Nigerian leader said may leave Saudi hospital soon

By ABDULLAH AL-SHIHRI
Associated Press
2010-02-04 09:26 PM
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Nigeria's ailing president is still recovering in hospital but could be discharged within a week, a Saudi doctor treating the African leader said Thursday.

The physician's assessment came amid confusion over President Umaru Yar'Adua's health.

Nigeria's ruling party said two weeks ago he had left the hospital in the Red Sea city of Jiddah.

The doctor spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The Nigerian leader, who suffered from kidney problems and an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart, arrived in Saudi Arabia in late November. He hasn't formally named his vice president as the country's acting president while he is away, sparking fears of a constitutional crisis.

"Our hopes and prayers is that he's able to come back to Nigeria as soon as possible," Rufai Ahmed Alkali, a spokesman for Nigeria's ruling Peoples Democratic Party, said Thursday. "We cannot speak for the doctors here in Nigeria. It is only the doctors that speak for him."

The party issued a statement Jan. 20 attributed to National Secretary Abubakar Baraje saying the president had spoken on the telephone to Nigerian officials as well as the media and that he had been discharged from the Saudi hospital.

But Alkali on Thursday denied that Yar'Adua had been released from hospital.

He, however, could not explain Baraje's comments.

Olusegun Adeniyi, a presidential spokesman, did not answer calls for comment Thursday.

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Associated Press Writer Jon Gambrell in Lagos, Nigeria, contributed to this report.