President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua will spend his two-week leave which commences tommorrow within the shores of the country.
Sources close to the Presidency yesterday night told THISDAY that contrary to speculations in the media, President Yar’Adua will not be travelling out of the country within the period of his vacation.
The source said the vacation was not planned because the President wants to travel out of the country on medical grounds.
“Nigerians are just fixated about what does not exist. Since the official announcement was made on the President’s two-week holiday, several speculations have been made about the reasons for the holiday and where the President would travel to. I can assure you the President will spend the holiday in the country,” the source said.
Another source close to the President himself said the holiday was planned to enable the President spend time with his family, step back from the centre of power and “catch up with developments around the country and the world.”
“He will take time to rest very well, attend to family issues as the head of the large Yar’Adua family and assess national and international issues from outside the centre of power,” the source said, when asked to state specifically what the President would do within the two weeks.
THISDAY gathered that the desire for the President to spend the holiday out of public glare informed his decision to schedule the activities celebrating the wedding of his daughter, Hafisat, to Bauchi State governor, Isa Yuguda to the week ending just before the commencement of his leave.
It is however not known whether President Yar’-Adua will spend the whole of the two weeks holiday in Katsina, his home town, or in Kaduna where his late brother, Maj-Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua owned a palatial home before his death but which is now under the President’s supervision or in Abuja where there are few presidential guest houses meant for the President’s retreat.
Incidentally, Nigeria has no equivalent of America’s Camp David, the 125 acre Naval Support Facility Thurmount located within the Catocsin Mountain Park recreational area in Frederick County, Maryland, 97 kilometre North of Washington DC where US Presidents spend their holidays.
The military fortress used for high alert protection of the US Presidents was converted in 1942 to a Presidential retreat by President Franklin Delando Roosevelt. The Camp is very isolated and quiet. The compound consists of several cabins hidden throughout the woods connected by small mulch walking paths.
Announcing the President’s plan to proceed on holiday, a statement from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed stated that “His Excellency, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua will be proceeding on a two-week leave with effect from January 26, 2009. While Mr. President is away on leave, all matters requiring his attention will be attended to by His Excellency, the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.”
Jan252009