New York, April 21, 2008 --- Nigerians residing in the United States of America are very apprehensive since the news of degenerating health of President Yar’Adua prompting his emergency trip to Germany for treatment broke out on Saturday April 12 2008.

While the aides to the Nigerian President, including Presidential spokesman, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi had said the President was being treated for an ''allergic reaction'' and is "doing well and responding favourably to treatment”, the Internet has been awash with stories alluding to a more serious ailment.

According to one internet news outfit, “Yar’Adua's medical condition degenerated a long time ago because he was allegedly misdiagnosed and treated for asthma for a long time.”

“His real ailment is known as "Churg-Strauss Syndrome, a disorder, according to medical journals, that causes inflammation in blood vessels (vasculitis), which restricts blood flow to various organs. The disorder is believed to have damaged Yar'adua's kidneys before it was properly diagnosed. Although the disease may involve any organ, most commonly it affects your lungs and skin. The restricted blood flow to these organs can cause temporary or permanent damage. Asthma for which Yar’adua physicians have treated him for a prolonged period of time is a common feature of Churg-Strauss syndrome. The disorder does not have any known cure”, continued the internet news outfit.

In Nigeria, the opposition parties are blaming the growing rumors on the dearth of official information about the health of the President, and laid the blame squarely on the shoulders of the government and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“Unfortunately, the officials saddled with this responsibility are limited in their scope, otherwise they would have known the damage being done to the President and the country by the speculations on the information superhighway due to the absence of official information. The government and the PDP have not shown enough respect and fairness to Nigerians in the handling of information concerning the health of the President. Perhaps they don't realise that the fate of this country is tied to the fate of the President, hence his state of health is not a private matter and the nation deserves to be fully informed about it. We hereby call on the FG to give the nation regular updates on the state of health of President Yar'Adua.'', said Action Congress (AC), one of the political parties.

The state of the President's health has been an issue since last year, when he had to cut short his electioneering campaign to go to Germany for urgent medical treatment.

Some local media reports had said the President collapsed from the rigors of electioneering campaign and had to be flown to Germany for treatment.

While the politicians in Nigeria are bickering and using the ill-health of President Yar’Adua and the mismanagement of public information for political gains, Nigerians in United States, Canada and other places are apprehensively praying for his speedy recovery and resumption of duties. Some wonder why the Presidential Clinic at the Aso Rock Villa, the official residence of President Yar’Adua has not been fully equipped to handle his ailment to stop the embarrassing foreign medical trips.

The President appears to be the first law-and-order ruler Nigeria ever had since its independence from Britain in 1960. His no-sacred–cow policies recently saw to the arrest of the nation’s Minister of Health and her deputies prompting a federal senator, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, the daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to abscond from her Senate office and disappear to unknown hidden location in her bid to escape the nation’s anti-graft agency looking for her to answer some questions regarding mismanagement of money from the federal Ministry of Heath.

Interestingly, Senator Obasanjo-Bello is the Chairman of Senate Committee on Health and is being accused of collecting N10 million Naira (Nigerian currency) out of N300 million of unspent 2007 budget funds that should have been returned to the federal treasury, but was rather shared among public officials by the Ministry of Health. Those are funds that were supposed to be used to provide good health care to the nation.

Nigerian health care system is in total shambles prompting senior government officials and wealthy Nigerians to always go abroad for medical treatment.

The colleagues of Senator Obasanjo-Bello in the National Assembly have been calling on her to come out from hiding and face the anti-corruption agency if she has nothing to hide.

Senator Obasanjo-Bello's colleague at the Senate had few days ago cleared her of any wrongdoing, however, after noticing her absence for two consecutive days following attempt by the anti-corruption agency to interview her, the same colleagues at the Senate also called on her to surrender to the EFCC.

Also, the Chairman of the House of Representative Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Eziuche Ubani, who stated the position of the lower chamber at a press conference in the National Assembly few days ago asked the Senator to stop hiding as her going underground and her refusal to submit herself to the EFCC might embarrass the legislature.

Hon. Ubani said that since the law establishing the anti-graft agency was made by the National Assembly it would send a wrong signal to the outside world that even lawmakers do not obey laws made by them.

“Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello should endeavour to appear before the EFCC. The whole thing is giving the National Assembly a bad name. It creates the impression that we don't obey the laws made by ourselves. The law establishing EFCC was made by the National Assembly and therefore, the lawmakers ought to show the example by appearing before the agency any time they are invited, particularly when some people from the executive are facing trial over the matter', he said.

"As a lawmaker, it is an obligation for her to appear and save us the drama. The invitation extended to her by EFCC does not mean she is guilty in any way. Let her go and clear her name and by extension name of the National Assembly. We have seen situations where some persons were invited by the agency and later asked to go. The drama is making us uncomfortable and we want this drama to end".

The eldest daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo had reportedly told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) last Wednesday that she was not on the run but running for her life.

"I am not on the run, but I feel as I'm a victim of harassment... I'm afraid for my life," she reportedly told the BBC.

Her comment to the BBC came after the EFCC agents had laid siege to her Abuja residence.

Meanwhile, Nigerians are blaming official corruptions and mismanagement of funds and resources for the falling national health facilities and other national infrastructures.

According to official information, President Yar'Adua is due back in Nigeria on Tuesday April 22, 2008, having recovered from his illness; and many Nigerians welcome that news.