Sources in Abuja state house squealed that Mrs. Patience Jonathan has been in a hospital in Germany in the last four days, undergoing treatment for food poisoning.
The reliable sources say Mrs. Jonathan, who is also a Permanent Secretary in the Bayelsa State civil service, was airlifted to the hospital by an air ambulance in midweek under emergency medical conditions.
Presidency sources stated that the emergency airlift departed for Wisbanden, Germany, but it is not clear if her treatment was being undertaken in that city. They said she was only able to speak earlier today, four days after her arrival, because the illness had been so severe that she lost her voice.
They could not say when she will return to the country. Meanwhile Nigeria’s political leaders and their families routinely seek expensive medical attention abroad, an irony occasioned by their failure to develop the same facilities at home. In the past few years, two former First Ladies have died on foreign hospital beds.
