TheCable

Tony Anenih, chairman of the board of trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), underwent an open-heart surgery in an unnamed UK hospital last month, TheCable understands.

A member of the family, who confirmed the development, said it was “only God” that saved the life of the 82-year-old politician.

The heart condition was accidentally discovered, TheCable learnt, when the former minister of works and housing was preparing to return to Nigeria after a visit to the UK.

He was said to have complained of “irregular heartbeat”, prompting a family member to make an emergency call for an ambulance.

“The ambulance arrived within five minutes and he was taken out on a stretcher, with paramedics giving him oxygen support. It was at the hospital that it was discovered that he had some heart issues which he had not experienced before,” the source said.

Anenih was immediately booked in for a surgery, which was successful.

He returned to Nigeria shortly before Christmas but he is “looking pale”, another family source told TheCable.

Anenih is regarded as one of the most powerful politicians in Nigeria between 1999 and 2015 when the PDP controlled power.

He was very close to Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan while they were in power.

In 2007, he fell out with Obasanjo following a tussle for the chairmanship of the board of trustees – a position Obasanjo coveted but which Anenih eventually got.

The PDP constitution, amended to pave the way for only Obasanjo to assume the position, was re-amended to allow others to have a go.

Anenih marked his 82nd birthday on August 4, 2015.