High-profile Nigerian minister criticizes ‘cabal’ profiting from ill president’s return
By APSunday, February 28, 2010
Nigeria: Minister criticizes presidential ‘cabal’
LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria’s information minister has come out strongly against those backing the ill president and says they are trying to benefit from the political crisis.
President Umaru Yar’Adua returned to Nigeria early Wednesday after a lengthy hospitalization in Saudi Arabia and has not been seen since, raising further questions about his health.
The oil-rich nation’s vice president is currently serving as acting president.
In an interview published Sunday in the Nigerian newspaper ThisDay, Minister Dora Akunyili said people around Yar’Adua were “gaining from the confusion” and she called them a “cabal.”
Reached by The Associated Press, Akunyili confirmed she made the remarks in the interview and declined to comment further.
