2015 Election: Northern Leaders Express Concerns Over Buhari’s Health

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.
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.