Ruma donated kidney toYar ’Adua, says Wikileaks

THE late President Umaru Yar’Adua did a kidney
transplant in 2002 as governor of Katsina State,
but avoided another one as president for fears
causing unrest, according to diplomatic cables
released by WikiLeaks.
The cables claimed former Minister of Agriculture
and Water Resources Sayyadi Abba Ruma
donated his kidney for the transplant.
The cables suggested Nigeria’s top power brokers
in the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) knew about
Yar ’Adua’s condition, but still propped him up to
become the presidential candidate in 2007.
Aides to the president stuffed his clothes to hide
his weight loss and used makeup to hide his
pallor, the cables claim, but his illness ultimately
led to a long absence from that fuelled public
discontent.
Yar’Adua died last May, propelling Vice-President
Goodluck Jonathan into the presidency. Jonathan
recently became the ruling party ’s presidential
candidate for the coming April election.
"What is clear is that the president’s health is a
matter of growing concern, particularly on the
minds of the northern 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 United
States (US) Embassy in Abuja, said officials would
have no comment on anything released by the
website.
A diplomatic cable from June 2008
claimedYar ’Adua first began experiencing renal
failure in 1999, shortly after he became governor.
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 flew German experts in and
out of Nigeria to privately treat Yar ’Adua, the
cables claimed.
The discolorations long noticed on Yar’Adua’s
face, fuelling rumours about his ill health, came
from the steroids doctors gave him to help his
body accept the transplant, according to the
cables.
Ruma denied the cable claim, calling WikiLeaks a
"witch-hunting device" and "a strategy for
blackmail."
"It never happened," Ruma told The Associated
Press last night. "It ’s not true. It’s malicious. It’s
mischievous.
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