Attempts by the Principal Secretary to the President, Mr. David Edevbie, to bring the Senate Resolution on transmission of a letter to the National to the attention of President Umaru Yar’Adua have hit a brick wall following an alleged shut out by the First Lady, Hajiya Turai.
Edevbie, who is presently stranded in Dubai , has been barred from coming to Saudi Arabia .
Also, the First Lady was said to have turned down offers by two prominent traditional rulers to see Yar’Adua.
Investigation showed that Edevbie has been stranded in Dubai in the last one week as he has not been cleared by members of Yar’Adua’s family to bring the Senate Resolution to the President.
The Senate had about one and half weeks ago passed a resolution that the President should transmit a letter to the National Assembly to pave the way for the inauguration of Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan as acting President.
Findings indicated that while Edevbie left Nigeria for Saudi on Tuesday, the two traditional rulers got in touch with the First Lady on Wednesday.
A reliable source said: "Since Edevbie left Nigeria , he has been stranded in Dubai as the First Lady and family have not cleared him to come and see the President. The Principal Secretary does not want to take the risk and be arrested by Saudi security agencies.
"We learnt that the First Lady sent a message that the Principal Secretary should tarry a while until there is a signal that he can enter Saudi Arabia .
"For the first time, Edevbie’s trip is taking a long time; it does not used to be like this. When he took the 2009 Supplementary Appropriation Bill to the President for assent, he had no problem gaining access to Saudi Arabia ."
As for the traditional rulers, the source said the First Lady said they should not "bother to come to Saudi now."
He added: "What we heard was that the First Lady took the step because he does not want the President distracted from his recovery programme. The First Family is also not pleased with the frail look of the President.
"There is no point presenting an emaciated President to those who are coming. Although the President is already walking about in the recuperating room, the family is not happy at all. And they are unsure those coming are doing so for genuine reasons or to spy.
"We also learnt that the Yar’Aduas are restricting access to the President after their experience with ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo. They were shocked that Obasanjo who had never made a call to Yar’Adua or endeavour to visit Saudi Arabia had asked Yar’Adua to quit. The family felt betrayed by the former President.
"This shut-out development has however upset everyone including those who are sympathetic to the President."
Meanwhile, findings last night revealed that a delegation of the House of Representatives may only meet with the First Lady, Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua and Nigeria ’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia , Abdullahi Aminchi.
The House had about three weeks ago raised a six-man delegation, being led by its Deputy Leader, Hon. Baba Shehu Agaie.
The committee’s two terms of reference border on conveying the goodwill of the House to the President and discussing state matters.
Although the six members have secured visa, it was gathered that the team might leave before the end of this week.
But a source added: "A major challenge the delegations will face is access to the President because of the strict Saudi laws. You can only see a patient in any Saudi hospital with the full consent (at times written) of his or her family.
"In view of the sensitive nature of Yar’Adua’s ill-health, there must also be security clearance from Saudi Government before any Nigerian delegation can see President Yar’Adua who is in one of the reserved clinical wing for Saudi princes.
"They can only meet with either the First Lady or Nigeria ’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia to have information on the health status of the President."
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