Speculations
were rife on Wednesday that the trip of President Goodluck Jonathan
and his wife, Patience, to Germany which the Presidency described as “a
private visit” might be on health grounds.
The Special Adviser to the President on
Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, had on Tuesday issued a statement
indicating that Jonathan would leave Abuja for Germany en-route to
Paris, France to participate in the Summit on Peace and Security in
Africa.
Abati said the President would stop over
in Germany for a private visit on his way to Paris and return to Abuja
at the conclusion of the summit on Saturday.
The announcement of the “private visit”
coming a few weeks after he fell sick in London, fuelled speculation
that Jonathan might have decided to visit the same German hospital where
his wife sought medical attention for about seven weeks last year.
Since he was accompanied by Patience,
speculations were also rife that she might use the opportunity of
the visit to undergo a medical check-up.
The fears were further confirmed on
Wednesday when it was discovered that many of the President’s close
aides, who usually accompany him on foreign trips, did not travel with
him.
Our correspondent learnt that some of them might join the President in Paris later in the week.
The social media were on Wednesday awash with reports of the motive of President’s German trip.
An online news site, SaharaReporters, reported that Jonathan and his wife checked int0 a hospital in Germany on Wednesday.
Although Jonathan fell sick during his
recent trip to London and was treated of severe abdominal pains , he had
since his return been attending state functions.
Apart from being at the opening of the
second North-East Economic Summit in Gombe State, the President also
received President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda at the Presidential Villa,
Abuja on Tuesday evening.
Efforts to get Abati to speak on the
President’s alleged visit to a German hospital did not yield any
positive result as of 10pm on Wednesday.
When contacted on the telephone, the
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin
Okupe, said he could not comment on the matter because he had not
established contact with the President abroad.
Patience had at a thanksgiving service
on February 17 narrated how a debilitating sickness almost took her
life at a time the Federal Government was telling Nigerians that she
was in a perfect condition.
The President’s wife had said she passed
out for over seven days and that her aides, believing that she was
dead, were already selling her personal effects before God
“miraculously” brought her back to life.
Punctuating her testimony with praise
songs, Patience had told the congregation that she underwent nine
surgeries within one month in London.
She had said, “I remember when Chief
(Olusegun) Obasanjo was the President of the country, I was close to his
late wife, Stella. We worshipped together in the chapel.
“It was a painful moment for me that
time when she died and her corpse was brought here. That was how my
corpse would have been brought here. It was not an easy experience for
me. I actually died; I passed out for more than a week. My intestine and
tummy were opened.
“I am not Lazarus but my experience was similar to his own. My doctors said all hope was lost.
“It was God himself, in His infinite mercy, that said I would return to Nigeria. God woke me up after seven days.”
The President, at the event, had said
the recovery of his wife succeeded in putting an end to the
superstitious belief that no President ever entered the Presidential
Villa and left with his family intact.
He had said, “The story was that one of us (the President or his wife) will die. Today we are celebrating her.
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