The State House in Abuja declared yesterday that President Umaru Yar’adua, who departed the country in a hurry last Monday to seek medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, is suffering from acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the fibrous sac surrounding the heart, otherwise known as pericardium. It was the first time in two and a half years of his presidency that the State House revealed Yar’adua’s ailment to the public.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, who spoke to newsmen late in the afternoon yesterday, quoted the Chief Physician to the President Dr. Salisu Banye as having confirmed the ailment. He said, “At about 3pm on Friday, November 20th, after he returned from the Abuja Central Mosque where he performed the Juma’at prayers, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua complained of left sided severe chest pain. Preliminary medical examinations suggested acute pericarditis (an inflammatory condition of the coverings of the heart). It was then decided that he should undertake confirmatory checks at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where he had his last medical check-up in August.”
Adeniyi added, “The medical review and tests undertaken at the hospital have confirmed the initial diagnosis that the President is indeed suffering from acute pericarditis.” He said it was not yet clear when Yar’adua will return to the country, but that for now, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan has taken over presidential powers. “The vice president is now acting on behalf of the president. He takes charge in the absence of the president,” he said. He added that Yar’adua “is receiving treatment for the ailment and is responding remarkably well.”
Commenting on rumours that swept the country on Wednesday night and throughout Thursday that Yar’adua may have died, Adeniyi said the president was unhappy with them. “He is a human being, naturally he will feel bad. This is not the first time. The President was aware of the rumour. He felt bad about it as any normal human being would,” Adeniyi said. Asked what government intends to do about such rumours, he said, “What can we do? We can’t legislate against rumour. There is nothing anybody can do.”
He also dismissed claims that Yar’adua will seize the opportunity of his being in Saudi Arabia to perform the hajj. “No, it is definitely not
True,” the adviser said. “Even before the President travelled he knew that he was not going to perform the Hajj. When I did the first draft for the statement, I stated that the President will do medicals and undergo hajj, but he said no, I am not going to do hajj. So there is no way he is going to do hajj.”
Asked whether the president left the country at midnight because he could not walk into the plane, his spokesman said, “Actually what happened was that the President was supposed to leave earlier in the day but because of the holidays in Saudi Arabia they couldn’t procure his visa in time.”
It would be recalled that President Yar’adua, who was in Saudi Arabia last August for medical treatment, hurriedly departed again last Monday for the same country. The trip was not announced in advance and no footage of his departure was shown on television. This probably led to rumours that swept the country from Wednesday evening suggesting that the president died in hospital. Nigerian pilgrims who were in Muna on that day greatly helped the spread of the rumours by sending numerous text messages saying they heard that he died.
This is Yar’adua’s fifth medical trip since mid-2007, when he was PDP’s presidential candidate. In the midst of the campaign, he went to Germany in April that year to seek medical treatment for an undisclosed ailment. Later that year, as president, he seized the opportunity of his attending the G-8 Summit in Germany to seek more treatment. In August last year, Yar’adua went to Saudi Arabia presumably to perform the lesser hajj but ended up spending two weeks in hospital, which led to much furore at home. Last August, he again went to Jeddah, abandoning earlier plans to attend the UN General Assembly session in New York. Even though his current ailment has been declared by the State House to be acute pericarditis, the president was reported by Reuters earlier this week to be suffering from chronic kidney disease.