Off to see the king

By Elizabeth Archibong


February 23, 2010 02:44AM
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The six-man team of ministers that was last week raised by the Council of Ministers to visit Saudi Arabia is travelling to the country, but not to see the ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua. Their mission is rather to thank the Saudi king for his generosity towards their employer.

Foreign affairs minister Ojo Maduekwe confirmed to State House correspondents on Monday that the ministers’ mission was not to ascertain the state of the president’s health.

Mr. Yar’Adua left the country on November 23 last year for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia for an ailment his personal physician, Salisu Banye, described as pericarditis. He has not been seen in public since and has not received any visitor from Nigeria except his wife, Turai.

The ministers’ trip was rescheduled from Monday morning to evening due to what Mr. Maduekwe called a “normal issues of process.” The Foreign affairs minister also said the Federal Executive Council delayed its decision on Mr. Yar’Adua because it “did not know the president’s trip would last that long.”

‘We come with thanks’

On the purpose of this visit, he emphasised that his team will only be thanking the Saudi king for taking care of Mr. Yar’Adua.

“We will be expressing our deep appreciation to the King of Saudi Arabia for the excellent and generous attention the government and people of Saudi have given to our president, who unfortunately has been away for almost three months now for medical treatment, and it’s enough reason for a strong team from the government to go,” he said. “We didn’t know that this thing would last two weeks, and it’s close to the third month. We couldn’t have done it much earlier because we 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, that for the three months he was there we didn’t go to Riyadh to thank the king. It is better to go physically to do the thanking. We can write a letter to thank him, but this is the king of Saudi Arabia and nothing less than what we are doing is adequate, that’s all.”

Mr. Maduekwe explained that the team could not travel earlier because of the arrangements it had to make.

“We are leaving in the next few hours,” he said late last night. “You don’t fly into other people’s countries 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.”

He said the team received its travel papers close to midnight on Sunday. “So, we couldn’t continue because we have to get the people on the delegation to know. You don’t just tell them five minutes to the time that you have got to leave. So there is no problem and the Saudi have responded to our request very promptly, with a lot of speed,” he said.

What’s going on?

The decision to send a delegation to Saudi Arabia for an update on Mr. Yar’Adua’s health in the first place had generated mixed feelings, considering that previous efforts failed.

Mr. Maduekwe, however, said the ministers’ trip would not suffer the same fate. “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,” he said.

He added that more details will be released when the team returns from the trip.

He however made it clear that Nigerians should not expect that the team will be coming back with report on the president’s health status. “We are not a medical team. We are not a medical panel,” Mr. Maduekwe said; adding that the presence of the minister of health does not make the team a fact finding one.

He said: “The fact that he is the minister of health does not make him a member of a medical panel. An engineer can be minister of health; even a lawyer like me can be minister of health. The only position in the executive council, which by constitutional provision requires a particular profession to head that ministry, is that of the office of attorney general; it must be a lawyer. The fact that the minister of health is on this team does not automatically mean that he is going there as a medical doctor.

“The purpose of this visit is exactly what I have told you: to express appreciation to the King of Saudi Arabia and also express our solidarity with the first family and register our prayers and the best wishes for the rapid recovery of the president and of course give assurances that under the dynamic leadership of the acting president, Goodluck Jonathan, governance is going on. The Executive Council remains focused, united and that every issue whether it is infrastructure, health care or education or even diplomacy has been proceeding normally.”

He also said the trip will not last a week. “We leave tonight and we are not going to be there all week. As soon as we carry out the purpose of our going there, we start coming back,” he said.

Has someone seen the president?

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Abdulla Aminchi, said in an interview in Jeddah on Monday that he has seen the president, adding that the previous failure to see Mr. Yar’Adua had been based on the decision of the medical team attending to him.

Mr. Aminchi said he visited Mr. Yar’Adua last Saturday and that the condition of the president, who has not been seen in public for three months, was improving after treatment for a heart ailment.

“I saw him the day before yesterday , He’s really feeling better now,” Mr. Aminchi said.

In the last few weeks, several delegations to see the president have been turned back. A delegation from the House of Representatives was not allowed to see Mr. Yar’Adua, while another led by the chairman of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, Vincent Ogbulafor, was also not allowed to see him.

The refusals were said to be at the behest of the Saudi authorities who have allegedly taken over the security of the president.

However, a source told NEXT last night that the ministers’ itinerary had to be changed because the Saudi King at the weekend sent a letter to the federal government informing it that Mr. Yar’Adua was not in a state to receive any visitors.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/Politics/5530492-146/off_to_see_the_king_.csp