in Abuja by attending the weekly federal executive council meeting, the second since Yar'adua departed Abuja, announcing that he was off to the "lesser hajj" or Ummra in Saudi Arabia. Information Minister John Odey, accompanied by three other ministers, maintained that Yar'adua was still on the lesser hajj in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They also announced the award of contracts of various sums.
Despite the ministerial exhibition, a source in the presidency told Saharareporters that governance has finally come to a virtual stop in Abuja since Yar’adua’s unceremonious exit to the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, two weeks ago.
Among the casualties of Yar’adua’s absence are plans to declare a state of emergency in the power sector, and the planned announcement of a committee on “land reforms” to be headed by Professor Akin Mabogunje. Also in jeopardy are arrangements for the annual pilgrimage to New York City for the United Nations General Assembly.
A source close to “Vice President” Goodluck Jonathan told Saharareporters that Jonathan has been quietly chafing at the fact that he has been kept in the dark, along with the rest of Nigerians. “I can tell you that the president continues to give limited information through his wife to his aides and government officials. Vice President Jonathan has not been getting the kind of frequent briefing about the president’s status that he feels entitled to,” said the source.
Two ministers in the government told Saharareporters that most members of the cabinet were jittery about the repercussions of Yar’adua’s absence and the continued decision to lie to Nigerians that the man is on lesser hajj.
“There is palpable apprehension among some of us that President Yar'adua is showing little regard for governance and for the Nigerian people,” said one of the ministers. The two ministers told Saharareporters that they are all completely in the dark about Yar'adua's whereabouts, even though snippets of information have come in from Saudi Arabia to the effect that the man just had a slight sickness.
They said the danger is that Nigerians no longer believe anything from Yar'adua and his handlers. The ministers said some of them were putting subtle pressure to ask that Yar’adua return to Nigeria first to tell the people what is wrong with him and then depart to engage in corrective medical intervention, including the transplant option.
While Nigerians grew more worried about Yar'adua's absense member of his kitchen cabinet led by James Ibori have shifted their base to Dubai where they maintained a strong hold on Yar'adua telling him not to worry about Nigerians, a source told SaharaReporters that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar may have joined the group. The group will be sending the governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki (currently in Europe) to visit Yar'adua and tell him what to do next.
The refusal of the First Lady, Hajiya Turai Yar‘Adua, to allow a Saudia Arabian hospital make use of her kidney may have been responsible for the delay in the return of ailing President Umaru Yar‘Adua.
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Wife of President Umaru Yar’Adua
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The indication was given by the online news agency, saharareporters, which reported on Tuesday that rather than subject herself to the use of her kidney in a crucial transplant to save her husband, the First Lady was said to have demanded that she and Yar’Adua be flown to Germany where her husband had hitherto received medical attention.
The development came just as Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, urged Nigerians to pray for quick recovery of the President.
According to the online news agency, the President was, on arrival in Saudi Arabia, said to have been implored to seek the advice of top nephrologists working in a Jeddah-based Saudi government-owned hospital.
The agency reported, ”After running a battery of tests, the team of doctors concluded that the kidney meant for the replacement was likely to suffer tissue rejection from him.
“They advised that tests be conducted on his close relatives to find alternative donors. His wife and daughter were tested, and his wife proved compatible, according to our sources. She was, however, unwilling to donate an organ in Saudi Arabia. She instead opted for it to be done in Germany. Her condition would mean that Yar’Adua would spend a prolonged period of time in Germany to recuperate.”
This, according to the news agency, informed the intervention of the President‘s brother, identified as Major Audu Yar’Adua, who was allegedly flown to Jeddah to undergo organ compatibility test.
The younger Yar‘Adua was said to have been flown to Saudi Arabia with a Gulfstream G-V aircraft to undergo the test on Monday.
A Consultant Nephrologist at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Ogun State, Dr. Charles Alebiosu, who spoke with one of our correspondents on the phone, said it was possible for a woman to donate a kidney to a man.
Alebiosu, who maintained that kidney had nothing to do with gender, however, stressed the importance of meeting all the necessary medical criteria before the donor‘s kidney could be used for the recipient.
He said, ”Why not? A woman can donate to a man. It has nothing to do with gender. In the first and only kidney transplant done at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, this year, a young lady donated her kidney to her brother.
“Once the donor is above 18 years and all medical criteria in terms of donor selection are fulfilled, there is no problem. The donor must be medically fit and the two kidneys must be working perfectly well. Both the donor and recipient will be well and alive and able to live their normal life after the transplant.”
Meanwhile, the Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has said that Nigerians deserved to know the President’s true medical condition.
It said that correct information about the president‘s health would dispel the rumours about his condition.
The President-General of the organisation, Dr. Dozie Ikedife, who said this while addressing journalists in Enugu, observed that it was normal for human beings to fall ill and be treated.
The Igbo leader discountenanced arguments that Yar‘Adua should resign because he was sick.
He said, ”Life and death is not a thing to be played with and the government and Presidency owe us the fact, so that the speculations will be less. If you don‘t fill the gap with facts, then speculations will run riot. I don‘t know other nations that seem to enjoy half-truths more than perhaps we Nigerians”
Urging Nigerians to pray for the president, Fawehinmi, who is receiving medical treatment in a London hospital for lung cancer, lamented that Yar‘Adua‘s state of health had made it impossible for him to discharge his official functions.
He added that despite the official secrecy about the state of his health, it was obvious that all was not well with him.
Fawehinmi stated, ”For close to two weeks, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Umaru Yar‘Adua, has not been governing the country, as it is now clear that he has been receiving medical treatment including surgery in Saudi Arabia for an undisclosed ailment.
”This is contrary to the official announcement that he went on lesser pilgrimage.
”The fact is Alhaji Umaru Yar‘Adua is sick and he is unable to govern the country because of his illness.
”Nevertheless, he deserves the prayers of all Nigerians because he is our president and, therefore, I appeal to all Nigerians of all religious persuasion to pray for his survival and recovery.”
