President Goodluck
Jonathan yesterday paid a
visit to Governor Idris
Wada of Kogi State at the
Cedarcrest Hospital in
Abuja where he is recuperating from injuries
he sustained in a car crash
on Friday. Photo-journalists were allowed to join Jonathan into Wada’s hospital room, and they came out with images of the ailing governor that were seen publicly for the first time since his convoy accident. Photos taken during the visit show Wada sitting in a bed smiling as he shook hands with the President. He exchanged greetings with Jonathan, who asked how he was doing to which he responded that he was getting better. Wada also told the President that a day after he was brought to hospital,
he felt he was well enough to return to Lokoja but doctors told him to stay back for some more days. Soon after this, photo- journalists were asked to leave the room. The President spent about 15 more minutes with Wada, but declined to speak to newsmen on his way out. The governor did not stand up while photo- journalists were in the room, but the presence of a
crutch by the wall indicated
that he is probably fit enough to use it to walk. Earlier, Jonathan, who was accompanied by some of his aides, was received at the private hospital by Health Minister Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu. Chief Medical Director of the
hospital Dr Felix Ogedengbe ushered the president’s entourage into the governor’s ward. Ogedengbe told newsmen shortly after the visit that the governor was doing well after a surgery and would be discharged from hospital “in a few days time.” “He is already doing step- climbing. He is doing very well at the moment. You know it was a severe injury,” he said. “We have continued to watch out for any other problem that he might have, but at this stage, we have not seen any other problem at all. “From the medical point of view, he is quite healthy and he should be ready to go back home in a couple of days. “I can only at this stage tell you that he will be ready to
go back home in a few days but I won’t be able to tell you specifically which day. He is not going to be in the hospital for weeks, he does not need to be here for weeks.” Wada’s spokesman Mr Jacob Edi said the governor had undergone a successful surgery to fix the broken bone in his thigh. “He has been receiving high profile visitors and to cap it all, is the visit of Mr President,” he said.On the governor’s security in the hospital, Edi said although the hospital was small, “his security is in the hands of God. We believe that God will protect him.” In Wada’s convoy accident on Friday, his aide-de-camp Idris Mohammed died on the spot while the governor and his driver Jubril Isah sustained injuries. The late Mohammed was buried on Saturday in Zaria, while Isah is said to be responding to treatment at the Kogi State Specialist Hospital in Lokoja. Other public officials who visited Wada at the hospital in Abuja include Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala, Gombe State Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo, Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema and Mrs Amina Yakowa, wife of the late Kaduna State governor.