Strange ambulance mystifies port workers in Lagos

The Tin Can Island sea port in Apapa Lagos recently attracted a huge crowd which came to witness the curious sight of a rare, all-white, Mobile Intensive Care Unit, a vehicle which some of the onlookers thought was President Umaru Yar ‘Adua’s famed ambulance.

The arrival of the impressive looking truck, a 2005 model Prevost Ambulance, also drew the attention of officials who crowded round the truck in admiration trying to get a sense of the inner structure of the ambulance they thought was brought into the country ahead of the reported return of Mr. Yar’Adua. Some went ahead to take pictures with their mobile phones, while postulating various theories about the presence of the ambulance in the country.

Samuel Ilegwuna, a port operative said he was sure it was “Yar Adua’s ambulance because it looked so cool and unbelievable.” Although Mr. Ilegwuna’s views were shared by many of those who thronged the area, NEXT independently gathered that the ambulance was procured in the name of Fadima Medical Centre in Ilorin, Kwara State.

Fadima Medical Centre is located on the relatively quiet Balogun Fulani neighbourhood in the city precincts under the proprietorship of Zubair Erubu, a general practice doctor who doubles as the private physician of the governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki, an ally of Mr. Yar Adua and chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum.

Mr. Erubu is also chairman of the Kwara State Ambulance Point, a neighbourhood programme designed to bring ambulatory service close to citizens.

Cleared with urgency

It was not immediately clear if the ambulance which was shipped from Port Caravenal, was meant for the State Ambulance Point, but a port official said it arrived at Tin Can port two weeks ago. The official, who asked not to be named, said: “It was cleared today with a little urgency.” Two weeks ago, a Ford E-250 Mobile Intensive Care Unit was flown into the country, presumably for the ailing president’s use.

Press interest in an anticipated Yar Adua ambulance made the arrival of this new vehicle something of a celebrity. The Prevost truck line vehicle is a product from the Volvo family Group of vehicles.

The mobile unit was escorted by a navy blue Toyota 4Runner SUV with Lagos registration number, PV 94 AAA. The destination of the heavily tinted ambulance is however not made public. Prevost is a Canadian-based Tour Bus manufacturer since 1924. It is known to manufacture coaches easily converted to motor homes, Entertainer Coach and sometimes referred to as Estates on Wheels.