The Punch:
Indications emerged on Monday that the six-man delegation raised by the Federal Executive Council to visit ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua in Saudi Arabia might only be on an appreciation visit and may not necessarily see the President.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, told journalists in Abuja that the delegation’s mission was to thank the King of Saudi and express the appreciation of the government and people of Nigeria to the monarch for accommodating Yar’Adua.

He did not, however, respond to the question on whether the team would have an opportunity to meet with President Yar’Adua while in Saudi Arabia.

He said, “We will be expressing our deep appreciation to the King of Saudi Arabia for the excellent and generous attention, both 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 be on the record to thank the King for that, and that is enough reason for us to go and it is enough reason for a strong team from the government to go.”

Maduekwe, who himself is a member of the team, said that the six-man delegation would leave for Saudi Arabia on Monday night.

Besides Maduekwe, others in the team include Petroleum Minister, Dr. Rilwanu Lukman; Health Minister, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin; Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Adetokunbo Kayode; Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Dr. Sayyadi Abba-Ruma; and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed.

Maduekwe spoke to journalists when he came to the Presidential Villa for a meeting with the Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

Another member of the delegation, Osotimehin, was also in the Villa on Monday to see Jonathan.

Osotimehin, who arrived in the State House earlier on Monday morning, had initially informed journalists that members of the delegation were waiting on Maduekwe to finalise the travel arrangements with the Saudi authorities.

The delegation was forced to postpone its trip on Sunday night when the members were denied landing clearance by the Saudi aviation authority.

However, the delegation’s chances of successfully meeting Yar’Adua on his sick bed at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah, appeared uncertain as Maduekwe could not offer a definite response when journalists asked if the ministers would see the President. Maduekwe was also not definite about the date the Federal Government emissaries would return to the country.



“We are leaving in the next few hours; we leave tonight (Monday night) 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,” he said.

When he was asked if the ministers would see Yar’Adua, Maduekwe said, “We will talk to you when we are back.”

Maduekwe’s response gave room for the suspicion that the trip might go the way of previous ones.

Prominent Nigerians who had so far travelled to Saudi Arabia, but failed to see Yar’Adua include some governors, chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, including the National Chairman, Mr. Vincent Ogbulafor; a delegation of members of the House of Representatives, as well as some of the President’s loyalists, including ministers.

The inability of previous visitors to see the President has led to concerns that the six-man FEC delegation might eventually return to the country without seeing him.

A national daily (not The Punch) had reported on Monday that Yar’Adua’s wife, Turai, had already barred the ministers from seeing her husband.

The FEC’s decision to appoint six of its members to travel to Saudi Arabia had also prompted speculations that the council might be moving to invoke the provisions of Section 144, which mandates it to declare the President incapacitated to remain in office on the grounds of ill-health.

But Maduekwe stressed that the delegation was not a medical mission, and would not be seeking to determine the President’s state of health.

He said their objective was to pay a solidarity visit to Yar’Adua and members of his family, and also convey the gratitude of the Nigerian Government to the King of Saudi Arabia, for his hospitality to the President.

He said any minister could have made the team, adding that Osotimehin was not going to see Yar’Adua in the capacity of a medical doctor.

He said, “The constitution does not make that doctor a member of a medical panel; 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 is that of the Office of the Attorney-General, it must be a lawyer.”

Explaining the purpose of the visit, Maduekwe said the delegation would also assure Yar’Adua that the country was moving forward under Jonathan’s leadership.

He said, “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 Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, governance is going on.

“The executive council remains focused, united and that every issue whether it is infrastructure, healthcare or education or even diplomacy has been proceeding normally.

“You can see the flow of foreign visitors to Nigeria and we need again to have this conversation in Saudi both with the government of Saudi and also members of the first family.”

He said FEC did not make the gesture until now because it did not know that Yar’Adua would be away for so long.

He said, “We didn’t know that this thing would last two weeks, will last one month, will last two months and it’s close to the third month.

“It’s just time; 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 the record.

“We don’t want it to be on the record that when our President comes back, even if he comes back today, 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.

“That is the major emphasis on what we are doing.”

Maduekwe also said that the delay in the delegation’s take-off was due to “normal issues of process.”

He added, “Ok, 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, just like nobody comes to Nigeria without notifying us that the person is coming.

“Protocol arrangements 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.

