Yar'Adua Had Kidney Transplant - Wikileaks

The late President Umaru Yar'Adua had a kidney transplant in 2002 while still a state governor, but avoided having another one while he was president over fears it would cause unrest, according to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.

According to the online medium, the cables suggest that power brokers in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) knew about Yar'Adua's condition, but still propped him up to become the winning presidential candidate in 2007.

Aides to the president, the cables stated further, stuffed Yar'Adua's clothes to hide his weight loss and used makeup to hide his pallor, but his illness ultimately led to a long absence from the oil-rich nation that fueled public discontent.

Yar'Adua died in May 2010, propelling the then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan into the presidency.

Jonathan recently became PDP's presidential candidate for the coming April election, upsetting a balance of power between the South and North.

"What is clear is that the president's health is a matter of growing concern, particularly on the minds of the northern Nigerian elite," a diplomatic cable from February 2009 reads. "We have noted a considerable uptick in what appears to be behind-the-scenes machinations and back-room dealing."

WikiLeaks publicly released the cables late Saturday night. A spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Abuja has said officials would have no comment on anything released by the website.

A diplomatic cable from June 2008 claims Yar'Adua first began experiencing renal failure in 1999, just as he became governor of Katsina State. The cable said German company Julius Berger, one of the dominant road construction firms in Nigeria, set up a dialysis clinic in Yar'Adua's home. The firm later would fly German experts in and out of Nigeria to privately treat Yar'Adua, the cables claim.

The cables claim Yar'Adua received the transplant in 2002 from donor Sayyadi Abba Ruma, who would serve as minister of agriculture and water resources when Yar'Adua came into power. Ruma could not be immediately reached for comment yesterday.

LEADERSHIP investigation, however, indicated otherwise as the late leader had his kidney transplanted in Hungary with a foreign donor coming to the rescue.

Information available to LEADERSHIP show that Yar'Adua was first diagnosed with the ailment in Saudi Arabia in 2001.

The discolorations long noticed on Yar'Adua's face, fueling rumours about his ill health, came from the steroids doctors gave him to help his body accept the transplant, according to the cables.

At a December 2008 event, Yar'Adua "appeared to weigh no more than 140 pounds, his skin was very taunt, his handshake was weak, voice was fainter than on previous meetings, his eyes were deep set with dark circles underneath, and his teeth were also very badly tarred," the February 2009 cable reads.

Doctors apparently told Yar'Adua he needed a second transplant and the minister's brother was sent to Germany to be checked as a possible donor, according to the cable. However, a planned trip got put on hold over political calculations.

"Yar'Adua did not take this planned trip given public reaction to rumours about travel and concerns about his ability to govern," the February cable reads. "We have no information on whether this trip may be rescheduled."

The president's health continued to worsen. Yar'Adua left Nigeria on Nov. 23, 2009, to seek medical treatment in Saudi Arabia. His physician later told journalists Yar'Adua suffered from acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart.

However, Yar'Adua's stay in Saudi Arabia drifted from days to weeks to months, stalling government activity in a nation vital to U.S. oil supplies.

Yar'Adua returned to Nigeria in late February 2010, but never appeared publicly. He died May 5.

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5,000 Victims of Jos Crises Resettled in Bauchi

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said yesterday that about 5000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the crises in Jos have been absorbed into Bauchi State following the launch of a resettlement programme between the agency and the Bauchi State government. Director General of NEMA, Muhammad Sani-Sidi said that majority of them are victims of the crises that erupted in Jos, Plateau State between January and March 2010 where over 10, 000 of the displaced persons crossed over to the neighboring Bauchi State.

Sani-Sidi noted that some of the displaced persons had returned back to their homes while those being resettled have opted to remain permanently in Bauchi State.

