Saudi Arabia



Feb 21 2010

Saudi King Prevented Reps From Seeing Yar’adua – Ndume

By Sule Lazarus, Abuja & Isa Umar Gusau:

The hazy public knowledge on the exact state of the bedridden president, Umaru Yar’adua, would have to linger till God-knows-when as the no access order on the president is strictly being enforced by the Saudi Arabian authorities under the close supervision of the kingdom’s king, Abdallah.

Sunday Trust gathered on good authority that even the president’s chief physician, Dr Salisu Banye, the first lady, Turai now have restricted access to the ailing Nigerian president because of the new ban regime imposed and enforced by the Saudi authorities.
Only last week, the seven-man delegation sent by the House of Representatives to see the president returned to the country without having a glimpse of him. The delegation from the House are: Baba Shehu Agaie, leader of the delegation, Mohammed Ali Ndume, Patrick Ikhariale, Maruf Fatai, Jibril Adamu and Nnenna Ukeje who did not make the trip.
One of the delegates, Hon Mohammed Ali Ndume told Sunday Trust that contrary to insinuations that Turai barred people from accessing the president, it is the Saudi king who imposed the order and is enforcing it to save the president from ‘contact infection’, a new ailment that hit the president after he came out of the intensive care unit of the Jeddah hospital.
According to him, having waited for three days without seeing the president, the delegate sought to see the doctor attending to the president or the president’s personal physician, Dr Salisu Banye.
Cont’d from page 1
He said, “we met the Chief Physician of the President, Dr Banye, with the Nigerian Ambassador Aminchi. So, we had a meeting that day (Wednesday). It was then that he (Banye) informed us that actually, what happened was that when the president came and he was taken into Intensive Care Unit (ICU), after his medical attention and he was recovering, he was transferred to a ward where he had access to people. Unfortunately, because of the frequent contact with people, he had what they called a “contact infection”, which is an infection as a result of contact between him and the visitors. And he had a bad experience of relapse. In fact, they said the relapse was life threatening.”
The lawmaker said Banye told the delegates that when the news of Yar’adua’s new case got to King Abdallah, he came up with the new access regime that restricted everybody from seeing the president, including his wife, Turai and his private physician Banye.
Ndume recounted that, “So the doctor (Banye) said that when he (Yar’adua) had that experience, the information got to King Abdallah himself, and he (the King) now detailed his own personal physician from Riyadh to come and take over; and that if he gets out of the relapse situation, nobody should see him. That was where the problem started. He gave that instruction and since then, not everybody has unfettered access to him, not even his wife.”
It would be recalled that the delegate were billed to submit their report last week, but it was not clear at the time of this report whether the delegates submitted their report.
Turn to pages 14, 15 for full story.

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Feb 21 2010

Yar’Adua’s pilot stranded

By AMOS DUNIA, Abuja:

Following the National Assembly resolution empowering Dr Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President, the cabal sympathetic to ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua has intensified moves to ensure the status quo is maintained.

Sunday Sun gathered that as part of the plot to convince Nigerians that Yar’Adua was recovering and would soon return to the country to assume duties, the presidential fleet crew comprising the captain, co-pilots, flight engineer and attendants have been prevented from returning home even as they are said to be missing their families and dependants.

It was gathered that the passports of the crew members has been confiscated to ensure they do not leave Saudi Arabia while being confined to their hotels.
A dependable source informed Sunday Sun that even the movement of the crew members was being monitored in connivance with the Saudi Arabia authorities.
Back home in Nigeria, the powerful group is said to be working towards reversing the resolution of the federal legislature and paint the new leadership of the country as incompetent.

It is also said to be behind the worsening electricity crisis in the country and plans to sabotage fuel distribution across the nation, in an attempt to portray Jonathan as incapable of ruling Nigeria.
Sources said the group made up of some serving ministers, a handful of senators, House of Representatives members and some powerful businessmen from the northern part of the country was working to frustrate the government.

