The doctors treating President Umaru Yar’Adua in Saudi Arabia have ruled out any chance of the ailing president returning to the country this week or early next week. The doctors, according to the Nigerian Ambassador in Saudi Arabia, Alhaji Abdullahi Garba Aminchi, insist they will not let the president leave until they are sure he is strong enough. Aminchi, who spoke on the VOA Hausa service said although the president was already out of immediate danger, the doctors still insist on watching him until they are confident that he can be allowed to go. Meanwhile, the Federal Executive Council has insisted that the president was responding to treatment at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. The council which held its weekly meeting in Abuja under the chairmanship of Vice President Goodluck Jonathan restated its earlier

position that the president is not in any way unfit to continue in office, hence it would not initiate the process of easing him out of office.

The Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, who briefed the State House correspondents on the outcome of the meeting said nothing had changed about the council’s position adopted last week on the hospitalized president.
“I can confirm to you that Mr. President is still in a Saudi hospital. He is responding to treatment; and only his doctors can decide when he will come back,” she stated, pointing out that “there have been no changes in the positions of FEC.”

She announced the other decisions taken by the council to include the approval of a $500 loan from the International Development Association (IDA) - an arm of the World Bank which she said would be utilized on “infrastructure bottlenecks, unemployment challenges, especially in the railway sector, power, textile rehabilitation and support to development financial institutions for on-lending to the real sector of the economy.”

By LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja

The Northern Patriotic Forum [NPF] has urged ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua to hand over power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as constitutionally required if his health condition would require a much longer time in hospital to enable him recuperate fully.

In a communiqué issued yesterday in Abuja at the end of its end-of-the year special executive committee meeting, the socio-political group, which draws membership from the 19 Northern States and the Federal Capital Territory, urged Yar’Adua and all those at the helm of affairs in the various arms of government to adhere strictly to the supremacy of the nation’s constitution in dealing with the issue of the President’s ill-health.

While echoing the recent position of the Arewa Consultative Forum [ACF] on official speculations and falsehood being peddled on the state of the President’s health, the group urged the relevant authorities to, as a matter of urgency, initiate measures to put an end to the rumours and media speculations on the President’s health, noting that the prevailing trend is capable of causing serious damage to the polity, if not checked immediately.

The communiqué signed by the National Chairman of the NPF, Alhaji Ali Abacha, berated controversial politician, Senator Joseph Waku, over his recent comments which allegedly suggested that the Senate President, David Mark, was plotting to take over the Presidency in an acting capacity as part of a game-plan for the 2011 general elections.

Describing the alleged statements as the handiwork of mischief makers and a show of diversionary politics, the group noted that the Senate President was content with his present position and had not contemplated moving over to the executive arm of government for any reason whatsoever.

Part of the communiqué reads: “The meeting called on the authorities concerned to, as a matter of urgency, come up with measures that will put an end to all the rumours and publications that may cause the nation more harm. It also resolved to continue praying for the speedy recovery of the President, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and to abide by and adhere strictly to the supremacy of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in dealing with any issue which has to do with Mr. President’s ill-health.

“The Northern Patriotic Front wishes to call on all those involved in unpatriotic acts to desist from causing confusion and disharmony in the political atmosphere of our beloved country. The Front also wishes to call on all peace loving citizens, particularly the Northern elite, to discard such rumours and distance themselves from speculations.”