Since 28 August 2012 when it was reported that Patience, the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan was flown to Germany for the treatment of an undisclosed ailment, the presidency has refused to give the nation a clear picture of what she is suffering from.
However, P.M.NEWS authoritatively gathered today that Patience is being treated for cancer of the uterus at Horst Schmidt Klinik in Wiesbaden, Germany.
Aso Rock’s denial of information has only helped to fuel an industry of speculations about the president’s wife, especially when she failed to show up with husband when he attended the 67th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, United States.
The online has been abuzz with all sorts of reports.
A recent one even claimed that Mrs. Jonathan was being treated for Parkinson disease.
Earlier reports had it that Patience was operated upon for ruptured appendicitis at the German hospital.
Yet, there was another report that the surgical procedure on Mrs. Jonathan was to remove a potentially cancerous uterine fibroid.
There were also speculations that she had travelled to Dubai to have a procedure performed and returned to Nigeria where she developed complications which led to her sudden evacuation to Germany.
The cancer of the uterus ailment was shrouded in secrecy all this while by Aso Rock, thus engendering all sorts of speculations about what Patience is really suffering from.
The Presidency did not help matters as it refused to come clean on the actual ailment of Patience. All the stories Nigerians are getting from Aso Rock have been a web of lies about the fate of Patience. And this deepened speculations over the nature of sickness the wife of the President is suffering from.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe told State House Correspondents Tuesday when he was asked about the health of Patience that “ordinarily, I do not want to comment on this matter. Nigerians have gone through a lot of trauma in terms of leadership and death and ill luck and all that (in the past).
“Gen. Sani Abacha died in the Villa, Obasanjo’s wife (Stella) died in the Villa, (President Umaru) Yar’Adua lost his life in the Villa.
“I think even if it is a suggestion that the wife of the President is sick, what I will expect Nigerians to feel is empathy, not probing, not questioning (about her health).
“Have we become so disenchanted with leadership as to believe that the leadership is inhuman? I believe that the First Lady is hale and hearty. I want to leave it like that.”
P.M.NEWS learnt that the absence of the First Lady during various activities held to celebrate Nigeria’s 52nd independence anniversary sparked fresh anxiety over her fate among her friends, family members and beneficiaries of her various activities.
Many of them who thought Mrs. Jonathan will be home for the independence celebrations were disappointed.
President Jonathan was reported to have visited the German hospital where his wife is on admission, on his way to New York for the United Nations General Assembly last week. But P.M.NEWS gathered that lack of information on the likely date of return of Mrs. Jonathan back to the country and speculations over the nature of illness afflicting her is a source of worry in the Presidency.
Anxiety over her absence since August heightened with Jonathan’s sudden return from Malawi and Botswana about three weeks ago, just two days into a trip that was billed to last for three days.
There were speculations that the President cut short his trip as a result of information he got on the sudden turn in the health of his wife.
The Presidency, however, denied this on grounds that the president had finished all aspects of the agenda of the visits to the two countries. Contrarily however was the report that the Presidency actually demanded from his hosts in Botswana to cancel his other engagements, suddenly after getting a phone call from Nigeria.
The initial response of the Presidency was to debunk claims that the First Lady is ill and receiving medical attention.
Ayo Osinlu, the Chief Press Secretary to Mrs. Jonathan told journalists last month that his boss had gone to Germany to rest after the hectic schedule of presiding over the African First Ladies Mission held several weeks before then.
This was in response to initial speculations that Mrs. Jonathan was flown to the hospital after an initial treatment at State House Clinic, Abuja for alleged food poisoning.
The story of the First Lady’s admission at the German hospital came to light four days after she left the country on 28 August.
