Buhari is Sick, Northern Elders Worried

INDICATIONS have emerged that prominent Northern leaders and elders who

had initially declared support for the candidacy of General Muhammadu

Buhari in the February elections have started reconsidering their

position, following alarms that the general might be suffering a serious

health challenge.
Sources had told Pointblanknews.com that the retired General is allegedly

suffering from prostrate Cancer but it could not be immediately confirmed

from any medical records.
Online channels had last week indicated that Buhari collapsed during the

presidential campaign rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in

Calabar, Cross River State.
Though the party had denied the report, it was learnt that the development

had immediately prompted meetings among top hierarchy of the Northern

political establishment to review the Buhari situation.

Sources in the polity had told Sunday Tribune that the North is becoming

wary of a possible repeat of the situation it found itself following the

death of President Umaru Yar'Adua in office in May 2010, some three years

into his tenure, following a debilitating sickness.

The illness had surfaced during the 2007 presidential campaign, leading to

rumours of Yar'Adua's death, but he bounced back on the campaign train and

won the election.
“The North is beginning to rethink the promised support for Buhari in view

of reports that he is suffering from a certain ailment which is believed

to be wearing him down. There are also reports that the elders are pushing

to cut a deal with Jonathan to complete his tenure in 2019 but extract a

promise that power would be returned to the North via a younger and

energetic Northerner,” a source said.
But APC spokesman in the South-East, Comrade Osita Okechukwu, had

dismissed claims about Buhari's health, saying that the alarm was designed

to create doubts about the APC presidential candidate.

He said: “They are only trying to dig up what is non-existent; no record

of their claim. The General has his doctor and anyone can contact him,

rather than speculate.”
A Northern politician said at the weekend that the North was still

suffering from the effect of Alhaji Yar'Adua's death in office, adding

that it would be unfair to the North to risk the situation once again.

“There were reports that Yar'Adua was ill before he was picked by former

President Olusegun Obasanjo for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket.

We saw the crisis coming but we believed that only God determines how long

a human being will live. It would be bad for the North to have power

return to the South-West barely ten years after Obasanjo spent eight

unbroken years in Aso Rock,” the source said, adding that the option

before the North was to cut a deal on 2019 when they could settle down to

raise a strong candidate.
According him, the possibility of a truncated Northern presidency, in case

Buhari mounts the saddle, will be too much for the North to bear again. He

added that Yar'Adua's death, in 2010, resulted in power returning

prematurely to the South, which is in line with the constitutional

provisions.
“If anything happens to Buhari, power will return to the South-West less

than a decade after President Obasanjo left Aso Rock. The prospects are

grim, both for the North and even the South-East that is queuing for

their own turn,” another Northern top brass said at the weekend.

Besides, it was gathered that President Goodluck Jonathan had, during his

recent visit to the Minna Hilltop home of former military leader; General

Ibrahim Babangida, discussed details of Buhari's health with the former

military leader, a development that was said to have prompted the Minna

General to turn his support to Jonathan.
It was also gathered that prominent Northern leaders have already got wind

of the discussions between IBB and Jonathan, leading to red hot

discussions on the way forward in 2015.
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