A statement singed by Yushau A. Shuaib NEMA Head Press and Public relations, stated that Sidi who was represented at the Launch of the Resettlement programme by the Director of Administration Dr Zanna Muhammad said after the initial relief intervention, the agency and Bauchi State government decided to embark on the resettlement programme following the request of the IDPs to permanently settle in Bauchi.

While urging Nigerians to learn to live together in peace and to resolve their differences through dialogues rather than from violent confrontations, Sani-Sidi commended the Bauchi State government for the absorption of the IDPs and assistance provided towards their permanent resettlement in the state.

In his remark, the state commissioner for local government affairs Alhaji Idris Halilu who represented the governor said a total of 748 plots of land have been allocated to the IDPS for resettlement in Lere Community of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of the state.

While thanking NEMA for the collaboration toward the success of the programme, the state government appealed for more assistance to resettle other IDPs who have also indicated same interest to permanently remain in the state.

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Secret Killings - Jos Residents Devise Survival Strategies

Residents of Jos have adopted various survival strategies as the warring parties resort to secret killings in the troubled city.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that one of the strategies, known as "chameleon tactics", involved the use of clothes "acceptable to each of the warring territories.

"I wear my jeans trousers and T-shirt if I move to Christian settlements and change to caftan, trouser and cap when returning to the areas inhabited by Muslims," Shehu Mohammed, an undergraduate of the University of Jos told NAN.

Mohammed, whose campus is in a Christian-dominated area, resides at Bauchi Road, populated by his fellow Muslims.

He added, "The dressing has helped me a lot. It helps me from attracting the attention of hoodlums."

A female journalist, Mrs Zainab Babaji, who reports for the Voice of America Hausa Service, also told NAN that the "chameleon tactics" had helped her to survive while carrying out her professional duties.

"Depending on where I am going for the day, I have the right dress to match whatever dress code is safe," she said.

Babaji said that it was "highly dangerous"for her to wear traditional Hausa dress and enter certain areas to perform her duties.

Another resident, Mr Bulus Pam, told NAN that he usually changed his dressing whenever he was going to the market to purchase meat and vegetables.

"If I want to buy meat, I wear jumper, cap and trousers because those items are sold in Hausa-dominated areas."

A civil servant, Adams John Auta, told NAN that many of his friends had adopted the "chameleon style"and moving around successfully in various parts of Jos. Auta, however, appealed to the security agencies to work toward ending the incessant secret killings in Jos and its environs so as to ease the fear that had become the lot of the people in the past few months.

Meanwhile, hotel operators in Jos are experiencing a drop in business activities following the prolonged crisis that engulfed some parts of Plateau in recent times.

NAN correspondent, who went round some of the hotels, reports that patronage is at its lowest, with few or no customers in many of the hotels visited.

Mrs Best Mildred, General Manager, Hill Station Hotel Limited, Jos said that hotel business was "completely dead in Jos".

"As you can see, the hotel is empty, few people occasionally come around and this is not good for the business," she said.

She also said that people were no longer patronising the hotels for fear of the unknown and described the situation as very sad.

Mildred, therefore, called for peace and appealed to the people to forgive and forget the past.

"Peace is the responsibility of everyone, so individuals and the government must put heads together to give it a chance," she said.

Mr Ajayi Dotu, Manager, New Era Hotels, Jos, said, "New Era is experiencing zero patronage."

According to him, the present situation is the worst ever. Ajayi prayed for God's intervention in the lingering crisis and called on the people to bury their differences.

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Wikileaks Set to Name the Country's Treasury Looters

Details of treasury looters and legitimate wealthy Nigerians with secret Swiss bank accounts are up for grabs and may be revealed in the latest round of documents to be published by whistle-blower website, WikiLeaks.

A Swiss banker has handed over what he said are secret Swiss banking records to the website dedicated to revealing state secrets as well as those of individuals.

Rudolf Elmer confirmed that he handed two discs to WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, in London, and that WikiLeaks could release the details in "a matter of weeks" if it can process them quickly enough.