It was gathered that the same group has plotted to ensure that the power supply in the country gets worse. Electricity supply to major towns and cities in the country has plummeted in the past two weeks.
They are equally said to be targeting the petroleum sector to create artificial scarcity of petroleum products, all in an effort to discredit the Jonathan leadership.
It was learnt at the weekend that some members of the group in the House of Representatives were responsible for the death of the Bill for the alteration of Section 144 of the Constitution, which would have legitimized the action of the National Assembly in addressing the power vacuum created by the absence of Yar’Adua.

The group, which met in a Minister’s house on Wednesday night, resolved to ensure the death of any bill to alter the Constitution to favour the resolution of the National Assembly authorizing Vice President Jonathan as Acting President.
The group was reportedly formed to counter the growing influence of the National Interest Group (NIG) led by Bala Mohammed, which ensured that the National Assembly passed the resolution empowering Jonathan.
But, the pro-Yar’Adua group is said to be hampered by revelations that Yar’Adua is still believed to be in coma.

It is, however, said to be working towards selling a dummy to Nigerians that the ailing leader was recuperating fast. Although details of the plan are still sketchy, it was learnt that an official in the President’s office and others in the office of the first lady were coordinating the new dummy.

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Feb 21 2010

‘We’ll Impeach Yar’Adua’

From Alifa Daniel (Asst. Political Editor, Abuja):

THOUGH comments by its leaders came under stern rebuke from the Senate session last Tuesday, the group of Senators in the forefront of the move to make Dr. Goodluck Jonathan Acting President and Commander-in-Chief continued to meet in Abuja last week.

The Senators, on the platform of the National Interest Group (NIG) are priming their arsenal to push for the impeachment of President Umaru Yar’Adua if the six-man team from the Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) met the same fate that befell other delegations before it.

Three delegations of the Governors’ Forum, House of Representatives and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in separate visits had failed to see the President in Saudi Arabia, where he is receiving treatment for kidney/heart-related ailment since November 23.

A member of the NIG told The Guardian in Abuja: “I can confirm to you that we met late into the night in the Bolingo Hotel and Towers, with another group from the House of Representatives, and we are simply waiting for the federal government’s delegation to come back.

“If their report is unsatisfactory, we will do the next thing and commence impeachment moves.

“We know why some people spoke against us the way they did, but let us wait and see what happens by next Wednesday. If the FEC members suffer the same fate or come with a report that is unsatisfactory, we will move.”

The Senator denied speculations that there was a rift in the group, though other sources said some members and some of its supporters in the Senate were getting uncomfortable with the activities of some of those in the leadership of the group.

Another Senator said: “We understand that there are those who now visit and spend time in the Aso Presidential Villa, and that is not in consonance with those of us in it for the principles.

“Some of us have expressed reservations at the behaviour of some members and we have to make sure that the leadership does not get the impression we are trying to sabotage it because what we are doing is in the best interest of Nigeria.

“The Senate has said it would ensure that we amend the Constitution on Section 145 and things are moving in the right direction and should end by the end of this week.”

While admitting that there was tension in the group, which had not resulted in any cracks; he explained that the brickbats thrown at Senators Smart Adeyemi and Bala Mohammed on the floor of the Senate were uncalled for.

According to the Senator: “We know their (Senators’) backgrounds as journalists and Smart as a trade unionist. They believe in justice, fairness, and equity, and the best they have known to fight it and get results in the past is by speaking out and loudly, too.

“We have to give it to journalists that they fought for this democracy more than any group. The argument can also be made that this background clashes with those whose backgrounds as dictators are telling in the Senate.

“Because we all come from different backgrounds, this diversity can work well for everyone, and we must give it to the NIG that it fought for what some people are trying to take credit for today.

“These people were not the ones who said we should not discuss this matter in the first place. But I think we all have to be cautious anyway.”

It would be recalled that following media reports quoting the two Senators, the Senate took exception to their comments, with some members suggesting that the suspension big stick be wielded against them.

The Senate, which had recently commended the press, sought to take a swipe at it in the cat and dog relationship that has existed between the Legislature and the Fourth Estate of the Realm.


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