Report From Representatives That went To Saudi Arabia to See Yar'adua.

SIX days after returning from Saudi-Arabia in a futile search for ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua, the five-man delegation of the House of Representatives failed to submit a report of their visit to the House last Thursday.

But sources from office of the leader of the delegation said though the Reps were not allowed to see the President, Nigerian Embassy Staff in Saudi Arabia and close relations of the Saudi Monarch painted a grim picture of the President.

Leader of the delegation, Hon.Baba Shehu Agaie (PDP/Niger), representing North Central, is also the Deputy minority leader of the House. Hon. Ali Ndume (ANPP/Borno) who stood in for the North East in the delegation is Leader of the Minority in the House.

Others are Hon. Patrick Ikhariale (South-South). Hon. Maruf Fatai (South West), Hon. Jubril Adamu (North West) and Hon. Nnenna Ukeje (South East). Ukeje did not make the trip. She said at a press conference that she was schemed out of the trip because she was resolute in her demand that the ailing president respect Section 145 of the 1999 constitution, a position that was at variance with the resolution of the House at that time.

After procrastinating for about a month, the 5-man delegation left for Saudi Arabia last Sunday.

The source said that the delegation was well received by the Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Aminchi and embassy staff.

"The Honourable members were briefed by the embassy on what they knew about the condition of the president, and they warned the members that they may never be allowed to see the President", said the source.

The Ambassador was said to have informed them that even he, as a Nigerian saw the president about two months back.

This was said to have surprised the Reps, who knew that Aminchi was his deputy for eight years when he was Governor of Katsina State.

But the members, all the same insisted that they had a mandate of the Nigerian parliament to see the President and would do nothing less than seeing their President.

Subsequently, the Embassy put together logistics for the movement of the Reps to Jeddah about an hour flight South-West of Riyadh.

On arriving Riyadh, the source said that the Reps checked into a Crown Plaza Hotel Jeddah.

After driving to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, in Jeddah, the Reps were told after about four hours waiting that they would not be able to see the President that day on the ground that it was not a visiting day at the hospital.

It was gathered by our source that the Hospital was treating an ailing member of the Saudi monarchy, very important government officials and prominent people from other Islamic nations.

"The Hospital is a heaven of its own, and the members marvelled at how such a facility could ever be built on an Arab soil", said Saturday Vanguard source.

The sources said that on Tuesday someone who claimed to be very connected to the Saudi King, promised to get a note from the King so that the doctors and security network would make special arrangement for them to see the President, even if they did not speak to him. But by nightfall, it was apparent that it was not going to be feasible.

By Thursday, the Reps members were briefed by a Medical Doctor said to be of Asian stock on why the President could not be seen, said our source.

"They were told that he was kept away from visitors because his condition was so delicate that any opportunistic infection, can reverse all the efforts made so far on him", the source said.

"The doctor was said to be very apologetic but stuck to his ground that the Nigerian President cannot be allowed to see anyone outside the three people that have been 'prepared' to see him once or twice daily", he said.

They are his wife, his Chief Security Officer and the Aide de Camp.

"That day, one of the Ministers of the Kingdom also addressed them. He told them that Ya'Adua's treatment is on the Bill of the Government of Saudi", said our source. "The official said that Nigeria should have nothing to worry about as all efforts are being made to revive the sick President", our sources added.

The wife of the President, Hajia Turai Yar'Adua sent words to them through the Chief Security Officer to the President, that she would see them the following day, the source said.

"Before then, Turai had learnt about the decision of the National Assembly to make Vice President Jonathan Goodluck Acting President with executive powers", said our source.

"True to her words, the President's wife, who was said to have looked unkempt, distraught and haggard, met with the Reps", he said.

The source said that the First Lady received the solidarity message of the House, and told them that she was grateful on behalf of the President and other family members. She said that the President was fast recovering and that she was grateful for all the prayers offered on his behalf by all Nigerians.

"From God comes power and only him can give or take it as he wishes," she was said to have told them, said our source. After a brief prayer sessions, the Nigerian First Lady left. But our sources said that the Reps were told privately that the President is a shadow of himself. That he has no sense of space and time as he cannot on his own do anything.

But Hon. Hon. Patrick Ikhariale left for Spain to join the House Committee on Communication, while Hon. Jubril Adamu went to London to attend to personal matters.

By Saturday, the three Reps members arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on board an Emirate Airline.

But since their arrival, mum has been their word. However, during last Thursday's plenary session, Ali Ndume, raised a Point-of-Order, saying that they have prepared a report on their visit but that he was surprised that the report had not been submitted to the House four days after they signed it.

Leader of the delegation, Agaie explained that the report had not been tabled for consideration because the two members who had left for other countries while they were in Saudi Arabia had not yet endorsed the Report.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, gave the members up to next Tuesday to submit the Report.
In an exclusive chat with Saturday Vanguard, the leader of Action Congress in the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila said that though the AC, in the House never objected to the visits, the outcome was worth the effort. "I am happy that they attempted to see that President. Though we are yet to get the report, I can tell you that it has been confirmed that the President is not capable of ruling this country again", he said. "Wait and see what will happen on Tuesday", he said.

President Yar'Adua was flown to Saudi on the 23rd of November last year a heart condition called pericarditis. Renal failure is an established cause of pericardial disease, including pericarditis and pericardial effusions, and a less frequent cause of chronic constrictive pericarditis.

