Date Published: 02/15/10

Turai blocks Ogbulafor from seeing Yar'Adua in Saudi

The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, was on Sunday prevented from seeing ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua in Saudi Arabia.

Ogbulafor, who left Nigeria for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Thursday to obtain information on the health condition of the President, was allegedly turned back by the first lady, Turai.

Sources at the party’s headquarters in Abuja, who spoke on condition of anonymity with  punch correspondent, said that Ogbulafor felt bad that he could be treated in such manner.

He was said to have argued that as the chairman of the party that produced the President, he had thought that he would be allowed to see the President no matter his condition.

The source said, “The chairman was very furious that he was not allowed to see the President despite the fact that he had informed the wife of the President that he would be coming.

“When he booked the appointment, he was not told that he would not be allowed to see the President.

“He said he only saw Turai and the President’s ADC, which he said he did not like. Turai was said to have told him that there was no way he would see the President and his (Ogbulafor’s) message would be relayed to Yar’Adua.

“He had believed that even if others who had been there before him were not allowed to see the President, he as the chairman of the party that produced him should be allowed.

“Moreover, he was of the opinion that when the people with the President knew that he would not be allowed to see him, why was he not told beforehand so that he would probably not have gone there in the first place?”