Pls let us pray,Reports today indicate that we might see not him till next year

After several months of playing ‘hide and seek’ with Nigerians over the health of President Umaru Yar’Adua, the presidency finally came face to face with reality and officially revealed the name of the ‘demon’ that has plagued the nation’s First Citizen.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media and Publicity), Segun Adeniyi, had said Yar’Adua, who was ferried to a Saudi Arabian hospital in an air ambulance, was undergoing treatment for acute pericarditis caused by Churg-Strauss Syndrome, a condition that had plagued the president for sometime and led to his developing end stage renal disease and ultimately kidney failure.

Pericarditis is an inflammation of the pericardium, the membrane forming the outer covering of the heart. The inflammation may cause a thickening and roughening of the membrane and an accumulation of fluid in the sac surrounding the heart.
While wishing the president well, Dr Emmanuel Enabulele, a surgeon and medical director of Joekem Clinic, told Sunday Sun that for “somebody who had been chronically ill, and now developing acute pericarditis, in health terms, it means that he has more days of hospitalization.”
Continuing, he said: “Most acute pericarditis cases take a minimum of six weeks to resolve; usually when pericarditis occurs it becomes a little difficult to know what must have caused it. But we know that he had a renal condition, and uremia is a known cause of pericarditis, it just means that days of hospitalization ahead of us are still many. Definitely, he would have more days of hospitalization and government must find a way to keep working. That is the way it should be taken.”

We’re not ready for political upheaval
Clearly determined not to be drawn into any speculations as to whether the president could continue to function in office given his present circumstance, he advised that what should be uppermost in the minds of Nigerians is the need to give Yar’Adua the time necessary for him to recover his health.

His words: “Sentiments apart, there are constitutional provisions. But what it means for now is that he needs to have enough time to recover from his condition. Depending on how the illness progresses, then the issue of continuing in office, which is bound to generate political heat, will have to be confronted. But for now he needs to recover his health back, both the renal function, cardiac function and the causative factor that might have led to the pericarditis have to be dealt with. From there, after the assessment then the issue of continuing in office can be debated. But knowing what this country is, it is likely to generate a lot of sensitive political maneuverings and I don’t think that we are ready for that now. The nation is not ready for such now. At least there is a government on ground, let us keep managing the way we have been. After all the man has not been very active all these past months due to his clinical condition that has been clouded with a kind of mist till now that the chicken is coming home to roost.”

Though the president had once boasted during his first nationally televised interactive session with senior editors, that he could sustain an energetic game of squash. There are genuine concerns that the president has been laid low by his deteriorating health condition. For as long as Nigerians can remember, most of the responsibilities of the president have been delegated to capable aides.

Against this background, medical director of Dayspring Hospital and Secretary of Lagos State Cahpter of Nigeria Medical Association, Dr. Sam Adebayo, and Enabulele both argued that the president could still continue to function to some minimal level.
According to Adebayo, “being an acute situation, it can be resolved easily. There is none of our teaching hospital that cannot diagnose and treat this condition adequately. Even some people would have it would just resolve without their knowing that they have it. That shouldn’t disturb him as the President, except that there are other medical issues, which are not known. When it comes to his health issue, there is a lot hidden in secrecy. What the people know is based on mere speculation. Nobody has actually come out to say categorically what is ailing the president. To start with he is not even being managed in Nigeria.

“Last time when he went to Germany, they said he had catarrh. If as they have said that he has pericarditis, then there is no big deal about it. It is a condition that can resolve under proper medical management. If presidency wants to inform us, we the citizens, about the health condition of our president they should update us well. And if they don’t, they can keep the information with them. We don’t know much about the president’s health condition. The presidency should not be fuelling speculation about Yar’Adua’s health. We want him to live out the full potential of the life given to him by God.”

Dr Enabulele, on his part, however said: “Nigerians shouldn’t start getting too worried about the president. There shouldn’t be any unnecessary manoeuvre for now. Let’s wait for the outcome of the treatment; let’s see whether the so-called pericarditis is now progressing from acute to chronic. Acute pericarditis can resolve in six weeks. Anything above six weeks, we start talking about sub-acute; if it then moves from sub-acute to chronic, that is a situation that would necessitate serious debate.”

When the president’s condition progresses to chronic, what are the implications for the country? To this Enabulele responded: “Of course, the person becomes more debilitated, more fatigued and the general health condition is not such that you could engage in very active services, which governing entails. Being the person he is, and the type of enormous powers and resources he controls, I am sure by that time, something definite must have been done.”