Nigeria's cabinet has decided to send a delegation to Saudi Arabia for an update on President Umaru Yar'Adua's health.
 
Ministers remain divided over whether Yar'Adua should be removed from office to allow Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to be sworn in as head of state, almost three months after the ailing leader left for medical treatment.

Sources said two ministers had tabled a motion asking the cabinet to declare Yar'Adua incapable of governing. But eight ministers loyal to the 58-year-old leader opposed the motion and argued that a team led by the health minister should travel to Saudi Arabia to gauge Yar'Adua's condition. 
 
"Today's meeting was stormy," one of the sources who attended the meeting said. "But this is the beginning of the process to confirm the true state of health of the president. It is the information that this team comes back with that will determine the next stage of either declaring him incapacitated or not."
 
Information Minister Dora Akunyili confirmed after the cabinet meeting that a team of six ministers would go to Saudi Arabia to visit Yar'Adua and his family, saying they would leave "when they get their visas".  But she declined to comment on the motion about his incapacity. "All I can say is that this resolution was the general consensus," she said of the decision to send a delegation to Saudi Arabia

 
Not seen for weeks

The cabinet -made of ministers picked by Yar'Adua - has twice passed unanimous resolutions that there are no grounds to declare him unfit to govern. But no minister has publicly said they have spoken to or seen Yar'Adua for weeks.

He has been receiving treatment for pericarditis, an inflammation of the membrane surrounding the heart that can restrict normal beating, but he is also known to suffer from a chronic kidney condition.

Neither the presidency, nor the ruling party, nor the cabinet has given any details on his health since shortly after he left, fuelling speculation about Yar'Adua's true condition and leading many Nigerians to believe he will never return to office.

The last delegation to go to Saudi Arabia to visit him came back without having set eyes on him.

 
 
source: Reuters