Contrary to official claims that President Goodluck Jonathan travelled
to Germany on a private visit, LEADERSHIP authoritatively gathered
yesterday that the president actually took ill and left for Germany to
seek medical care.
Efforts to get a confirmation from the
Presidency failed up until the time of going to press, as several calls
to his spokesman, Dr Reuben Abati, did not go through and he didn’t
respond to an email enquiry either.
Similarly, the senior special
assistant to the president on public affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, did not
pick or return several calls to his mobile number last night.
President Jonathan left for Germany yesterday after performing the closing ceremony of the National Conference on Thursday.
Prior
to his departure, presidential spokesman Abati had issued a terse
statement saying the president would be making a private visit to
Germany as from Friday (yesterday)and would be accompanied by some of
his principal aides.
It was gathered that the president, on arrival in Germany, headed for a private hospital for medical check-up.
It
could not however be confirmed if he went to the same hospital he had
visited with his wife last year when the first lady faced some health
challenges.
Before his sudden departure for Germany on Thursday,
President Jonathan was billed to host members of the just-concluded
National Conference to a dinner at the Presidential Villa, but the
programme was cancelled at the dying minute.
Although no official
reason was given for the cancellation, it was gathered that the
development was connected with the president’s state of health which
required urgent attention.
An authoritative source in the
Presidency told LEADERSHIP that despite assurances that the president
would return soon from his trip, it was not likely as his health
situation was not too good. He said there was uneasy calm and anxiety in
the Presidential Villa yesterday over the state of health of the
president.
Meanwhile, the situation has also elicited concern
from prominent Ijaw (President Jonathan’s ethnic group) political
leaders, some of whom converged on the home of a prominent elder
statesman from the ethnic group in Abuja to deliberate on the matter. A
source privy to the meeting hinted that the Ijaw sons were considering
sending a delegation to visit the president.
The source said
before the meeting ended, it was agreed that clearance would be obtained
from the Presidential Villa on whether the president is in a state to
receive visitors before it would be decided on who would visit him.
Some
people had speculated about Mr Jonathan’s health just before his trip
to Washington, DC, United States, where he attended the 2014 US-Africa
Summit early this month.
http://leadership.ng/news/381803/jonathan-ill-flown-germany
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