Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, says Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has health problems and may soon return Nigeria to the Yar’Adua scenario if he becomes president. President Umaru Musa Yar’Adau collapsed during his campaign in 2007 and fell terminally ill two years after being sworn in.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Fayose said: “In the north, there are so many qualified, brilliant and credible people who can rule the country well. Why is Obasanjo going after an old horse that may collapse mid-way? Nigerians should know the state of health of Buhari. His age and health cannot stand the rigours of the office. Nigerians deserve to know the health status of Buhari.”

He accused ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo of attempting to plunge the country into crisis. Fayose, who does not miss any opportunity to throw missiles at the former president, alleged that Obasanjo was rooting for Buhari in next month’s presidential election, despite once claiming that without Goodluck Jonathan, there would be no Nigeria. During Jonathan’s re-election campaign in Ekiti on Wednesday, stalwarts of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had to publicly appeal to the governor to stop lampooning Obasanjo, with whom they held a long meeting before journeying to Ekiti. Fayose fell out with Obasanjo during his first term in office, accusing the former number-one citizen in the country of masterminding his impeachment in 2006. However, in a statement issued on Thursday, the governor accused Obasanjo of going against Jonathan “because the president refused to be pocketed by him”. “Nigerians should be wary of Obasanjo’s banana peel. He was the one who put forward Yar ‘Adua as the president knowing the man’s state of health and the man died in office,” he said.

“He was the one who said President Goodluck Jonathan was the best for Nigeria and that without him there would be no Nigeria. The question people should ask former President Obasanjo is what has gone wrong between now and then? He is against President Jonathan because the president refused to be pocketed by him.

“Obasanjo is now presenting General Muhammadu Buhari as the best candidate for Nigeria knowing the man’s age and that the pressure of office would be too much for him.” Fayose said the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was not the most suitable candidate for the office of the president.