The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Umar Musa Yar‘Adua, on Wednesday said he was alive and responding to treatment in a German hospital.

Yar‘Adua spoke on the telephone with President Olusegun Obasanjo,who was at the PDP rally in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Obasanjo had, in order to douse the rumour that the PDP presidential candidate had passed on, decided to put a call to Yar‘Adua.

Excerpts of the telephone discussion:

Obasanjo: Umaru (Yar‘Adua) are you dead?

Yar‘Adua: I am alive

Obasanjo: What are you doing?

Yar‘Adua: I am laughing.

The President, looking directly at the crowd, said, ”He is laughing ha! ha!! ha!!!

This elicited an outburst of laughter from the crowd.

Obasanjo took a swipe at those behind the rumour of Yar’Adua’s death, saying Satan was their mentor.

The President said the good news he had for party faithful was that physicians, who diagonised the ailing candidate, had ruled out surgery.

Obasanjo said he was surprised that those who claimed to be God’s children could go about wishing a fellow human being dead.

The President said, “They said I and the PDP chose Yar’Adua because I knew he would die within one year. Is this fair? The PDP chose him and Jonathan based on merit and equity.

“Nobody can claim to know who will die tomorrow. It is only God that has that kind of power.

“The problem is that some people still think that the only qualification to be a leader in this country is that you must come from a particular part of the country. That is a mistake.

“What they are saying invariably is that those who do not come from that part of the country are doomed.

“For the PDP, every Nigerian has access to power no matter how and where he or she is born. This is because we will look for merit, track record and achievers wherever we can get them. Yar’Adua and Jonathan team is the best for our party.

Obasanjo said the rumour of Yar’Adua’s death was aimed at discouraging the party faithful.

Referring to the low turnout of people at the rally, the President said, “If they won today, they won’t win tomorrow.”

He said he was at a parade on Tuesday when he received a message that Yar’Adua was at a clinic.

The President said he quickly dispatched one of his aides to the undisclosed clinic to see things for himself and report back to him.

He said he instructed that the doctor that attended to Yar’Adua must make his report available to the party so that they could tell the world what was wrong with him.

“They did that last (Tuesday) night. I spoke with him last night. I told him to travel abroad. He told me he won’t. But I insisted because we don’t want to take chances. And so he went,” he added.

Amidst victory songs and dancing, Obasanjo spoke with Yar’Adua.

After the conversation, the President said, “This is the fourth time I will be speaking with him today (Wednesday).

“When I spoke with him this morning, he told me that doctors had taken his blood and urine samples.

“At about 4pm (on Wednesday) when I wanted to enter this arena, somebody said he had a good news for me and that good news is that Yar’Adua will not undergo surgery.

“We thank God that the diagnosis is that he has little infection. Everyone of us has infections on daily basis.

“Now, he will be treated and he will come back to join us.

“He apologised as you heard for not being with you. It is only for a short time and we will go on the way we have been going on.

“His running mate (Jonathan) will stand in for him. Yar’Adua is only away temporarily and he is coming back.

“I said that there are people who call themselves Muslims or Christians or just believers and they wish other dead.

“They are jubilating because they are carrying the rumour that others are dead.

“Those type of people are bad. They didn‘t stop at that. They think that their own stock will be enhanced by lying.

“Any lie is the work of Satan. Because they are satanic, they are carrying out the work of Satan who is their mentor.

“And they say that oh! yes, Obasanjo and PDP knew that Yar’Adua would die within the next one year. How can they say that? How can anybody say that another person knows when somebody will die?

“It is wicked. It is mean. It is ingenious. They were throwing it around, saying oh! yes! It is because the PDP wants to deprive the North of the presidency that they chose Yar‘Adua.”

He said Yar’Adua told him that he had granted an interview to the BBC and that he had instructed him to also oblige the Cable News Network crew another interview if they approached him.

