Security beefed up around Yusuf Buhari’s hospital

Four days after the only son of President Muhammadu Buhari, Yusuf, was involved in a motorbike crash in the Gwarinpa area of Abuja, reliable sources at the Cedacrest Specialist Hospital, located in Apo, Dutse District, say the patient may spend some more time at the facility before his fate would be determined.

The sources, which hinted that Yusuf’s condition requires close monitoring and attention after he was rushed there in coma, after suffering a head injury and multiple fractures added that, “the situation was clearly life-threatening, but they are working hard to restore him.”

Initially, Presidency sources disclosed that President Buhari wanted his son stabilised before being flown abroad for improved medical care, but the severe injury Yusuf sustained to his head and two limbs that threw him into coma forced a rethink.It was also learnt that speculations that Yusuf may have been flown abroad followed contacts earlier made by top government officials with a reputable hospital abroad to fly him in an air ambulance, before they were advised against flying him abroad in coma.

The graduate of University of Surrey, Guildford, England, is currently being attended to in one of the orthopedic wards in the hospital.However, following this development, the Chief Personal Security Officer to the President, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abdulkareem Dauda, and Director General of the Department of State Security (DSS) Lawal Daura, Thursday ordered the deployment of more fierce-looking security personnel to the hospital.

A visit to the hospital, yesterday, revealed that only those who are visiting for consultation, and who have relatives in the hospital are allowed in. Visitors are viewed with suspicion and thoroughly screened before being allowed access.The First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, has been hospitalised in the same hospital following the trauma she suffered after the shocking news of her son’s condition.

It was learnt that the wife of the President was in Adamawa, her home state when the news of her son’s accident in Abuja was broken to her. She immediately rushed back to Abuja, where she was allegedly denied access to the Intensive Care Unit by security operatives that had cordoned off the area.Following the denial of access, she became traumatised, and came to the conclusion that she was denied access as a way of shielding her from the true condition of her son’s health. She was thereafter placed on bed rest at the hospital. 

Meanwhile, staff of the Presidential Villa on Thursday, offered special prayers for the quick recovery of the president’s son.The prayer session, which was held immediately after the afternoon (Zuhr) prayer, was led by the Chief Imam of Aso Rock Mosque, Abdulwahid Suleiman. Suleiman prayed Almighty God to continue to protect the first family and all Nigerians.

The president’s son along with his sister Zahra Buhari, graduated from the University of Surrey, Guildford, England in a well publicised celebration.When The Guardian contacted Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Mr. Femi Adesina, yesterday to confirm Yusuf’s current health status, he referred enquiries on the matter to Mallam Garba Shehu, Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity. Shehu, in a reply to a text messages from The Guardian simply said, “Sorry, I have not been briefed on the latest.”

Similarly, the Director of Information to the First Lady, Suleiman Haruna, said he was out of town, and therefore could not provide an update when contacted on his mobile phone, yesterday. ‎He directed The Guardian to contact the duo of Adesina and Shehu on the matter.