President Umaru Yar'Adua who was flown out of the country late on Monday night has been admitted to a Saudi hospital. According to reports monitored from foreign media organizations, a Saudi doctor was quoted as saying "the Nigerian president is undergoing medical tests at a hospital in the western seaport city of Jeddah."
The doctor who did not disclose the name of the hospital said Mr. Yar'Adua was admitted yesterday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. He also declined to give more details on the president's health.
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Mr. Yar'Adua's spokesperson, Olusegun Adeniyi had in a statement on Monday stated the president will call on his personal physicians while on a visit to Jeddah for "follow-up medical checks." The President, who has long been known to suffer from a kidney ailment, spent sometime at a Jeddah hospital last year when he left to perform the lesser hajj.
This is the third trip the president is making in four months, to treat an ailment that has not been fully disclosed to the nation. On August 14th, he made a two-week trip to Germany.
On September 22, he left for another trip to Saudi Arabia. The presidency officially claimed he had gone to commission the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, during which he would also receive medical attention for an asthmatic condition. He was billed to attend the United Nations' General Assembly meeting in New York at the same time, rather, the minister of foreign affairs, Ojo Maduekwe represented him.
The reason for yesterday's trip, coming appropriately during the Hajj season when Muslims gather in Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage, was carefully worded to suggest that a medical treatment was merely a coincidence.
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