Elmer said he would not reveal the names and is not able to say how many people are involved.

A source disclosed that those on the list include the late Head of State Sani Abacha and several politicians - and about 2,000 clients' records are included, but because of the way trusts and corporations are set up, the number of individuals involved cannot be determined.

Elmer describes himself as an activist, and banker.

"I think, as a banker, I do have the right to stand up if something is wrong," he said, explaining why he gave the documents to WikiLeaks.

Elmer is due to go on trial today in Switzerland for violating the country's banking secrecy regulations.

Unfazed, he insists that he wants "to let society know what I do know and how this system works because it is damaging our society in the way that money is moved" and hidden in offshore jurisdictions.

He began looking into the issue when he was a banker in the Cayman Islands, he added.

When he first looked into the problems of offshore banking it seemed to him like "a mouse tail," but as he investigated in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland, it became a "dragon's tail," and finally a many-headed dragon.

Elmer stated on his website that he wants to "challenge Swiss Bank Secrecy at the European Court of Human Rights and the Swiss courts."

He has worked at six offshore banking centres, he said, and has been engaged in a long-running battle with Swiss banks over secrecy.

Elmer had approached tax authorities and universities with his data, but no one was interested.

He was about to give up when he learned about WikiLeaks from a friend.

He said he is "grateful" to WikiLeaks for helping him "send the message which I wanted to send," but that he is not trying to use it for "protection" as he faces prosecution.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) disclosed in Abuja on May 20, 2009 that up to $450 million of the over $3 billion allegedly looted by Abacha could not be traced.

The disclosure was made by Tim Daniel, a legal expert from the United Kingdom brought in by UNODC to help the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) draft the Bill on Non-Conviction Based Forfeiture of Proceeds and Instrumentalities of Unlawful Activity.

Daniel announced that even though there was proof the $450 million was stacked away somewhere, it was yet to be traced.

According to him, while the $1.9 billion recovered from the Abacha family by the Federal Government was a major success story in assets recovery, there were still funds stolen from Nigeria yet to be recovered.

He said $300 million was still to be repatriated to Nigeria from Luxembourg where it was siphoned by Abacha, despite the letters of request by Abuja.

Daniel added that Abacha also stashed $400 million in Liechtenstein which Nigeria was yet to recover.

"The cases of Luxembourg and Liechtenstein are cases of monies frozen or lost by banks," he stressed.

Daniel noted that Abuja and its partners had intensified the search for the funds, with hope for positive results.

Breaking down the $1.9 billion recovered from Abacha, he said $750 million came from voluntary surrender by the family while $570 million was recovered from Switzerland.

"$380 million was recovered from Jersey and $150 million, which was the Ajaokuta Steel plant debt was recovered from the UK," he added.

He explained that asset recovery involves criminal and civil mechanisms, mutual legal assistance in criminal proceedings, international enforcement of confiscation orders, civil forfeiture, and private civil proceedings.

However, Abacha's son, Abba, on May 10 last year began a fresh appeal against a court order to return $350 million in illegally gained assets in Switzerland.

Abba was also convicted of being a member of a criminal organisation and given a suspended custodial sentence.

A Geneva Magistrate convicted Abba, 41, in November 2009 of participating in a criminal organisation, handed down a suspended prison term, and ordered he surrenders $350 million in illegally obtained assets.

Under the Swiss legal system, the appeal brings the case to a court.

"This is the first time this monumental embezzlement case is being heard in court," wrote the Le Temps, a Swiss newspaper, noting that Abacha was seeking to be acquitted.

The Swiss authorities pursued Abba for six years before extraditing him from Germany in 2005.

Nigeria sent Switzerland a request in 1999, the year after Abacha died, to help it recover some $2.2 billion the dictator is suspected of having siphoned from the treasury when he ruled from 1993 to 1998.

Switzerland began investigating the Abacha family in 1999 and has handed back about $700 million to Nigeria.

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