“Like I told you, this request was made close to the weekend when I asked the Saudi ambassador to see me, he duly said he would pass on our request to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“It was only by yesterday (Sunday) 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.”

http://punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20100223415928

I now rest my case that this country is being run by idiots and insane people that make loose canon statements.     

Thank the king for keeping Yaradua alive on a life support machine or for accomodating him or what?
Ojo Maduekwe's incompetence is very obvious and i am not too sure his brain connects to the mouth he uses to blurt out a lotta of his talks. . . .
_{That is if he actually has a brain!}

I suspect they took their whining to Yar’Adua . . . bunch of fatuous wimps.

Ojo again? A brainless wimp. I tire for naija sha

I don't know why he has not been sacked by Uncle J. that man like an expired automobile has outlived his usefulness and need to be discarded.

where did the man come from sef?

Ojo- Maduekwe, is he Igbo or Yoruba?

Mbeki:

I don't know why he has not been sacked by Uncle J. that man like an expired automobile has outlived his usefulness and need to be discarded.

where did the man come from sef?

Ojo- Maduekwe, is he Igbo or Yoruba?

How can he be Yoruba. He's a stupid, imbicile yeye, Ibo clawn.

yemmight:

How can he be Yoruba. He's a silly, imbicile yeye, Ibo clawn.

When Mekuxxx come in you guys will start blaming him while the instigators are left unmentioned.

Ojo is a Yoruba name, I am sure he's a Yoruba man claiming to be an Ibo.

Mbeki:

Ojo is a Yoruba name, I am sure he's a Yoruba man claiming to be an Ibo.

He his now. He has brothers spread all over here. I am sure they won't deny him.

Mbeki:

I don't know why he has not been sacked by Uncle J. that man like an expired automobile has outlived his usefulness and need to be discarded.

where did the man come from sef?

Ojo- Maduekwe, is he Igbo or Yoruba?

What does it matter ? We have a grossly imcompetent and decietful Foreign Affairs Minister disgracing all Nigerians and all you care about is his ethnic group? Do you think that Foreign countries will laugh at all Nigerians or one ethnic group in Nigeria when they reflect on how woefully inept our foreign minister is? Ojo Madueke represents Nigeria and not his ethnic group . Full stop .

Uncle J should sack him or reshuffle him as minister of state for special duty.

We recalled the delegates was sent to ascertain the health of the president, now he's saying something else.

It seems he did not run errand for his mama as a child.

He could be sued for bridging mission statement u know?

The most anoying thing with Ojo the retard is that he doesn't know how to keep shut even when its obvious that his contributiöns will make litle or no sense at all even to a mad man.

Dis king of Saudi Arabia, is he suppose to b dr president? Its really funny to hear that those are leaving their duty posts only to go and thank d king, i dnt know whether it is for d hospital bill that he paid for yardua or for habouring our president and refusing us seeing and causing us so excluciating pain or for what purpose? Excuse me pass jare.

Idiot!

The only Ojo east of the Niger, in his elements.

Now i know that the devil has some children in Nigeria.

sometimes i wonder what most of these useless fathers do tell their children in the house.
how can such a useless father be a good father in directing the activities of his family members.
most of these politicians are this useless that even the useless among us will have some good reasons to call them useless.
ojo idiots represents a brainless group of things among human beings.
God forbid i have useless men like this as my father because i will publicly dis-father him.

thank him 1st for keeping our first citizen in his palace and latter proceed to the mission of requesting to see him which is the expectation of nigerians. no more no less

I don't think Ojo Maduekwe said anything wrong on this occassion. The man is not a 16year old boy and simply spoke like an adult.

Maybe Nduka Obaigbena should be made Nigeria's Foreign Minister, he appears to have the necessary global contacts that Nigeria can do with in terms of spearheading our foreign policy,  BTW that Ojo Madueke is an old incompetent fool.

Jonathan should sack Madueke as soon as he returns from the Saudi junket.

Somebody should please extract at least a quote from Ojo Maduekwe and tell us what is wrong with it.

There is no point abusing the man based on your own misconceptions.

Ojo's statements here are probably designed for the consumption of the King of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi diplomats.  They are what could be classified as "diplomatic speak".  

Most of us however do not buy the above, because our government is abnormal.

mikeansy:

Somebody should please extract at least a quote from Ojo Maduekwe and tell us what is wrong with it.

There is no point abusing the man based on your own misconceptions.

