Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, at the weekend, alleged that former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and leaders of thought in the North for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) had tactically withdrawn their support. He described them as enough signals that the party had lost the battle.
In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, Fayose added that “the sudden U-turn made by Northern leaders, who had realised that Buhari would be made to shortchange the North, had rattled the party.”
The governor claimed that Atiku and his supporters were already retracing their steps back to the PDP and that the North had seen the deceit in the South-West APC leaders in pushing forward Buhari even aginst his very interest.
He also said that Buhari’s health worries the northern caucus who have not forgotten the Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua saga.
Fayose claimed that the APC was forced to cancel its presidential rallies in Kaduna and Enugu because Buhari was not yet physically and mentally fit to go for any rally. He added that Buhari was forced to return home from a London hospital where he was attending to his health due to pressure mounted on him by certain leaders of his party who wanted to douse the growing apprehension by Nigerians over his state of health.
“We thank the APC for conceding defeat in the coming elections. At least, they, for the first time, appear realistic. Buhari’s insistence that he ought to be allowed to attend to his health is commendable.
“It is glaring that he needs to rest and not waste energy on a failed project. The man has been abandoned by those who claim to be his backers and Buhari’s people have told him the bitter truth that they would prefer to wait for another four years than to get trapped by some selfish South-West leaders for eight years.
“The preoccupation of the APC now is how to retain the APC- controlled states and prevent the PDP from capturing them. The tactical withdrawal of people like Atiku, Rabiu Kwakwanso and the battle for survival by Bola Tinubu and Rotimi Amaechi in Lagos and Rivers have woken up Buhari to the politics of deceit that some are luring him into,” Fayose said.