The presidential candidate had ealier, in a statement on Wednesday by the Yar‘Adua/Goodluck Campaign Organisation, said he was doing fine in Germany.

He said, ”I wish to thank all my supporters for their well wishes, and want to assure them I‘m quite fine and will be back on the campaign trail shortly.”

The statement, signed by the Chief Spokesperson of the organisation, Chief Ndu Ughamadu, added, ”In fact, Governor Yar‘Adua in a telephone conversation with his associates this afternoon expressed appreciation to all Nigerians who had shown their concern following reports that he had travelled abroad.”

It regretted that in spite of the explanation by the National Secretary of the PDP, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, about the health status of the party‘s presidential candidate, a section of the media reported that he collapsed on Tuesday.

The statement described the report as a ”part of a smear campaign to malign Yar‘Adua and draw attention away from his proposal to move the nation forward with good jobs, constant power and better education for all.”

It added, ”On Monday, Yar‘Adua, as part of his routine medical check-up, reported to his doctors at a private clinic, where regular tests were conducted.

”Some of the results indicated that that the candidate was under stress and would require some rest. He was accordingly recalled yesterday(Tuesday) morning by the clinic and advised to rest.

”Following this medical report, his personal physicians, who had complained that the gruelling presidential campaigns had obstructed the candidate‘s medical schedule, saw an opportunity to let the candidate rest. They seized it, insisting that Yar‘Adua should not only suspend the campaign for a few days, but must travel abroad for a long overdue specialist medical check-up.

”After consultation with President Olusegun Obasanjo and the PDP leadership, Yar‘Adua accepted the advice of his doctors to travel abroad for rest and an overdue medical check-up. He left for Germany last(Tuesday) night. It is, therefore, categorically untrue that he collapsed and had to be rushed to a private hospital for medical attention.”

The organisation added, “The widespread show of concern by Nigerians is a comforting demonstration of the confidence they have in Yar‘Adua and the PDP to keep Nigeria moving forward.”

Speaking also with the British Broadcasting Corporation‘s Focus on Africa, in Germany, Yar‘Adua, said he was well enough to contest the April 21 presidential election.

Yar‘Adua, who is also the governor of Katsina State, said he had suffered from breathlessness and had taken his doctor‘s advice to have a thorough medical check-up.

He said, ”There are speculations all the time since the year 2000 surrounding my health. I am only human, as every other person.

”I don‘t think a human being has control over his health or ill health, life or death and therefore they(critics) should not create conclusions on any other human being.”

Buhari, in a statement, entitled, Get well soon, said, “It is with (a) sense of trepidation and empathy that I learnt of your sickness.

“All efforts to reach you failed; but I take solace in the fact that you are receiving adequate medical attention. I wish you God’s guidance, good health and protection.”

Attempts by our correspondents on Wednesday to locate the hospital where the presidential candidate was on admission proved abortive.

When the Nigerian Embassy in Berlin was contacted on the telephone, an official, who pleaded anonymity, said they were yet to get information on the development.

The official said, ”We‘ve been receiving calls from Nigeria and foreign media organisations that he(Yar‘Adua) is in Germany. But as I speak with you, we are yet to get a clear picture on where he will be on admission.But you are free to call back. By then we may be able to give you correct information.”

Subsequent calls to the embassy did not go through.

PDP leaders, who commented on the issue, have so far been silent on the exact hospital where Yar’Adua is.

However, checks revealed that it could be the Johannes Gutenberg University Hospital, which is also known as the ‘University Hospital of Mainz.’

The hospital, a group of more than 40 specialist clinics and institutes, is the only teaching hospital in the Rhineland-Palatinate region where Mainz is located.

According to its website, it has over 1,500 beds and treats around 55,000 in-patients and 120,000 out-patients every year.

The hospital also has a well-reputed Dermatology Department, although it is unclear if this arm is providing treatment for Yar’adua, whose kidney problem is said to be as a result of a skin condition caused by a cream.