In what may be a major political turning point in build-up to the April polls, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate and Katsina State Governor, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua yesterday collapsed in Abuja due to exhaustion.
According to THISDAY checks, Yar’Adua who arrived Abuja from Kano was said to have collapsed in his house and was last night flown on a Presidential jet at about 8.30pm to a specialist hospital in Germany through the presidential wing of the Abuja international airport.
But the PDP National Secretary, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, in Lagos last night described Yar’Adua’s medical condition as requiring no more than “routine medical check-up.”
Yar’Adua, who suffers from a kidney condition, made his first public comments about his health last month when he declared:
“I am fit and healthy. I will invite them (opponents) to a game of squash. If they can play 12 straight sets with me, they are welcome.”
In the last couple of weeks, the hitherto reclusive governor has criss-crossed the country on campaigns and had been in Kano and Abuja within the last 48 hours.
Last night, Maduekwe issued a statement entitled: “The PDP�s statement on a short break in the presidential candidate schedule”, which attempts to douse the anxiety of members on Yar’adua’s state of health. The statement reads:
“Our candidate in the general election, His Excellency Governor Umaru Yar�Adua, took time off today from what has generally been a grueling national campaign schedule for everyone, to present himself for a routine medical check up at a clinic in Abuja.
“This is an exercise which the demand of the campaign had understandably not permitted the candidate the necessary time to effect.
“In fact, the national chairman, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, a physician himself spoke with the presidential candidate and suggested to him that his keenness and eagerness to continue to exert himself on the campaign should be moderated by his still attending to what was expected to be a routine medical check up.
“The candidate spoke with the President who is the leader of the party today. He spoke with the deputy national chairman and the director general of the presidential campaign, Chief Olabode George.
“The culmination of all these is that he went on his own to a clinic for a medical check up which is long over due. In full consultation with his personal physician, a decision was subsequently taken today that the process of medical investigation could benefit from facilities overseas at this early stage of the campaign since more weeks of a challenging campaign still lie ahead.
“Accordingly, Governor Yar�Adua is expected to be briefly away for the completion of a medical process which began today in Nigeria. There is no cause for alarm.
“The presidential candidate is expected to return early to continue the national campaign which has so far elicited a historic groundswell of support, solidarity and enthusiasm from millions of party faithful and voters anxious of the continuation of the PDP government at all levels.
“We wish our presidential candidate God�s continued protection as he proceeds on this short break.”
There were anxiety in political circles last night that Yar’Adua might not be able to withstand the rigours of the campaigns. But when asked if the party has a plan B in case the Katsina governor was not fit for the presidential race, Maduekwe said “we do not anticipate that and we do not pray for that”.
He added that Yar’Adua will only be away for a short while and that the campaign would still continue in his absence.
On whether he had been flown abroad, he said he could not say precisely “since everything happened today and preparations began for overseas medical treatment today (yesterday).”
Maduekwe also said no human being is 100 per cent healthy adding that “even the healthiest person is vulnerable to health problem”.
Noting that with the latest development, the health of the party’s presidential candidate will now be an issue in the on going presidential campaign, the party’s scribe said he would only urge that there should be some civility in the way other parties would harp on the issue.
Maduekwe maintained that there was nothing unusual about the health of Yar’Adua, adding that “even in the United States, the most respected and loved former President John Kennedy had a disease with excruciating back pain but in spite of this, the electorate still voted for him to rule them.”
Meanwhile the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday assured the People of Lagos State of adequate security, effective transportation system and good environmental condition if PDP government was voted into power in the state.
The party’s presidential running mate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, at the PDP rally in Lagos, regretted that Lagos residents are experiencing hardship due to the unnecessary confrontational attitudes of the Governor Bola Tinubu’s administration to the Federal Government and the inability of the present government in Lagos state to offer selfless leadership to the people.
“In the field of education , there will be free, complusory universal basic education for the first nine years and government will also provide free meals to the school children, our government will also reduce illiteracy level to 9 percent during our first tenure,� he stated.
Mar72007