Brigadier-General Otu Oviemo Ovadje (rtd), a former Medical Director of
the Military Hospital, Lagos has finally given insights into the demise
of former head of state, General Sani Abacha and former President, Umaru
Musa Yar’Adua.
The medical practitioner gave the shocking revelations on Sunday:
He also spoke on how an ex Minister in the former
President Olusegun Obasanjo’s cabinet and a former Kwara State governor
passed away due to lack of necessary medical facilities in Nigeria.
Oviemo spoke at the symposium organised by Mcnext Intellectual Property
in collaboration with the Student Union Government of Yaba College of
Technology, Lagos on the topic Where are we in the Global Plan?
According to him, “The late Gen Abacha while in office could not
undertake medical tourism but imported Filipino doctors to manage his
condition. The Filipino’s made a mockery of his management by pumping
steroids into him.
“The President became bloated and was thought by the un-informed as
improving and gaining weight. The President’s weight gain and puffiness
was largely due to fluid retention. I was privileged as a celebrated
Nigerian doctor at the time to advise but there were too many
uninterested aides of the Head of State. It became too late in the day.
He snapped and died,” he disclosed.
Oviemo lamented that it was unfortunate that the late Yar’Adua until his
demise could not build a specialised centre to cater for his ailment,
though there are more and better trained doctoors who could have handled
his case better.
He further claimed that the late President Yar’Adua died as a result of
brain damage caused by severe asphyxia to ignorance and poor management.
His words, “The presence of a sophisticated Air and Land Ambulance did
not prevent him from dying from his condition just as the hospital in
Saudi Arabia with all its gadgets could not reverse damage done to his
brain during an acute deterioration of his health.
“Imagine what could have happened to our very meek, humble and generally
loved president when he suffered an acute relapse of his condition. He
was rushed into the ambulance and a face mask was turned on with oxygen
flushing over his face.”
Speaking further, the respected doctor noted that the late Head of State
was “hypo-ventilating at the time and by the time he got to Saudi
Arabia, he had suffered irreversible brain death.”
“Because Nigerians believe in the god of mammon and that money answers
all things, they expected a miracle from the Saudi hospital. The truth
is that if we had good centres back home in Nigeria, the late Head of
State should have been stabilised before been flown out. Our usual first
impulse is to fly out the sick and our experiences have shown that many
patients die,” he said.
He also recalled how a former Military Governor of Kwara State who had
pneumonia was flown abroad without his own knowledge and the said former
governor was unlucky.
According to him, “I met the big man sweaty, restless and confused due
to carbon dioxide narcosis from his poor ventilation. I only adjusted
his neck and positioned his head to enable him exhale properly and his
condition improved.
“I advised them not to fly him out immediately to allow him to be
stable. I volunteered to fly with him at my own expense to support him
on board. By the time I returned back from Lagos where I went for my
passport, the man had been flown out. Early in the morning, I got a call
from one of my highly placed mentors that “we lost him”.
“I was told that he got to Germany but he died before he could gain
admission to a hospital. The General’s condition could have been very
well-managed in Nigeria but for the pleasure of medical tourism and the
absence of identifiable/recognisable facilities and expertise. Money has
robbed many privileged and affluent Nigerians of sensibility. They
never see with you or take advice when money talks,” Oviemo recalled.
Continuing, Oviemo hinted that during the second term of former
President Olusegun Obasanjo in office, a former Minister died as a
result of asthmatic attacks, which could have been easily cured if
necessary medical facilities were available in the country.
He stated that South Africans, including their top government officials,
don’t undertake medical tourism like Nigerian leaders and that is why
their standard of living is far better than what we have in Nigeria.