Alhaji Umar Yar’Adua has dispelled rumours of his purported death, insisting that he was not only alive but also remained in the presidential race. Yar’Adua spoke separately on the British Broadcasting Service and in a live telephone conversation with President Olusegun Obasanjo at the PDP rally in Abeokuta.

The Katsina State Governor told the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), that he was in Germany to treat a severe dose of catarrh, which had made breathing difficult for him. The sudden ailment, he added, was caused by his recent campaign trips across the country.

"I’m alive. I’m responding to treatment. I have a severe dose of catarrh which has made it difficult for me to breathe. It is caused by strenuous campaign across the country," he said. Waxing religious, Yar’Adua added: "As a Muslim, death is inevitable; sickness is a different kettle of fish. Insha Allah, I shall return to Nigeria on Sunday to carry on with the presidential campaign."

"I am alright. I am very fine. I am very much alive," Yar’Adua told the President in a phone call transmitted live to thousands of PDP supporters at the M.K.O Abiola stadium, Abeokuta. Obasanjo, who described the rumour mongers as satanic, assured the crowd that Yar’Adua only had an infection which did not require surgery, saying the PDP standard bearer would soon return home.

He also lambasted those alleging that he had known all along that Yar’Adua would not last a year in office.

"They are wicked. Anybody saying that is a child of satan. How can anybody say somebody will die on a particular day? They even said that I was dead in far away Ghana. They are wicked," Obasanjo said.

Chairman of the PDP, Senator Ahmadu Ali also explained that Yar’Adua was prevailed upon to go for medical check up after exhibiting symptoms of catarrh, adding that the presidential candidate was alive and responding to treatment.

The Presidency has equally dismissed fears over Yar’Adua’s death, describing such rumours as "wicked and malicious."

Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Mallam Uba Sani, told newsmen in Abuja that those who fabricated and spread Yar’Adua’s purported death were politicians who saw the Katsina State governor’s candidacy as a threat.

His words: "There is no iota of truth in the rumour. It is the handiwork of Yar’Adua’s political opponents who latched on to his health condition and tried to score cheap political gains."Sani also described as false insinuations that Yar’Adua might quit the presidential race, saying neither the candidate nor his party was contemplating such a move.

In its own reaction, the PDP said Yar’Adua’s state of health was stable.
National Secretary of the party, Chief Ojo Maduekwe told a news conference in Abuja that President Obasanjo had a lively conversation with Yar’Adua earlier on Wednesday, adding that Nigerians had nothing to worry about.

Maduekwe confirmed that the party was not unaware of its presidential candidate’s medical condition even before he emerged as the party’s standard bearer.
"You will recall that the president had said that he is aware that Yar’Adua was sick but everything is now over. He even said they play squash together," said Maduekwe, adding that it does not mean that "if somebody is cured of malaria he can never have malaria again."

Asked whether flying the PDP presidential candidate abroad for medical treatment was not a failing of the PDP-led government, Maduekwe said: "We will be the first to admit that our best efforts to improve all the sectors of the nation are not yet complete. They are not what they ought to be but we will get there."

The Yar’Adua/Goodluck Campaign Organisation in its reaction, assured that Yar’Adua was alive and would soon return to the country to continue with the campaign.

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