Have you ever sat down and assess this man's performances as Minister even with the past administration. He's always been an underperforming, incompetent Minister. The only thing that guy is good at is to speak needless grammar. Honestly he should be demoted to the position of Permanent Secretary.

yemmight:

Have you ever sat down and assess this man's performances as Minister even with the past administration. He's always been an underperforming, incompetent Minister. The only thing that guy is good at is to speak needless grammar. Honestly he should be demoted to the position of Permanent Secretary.

I have said it on various occassions that I am not impressed by his work as a Minister. But I do not see anything wrong with the comments he made above. I am still waiting for someone to extract a quote from the comment he made above, analyse it and tell us what he said wrong.

There is no point making up your mind and deciding on what you will make of everything he says without listening to what he actually said.

kuramo:

Maybe Nduka Obaigbena should be made Nigeria's Foreign Minister, he appears to have the necessary global contacts that Nigeria can do with in terms of spearheading our foreign policy,  BTW that Ojo Madueke is an old incompetent fool.

Jonathan should sack Madueke as soon as he returns from the Saudi junket.

Paying money to gawk at beyonce's bosom is what qualifies as an achievement in your books? No wonder Nigeria is fast going nowhere.

hisss

make I dey watch this current setup



@ topic

these people up there are finally getting some sense. Una think say Saudi na Britain before?

From Ndu-chuks today

Re: Our Mission To Saudi Is To Thank The King – Ojo Maduekwe
« #23 on: Today at 02:47:21 PM »

Ojo's statements here are probably designed for the consumption of the King of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi diplomats. They are what could be classified as "diplomatic speak".

Most of us however do not buy the above, because our government is abnormal.


Haba \Diplomatic ,Parliamentary and security speak should have taken place within the last 80 days or so and all these guys have been sitting on their
butts , making our president a hostage to the King Saudi Arabia. CAn you associate anything honourable to these guys?

mikeansy:

I am still waiting for someone to extract a quote from the comment he made above, analyse it and tell us what he said wrong.

Please let us stop the lawyer-like pedantism. Madueke may have "said nothing wrong" but we all know he is decieving Nigerians . Surely , given the ridiculously deceptive utterances Nigerians have had to put up with over the past few months, there is a time for sensible men to say enough is enough with the deceptive forked tongues !!!!! I guess Aondoakaa needs replacing and Madueke has decided to become the new 'comical Ali'.

We all know that  6 Ministers , also EXCOF members , visited Saudi Arabia (dare I say at great expense )  so as to be able to brief the Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) of the true state of Yar Adua after seeing him physically. The EXCOF can then declare Yar Adua incapacitated and the right section of the constitution can be activated to enable Nigeria move on decisively . This , for Jonathan, would also put an end to all the mischievous scheming we read about daily. Needless for Madueke to patronise us with his foolish story that is ill-thought out to disguise that they will probably be prevented from seeing Yar Adua.

If you want to send a delegation to Saudi Arabia to "thank" their king why is that entourage not a broadly representive one with how it consists of political office holders in a certain group only (i.e EXCOF members ) in the greatest hint that this trip is political and not diplomatic ? Do we not have Monarchs in Nigeria who can go along  ? Would it not make sense for at least one of the highest ranking Nigerians , bar Jonathan, be part of a thanksgiving mission i.e David Mark or Bankole?

Madueke should just shut up Personally I am fed up of the childish attempts to decieve Nigerians non-stop . I think most Nigerians are fed up too.

citizenY:
Haba \Diplomatic ,Parliamentary and security speak should have taken place within the last 80 days or so and all these guys have been sitting on their
butts , making our president a hostage to the King Saudi Arabia. CAn you associate anything honourable to these guys?

These people are playing games with us. George W Bush was in Nigeria with Condellesa Rice just a few days ago, and I'm sure he knows the precise condition of Yar'Adua. They know that he is not coming back to rule hence their announcement that the world supports Jonathan -  Bush is one of the bests friends of the Saudi King. I also believe that Jonathan knows the real deal about Yar'Adua.

The ministers who went to Saudi Arabia should all be removed as soon as they return. They are all dishonourable men, blatant liars, and possibly criminals who belong in jail.

ndu_chucks:


The ministers who went to Saudi Arabia should all be removed as soon as they return. They are all dishonourable men, blatant liars, and possibly criminals who belong in jail.

Correct. Frankly I am disgusted with the inane utterances and deceptive actions of these unpatriotic 'representatives' of Nigeria.

is it not the same bicycle riding OJO