ONLY A MIRACLE WILL KEEP BUHARI ALIVE AS NORTHERN YOUTHS SHORTLIST LAMIDO, ATIKU, SARAKI, EL’RUFAI, OTHERS FOR 2019 PRESIDENCY

National Politics

According to Saharareporters, President Muhammad Buhari, who left Nigeria 45 days ago to resume treatment for an undisclosed medical condition believed to be cancer, has developed speech difficulties, presidency sources said today.

Previously, Mr. Buhari was also said to be suffering memory lapses.  The latest revelation stems from recent attempts to return the President to Nigeria by members of a cabal managing his health and using it to deceive Nigerians.

Several of President Buhari’s aides who traveled with him are reportedly not in touch with him, reports say, while others were ordered to return to Nigeria, with nobody having any certainty about the prospects of Mr. Buhari’s date of return.




During his last trip Saharareporters revealed that his London doctors rejected the idea of his returning to work.  They asked that he remained in London for four months to see how best they could treat his illness.  Nonetheless, the cabal managing the president brought him back to enable him to undertake a number of acts including military postings and appointments that would have been impossible with an acting President on seat.

At that time, Buhari revealed he had been very ill and had received blood transfusion, and indicated he would soon return to the UK for further treatment.  During the period he was in Nigeria, he was rarely seen outside, but managed to attend a few Federal Executive Council meetings which he left as soon as the photo opportunities were done with. Two weeks after that return, his condition deteriorated and doctors had to be flown in from the UK to embark on treatment, but that phase lasted only for a few weeks.

The president then stopped attending the weekly FEC altogether, but to maintain the ruse that he was healthy, members of the cabal would shepherd him to the mosque on Fridays hoping to generate sentiments within the core Muslim north where a rumor had circulated that the president had been “poisoned”.

Buhari eventually left for the UK abruptly on the evening of May 7, shortly after meeting with some Chibok girls who had been released the previous day by Boko Haram. Although Buhari spoke at the event, his voice was barely audible, as he had lost a lot of weight, his condition reportedly complicated by Crohn’s Disease.

When the President was leaving for the airport, he shocked his aides when he asked if they were going to Sokoto, perhaps one of the first signs of his deteriorating memory.

It has now been learnt that President Buhari has not spoken to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo by telephone since his departure.  Only last week, the Acting President was asked to await a phone call from Mr. Buhari but when a call eventually came in, nothing coherent was heard from Mr. Buhari, despite the cabal having kept telling people of his “tremendous” improvement.

The cabal is also reportedly behind the rumors of a possible coup by some military officers a couple of weeks ago, as well as the recent quit notice by some Northern youths to the Igbos in that area, which they figured would make western countries view such an attempt with understanding if they thought the action would protect Nigeria as an indivisible entity.

Meanwhile, several top western diplomats including the Ambassadors of the US and the UK, are scheduled to meet with Acting President Osinbajo in the coming days. It is unclear if at that meeting the UK will brief Osinbajo regarding Buhari’s exact condition, but a State Department official told Saharareporters that they are more concerned about Nigeria’s indivisibility than the question of Buhari’s health.  A source at the British Embassy told this website they don’t think Buhari could continue to govern in the condition he is in London.

President Buhari left Nigeria flew into London Heathrow airport on a Presidential jet with registration number 5N-FGT in the first week of May.  The jet was then flown on a 17-minute ride to London Stansted Airport, where it remains parked for over a month.




Meanwhile, the Northern Youth Leaders’ Forum (NYLF) has revealed a shortlist of 11 northern politicians it endorsed as potential presidential candidates for the 2019 general elections.

According to the leader of the group, Comrade Elliot Afiyo, the 11 persons, namely: former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe State; Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto; Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki.
Others include former Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido; Governor Nasir El-rufai of Kaduna State; former Kano State governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso; former Borno State governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff; Governor Ibrahim Shettima of Borno State; Governor Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari of Zamfara State; Alhaji Tanimu Turaki, and Senator Bala Muhammed; have emerged as respectable presidential candidates from the North.

The group said it was disturbed by the ‘scheming’ and ‘maneuvers’ in the country suggesting southern interest in the 2019 presidency and reiterated that the north should retain the presidency in 2019.
Comrade Afiyo said: “We want to reiterate and clearly warn that the North will not, and will never allow presidency to move to the South in 2019.
“As much as we can tolerate or pay any sacrifice for the unity of this country, we remain committed to a northern president in 2019.”
Afiyo said the group had forwarded the names of the endorsed persons to its patrons and the leadership of the 42 affiliated organisations to Northern Youth Leaders Forum (NYLF) for screening and for the endorsement of only two candidates who will be considered during its 15th Annual National Convention coming up in September, 2017, in Kano.
“We want to send a message to all political parties that may field southern presidential candidates in 2019 election that such action will amount to committing a political suicide,” a statement by the group said.

It warned northern leaders to desist from supporting candidates from the South and insisted that such action would be counter-productive to their irreversible decision for a 2019 northern presidency.
The group further called on all northern youths to embrace dialogue and peace, and not to allow themselves to be swayed by those who use religion and ethnicity to divide the north and gain political advantage.
Afiyo said NYLF was strongly instrumental to the emergence of “Olusegun Obasanjo, Musa Yar’adua and Goodluck Jonathan as well as current President Muhammadu Buhari as presidents in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015, respectively, without regional bias.”
The group said its actions were always guided by national interest far above any other interest.
On the quit notice to Igbo by some sections of the Northern youth group, Afiyo said the youths were angry members who felt they were used and abandoned by the All Progressives Congress (APC)politicians.
“We consider the quit notice as ill advised, ill-timed and uncalled for.
“We strongly believe the groups of northern youths were motivated, encouraged and sponsored by some individuals who felt cheated by both the federal government and some state governments controlled by the APC.
“These individuals were used and dumped; no recognition or appreciation was extended to them.
“They are, therefore, bent on destabilizing the government,” he said.




The forum also inferred that the coalition of northern youth’s reckless action might have been incited by “our Igbo brothers insult and abuse of other nationalities, especially the northerners, calling us cows and parasites.”
The statement further said: “We condemn in strongest terms, the approach of our brothers in issuing an ultimatum to Igbo. No nation or ethnic nationality can survive on its own without the support and help of another.
“Northerners need the Igbo, the Igbo need the Yoruba, and Yoruba need the Hausa. We are totally against the balkanisation of Nigeria.
“We know the price the North paid for the unity of this country. We are more determined, committed and willing to continue to pay the price to keep this country one; not because we are afraid of our brothers from the east, west and south, nor are we afraid of the future, but for the labour of our heroes past.”


The forum advised all groups to operate within the ambits of the rule of law and strongly condemned the use of violence and hate speech in the country.
It also called on the federal government and the Inspector General of Police to, “withdraw, forthwith, the directive to arrest the signatories of the Kaduna declaration.
“We believe our brothers in the South have said more than what our brothers said and were not arrested. There is, therefore, no justification for the arrest.”
The statement went on to appeal to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to call for a meeting of genuine leaders of the northern youths and southern youths to find a way forward for the country.
The group challenged the presidency to release the reports of the past constitutional conferences and constitute a committee to look into the recommendations of the conferences with a view to charting a way forward on restructuring the country.

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