Umaru Yar’Adua’s daughter, Nafisat Yuguda, is in the United States to have her first child. She is seven months pregnant. She arrived in New York yesterday accompanied by her husband, Bauchi State governor Isah Yuguda, who has three other wives. Yuguda, whose father-in-law is in a Saudi Arabia hospital being treated for a variety of serious diseases, brought his wife to the United States because no hospital in Bauchi State, which he runs, or anywhere else in Nigeria, was thought to be good enough for the delivery. Last year, Yar’Adua’s second daughter Zainab, who is equally married to another governor, Dakingari of Kebbi State, also delivered her baby in the US. Prior to embarking on his US trip, Yuguda had just returned to Nigeria empty-handed after spending several days in Saudi Arabia unable to see Yar’Adua or confirm his condition. He was evacuated to Jeddah under a medical emergency two weeks ago. Upon arrival in New York, the full machinery of Nigerian diplomatic presence in the United States was fully and shamelessly put in at the service of the governor. Yuguda and his family were personally accompanied and driven to the Chevy Chase area of Maryland by Ambassador Wakil, the acting Nigerian ambassador to the US, who had gone all the way to New York to receive them. The following day, Yuguda and his family moved out of the Chevy Chase accommodation, where they stayed overnight, into a tastefully furnished apartment in Bethesda, Maryland. Nafisat is expected to stay there until she has her baby, and the Nigerian embassy in Washington DC will put its resources to cater for their every need. According to sources in Washington DC, Yuguda will leave on Arik Air on Friday, but it is not clear if he will be returning to his other wives, or to Saudi Arabia, as Bauchi State does not seem to hold any priority for the governor. Meanwhile, officials of the Nigerian government now confirm that Yar’Adua was in “intensive care,” as had earlier been reported by Saharareporters when we detailed how he was unconscious for four hours in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, November 24, a situation which led his aides to spread the word that he had passed on to the great beyond.