Advances in management have decreased the incidence of pericarditis in patients with renal failure but the problem is still associated with significant morbidity and occasional mortality.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201002220839.html

Doctors Block Access to Yar'Adua - Envoy

NIGERIA'S Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alhaji Abdullah Aminchi said, yesterday, that it was doctors attending to ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua who had denied Nigerians access to their President in his Jeddah hospital and not Saudi authorities. He said he visited the President last Saturday and that "he is really feeling better now." Meanwhile, the Saudi authorities have granted the ministerial team mandated to visit Yar'Adua in Saudi Arabia the landing permits to the presidential aircraft and other travelling details expected of them, even as the Federal Government gave reason why the six-man team constituted by the Federal Executive Council, FEC, could not travel as planned. The government said the normal issue of processes was responsible.
Alhaji Aminchi who spoke with a news agency, AFP, yesterday said: "I saw him the day before yesterday ... He's really feeling better now."
He confirmed that a delegation of senior legislators were not allowed to see Yar'Adua earlier this month despite coming to Jeddah on a mission to gauge the health of the 58-year-old President who checked into King Faisal Specialist Hospital on November 23 for an acute heart condition.
Aminchi said it was Yar'Adua's doctors and not Saudi authorities who had denied access to Yar'Adua as some Nigerian officials have charged, noting: "It is only the doctors assigned to him who are preventing the visitors from seeing the President," despite a green light from the Saudi authorities.
Saudis grant landing permit
Meanwhile, Saudi authorities, yesterday, granted the ministerial team mandated to visit Yar'Adua in Saudi Arabia the landing permit to the presidential aircraft and other travelling details expected of them.
A source close to one of the ministers told Vanguard in Abuja that the inability of the ministerial team to leave the country, Sunday, for Saudi Arabia was largely due to logistics problems and not the refusal of the Saudi authorities to grant their aircraft landing permit as reported in some media.
The Federal Executive Council, last Wednesday, mandated six ministers to visit President Yar'Adua in Saudi Arabia and to convey the goodwill of the government and people of Nigeria to the Saudi king for taking care of the President.
The team which was expected to depart for Saudi Arabia last Sunday could, however, not leave because of logistics reasons.
The source told Vanguard in Abuja that contrary to media reports that the team was denied landing rights and visa, there was a mix-up in the application for the landing rights from the Nigerian authorities.
The source said: "For instance, it is common knowledge that Thursday and Friday are non-working days in Saudi Arabia. The resolution mandating the ministers to go to Saudi Arabia was done on Wednesday evening and by the time the letters were written, there was no way anybody would have responded from Saudi Arabia.
And by the time the responses came, Saturday, it was a non-working day in Nigeria so nothing could be done before yesterday. There was no deliberate attempt to stop the Nigerian ministerial delegation from going to Saudi Arabia as insinuated in the media."
Giving reason why the ministerial team could not travel to Saudi Arabia as planned, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, said the team which was earlier scheduled to leave for Saudi on Sunday morning could not leave due to what he described as "normal issues of process"; adding that "in the next few hours we will leave."
Speaking with State House correspondents, Maduekwe said: "You don't fly into other people's country without getting all the facility clearance.
There are things to be sorted out. Remember the request was made close to weekend, and the offices opened on Sunday, your request to come into a country is received, is processed and we have a very good relations with the Kingdom and there is no problem and our desire to be there is accepted. So there is a process, it is just like nobody comes to Nigeria without notifying us that the person is coming.
Protocol arrangement at the airport
"There is a protocol arrangement at the airport to receive them, we are not going as private citizens, we are going there as government officials and on the basis of reciprocity, like if the Saudis come to Nigeria they will be properly received at the airport. So when we go we will be properly received at the airport.
When I asked the Saudi ambassador to see me, he duly said he will pass on our request to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
Maduekwe, who was in Aso Rock, apparently to brief Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, on the various contradicting reports in some dailies (not Vanguard) said: "it was only by yesterday that the details of our going were concluded. By the time we had them it was almost midnight.
So we couldn't continue because we have to get the people on the delegation to know. You don'tjust tell them five minutes to the time that you have."He expressed optimism that the team will see the President when they arrive today stressing "there is no problem as the Saudi authorities have responded to our request very promptly, with a lot of speed, because they put a lot of premium on our request just as we do on the close ties between the two countries. So there is nothing to worry about. We will talk to you when we are back."
The foreign minister added: "We leave tonight and we are not going to be there all week. It is not going to last long and as soon as we carry out the purpose of our going there, we start coming back."
When asked on the mandate of the team, Maduekwe said: "We will be expressing our deep appreciation to the King of Saudi Arabia for the excellent and generous attention which the King and the government and people of Saudi have given to our President, who unfortunately has been away for almost three months now for medical treatment.
"We need to put on record to thank the King for that and that's enough reason for a strong team from the government to go. We didn't know that this thing would last two weeks, one month, or two months and it's close to the third month."
The minister, however, said that the trip could not have been at a better time than now, noting that "we couldn't have done it much earlier because we would have thought it was just for a few weeks but it's entering the third month.
So we felt there is need to be on record. We don't want it to be on record that when our president comes back even if he comes back today, that for the three weeks he was there we didn't go to Riyadh to thank the king".
While debunking the claim that the team was on a medical probe, Maduekwe said: "we are not a medical team. We are not a medical panel, it is better to go physically to do the thanking."

Goodness me!

Story ,Story ...........Bull shit