Date Published: 02/28/10

Obama wants Yar'Adua's health status made public

...Why we warned Yar'Adua's Cabal - U.S

President Barack Obama

The Obama administration has concerns over the stability of Nigeria and says that while it welcomes the return of incapacitated President Umaru Yar’Adua, the country needs a “strong and effective leader” in charge.

“What’s important first and foremost is who is … the recognized leader of Nigeria,” Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley said February 26. “And right now I believe it is acting President Goodluck Jonathan.”

Jonathan was designated as acting president earlier in February by the Nigerian National Assembly, in light of Yar’Adua’s three-month medical absence in Saudi Arabia. Yar’Adua returned to the country February 24, but is reportedly still in ill health. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson welcomed both acting President Jonathan’s designation and the return of Yar’Adua, but noted press reports on February 24 that said Yar’Adua “remains fragile and … may not be able to fill the demands of his office.”

Crowley said the United States is concerned that the return could be “an effort by his senior advisers to upset Nigeria’s stability in an effort to forward their own personal interests” in the country, which is Africa’s largest oil producer.

“We have tremendous concern about stability. And our message to all of the players in Nigeria is, make sure that this moves forward in a stable, constitutional and democratic way,” Crowley said. “Nigeria at this point needs a strong and effective leader to ensure the stability of the country and to manage Nigeria’s many political, economic and security challenges.”

A senior State Department official who asked not to be identified said U.S. diplomats in Abuja have asked Nigerian officials about Yar’Adua’s condition. The president is in “dire health” and is unable to govern the country, the official said.

“We do have concerns about his movement from Saudi Arabia back into Nigeria and what some people around him might be trying to do with that,” the official said, adding that that is “the basis for the warnings” that have been issued from Washington to Nigeria in recent days.