Controversy Over First Lady Patience Jonathan's Health

SPECULATIONS over the condition of health of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, heightened on Monday.

Though it was learnt the first lady was being treated for food poisoning in Germany, Presidency sources disclosed that she was just taking an overdue rest since the last election year.

An online medium, Saharareporters, had reported on Sunday that Mrs Jonathan was hospitalised in Germany due to complications arising from food poisioning.

The medium added in an update on Monday that the “food poisoning” condition that landed Mrs Jonathan in the German hospital "reportedly started in Dubai 11 days ago, where she had gone to see a doctor because her hands were twitching."

Quoting presidency sources, the medium stated that the First Lady had "gone to Dubai after the recent African First Ladies Summit in Abuja, an event that imposed an unfamiliar and grueling schedule of meetings and late nights on Mrs Jonathan."

According to Saharareporters, Mrs Jonathan's visit to Dubai was explained as a vacation but sources informed it that the trip involved a medical procedure. It added that while in Dubai, she reportedly had "food poisoning" alongside her medical doctor.

Soon after she returned to Abuja last Monday, the emergency broke and she had to be airlifted to Wiesb aden, Germany for food poisoning."

It added that on Sunday night, Ayo Adewuyi, the First Lady’s media aide, told the medium that he (Adewuyi) had just returned from vacation, and pleaded for time to respond to its enquiries.

"When we called him today (Monday) to find out if he had found out Mrs Jonathan’s whereabouts, he confirmed that she was in Germany and pleaded to let him send a press statement regarding the issue. Several hours later, he insisted that he was still working on a statement," the medium said.

But, a presidency source disclosed to Nigerian Tribune that the online medium only blew the situation out of proportion.

The source stated that Dame Jonathan had declared immediately after the African First Ladies’ summit to go on vacation as she had not had such a luxury in a long time.

“The first lady is a workaholic. All I can say is that she has informed us of her plan to go on vacation. She may have decided to use the opportunity to do a medical check,” the source stated.

The Nigerian Tribune also made repeated attempts to reach Ayo Osinlu, the Senior Adviser Media, to the first lady on phone on Monday without success.