Piqued by the growing anti-Yar’Adua sentiments sweeping across the country, which peaked with ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s devil-may care outburst last Thursday, the Presidency and groups loyal to the ailing president may have resolved to counter the onslaught employing “multi-dimensional tactics.

Beginning from next weekend, Kaduna, Enugu, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and Maiduguri will witness massive rallies to drum up support for the ailing president and douse the flames of the conflagration for his removal from office.

The rallies will move to selected local government headquarters nationwide in the coming weeks.
Already, all the pro-Yar’Adua groups have been galvanized for the project with a soothing financial back-up from the Presidency. It is being co-ordinated by Yar’Adua for New Nigeria (YFNN), an offshoot of the moribund Peoples Front (PF) founded by the President’s late elder brother.

A source close to the presidency, which confirmed the development to Daily Sun, could not, however, disclose the budget for the project. The source expressed disappointment at the tension generated by the “needless apprehension over the President’s absence and calls including court orders for Vice-President Jonathan to take over.”

It said, if not curtailed now, the nation stands on a precipice of instability, while suing for understanding of the situation.
Daily Sun further learnt at the weekend that pro-Yar’Adua’s elements in the Presidency have resolved to step up action to nip in the bud any acts capable of “humiliating the president out of office based on his illness, which they insist has yet to go out of hand.
In pursuit of this, the security and intelligence agencies have been mobilized to keep a tab on insiders who are working to keep the crisis on with a view to reaping from it. Specifically, members of the executive council of Nigeria, known in local parlance as Federal Executive Council (FEC), as well as the leadership of the National Assembly are prime targets.

Attempts to rope in “errant media houses,” through official harassments, arrests and litigations to get them off the line of sensationalism on the issue until the president recovers was re-buffed. A senior aide in the presidency had argued convincingly that the later recourse would rebound and create avoidable problems it sought to solve.

Consequently, the Presidency may have resolved to work in unity, with pleas to all appointees of the president to shun what was termed “the arguments of the opposition, who want to capitalize on the president’s sickness to hijack power.” There was no immediate confirmation of the vice-president’s position on the new offensive, which effectively would clip his wings in the emerging scenario.
But in line with his “play along tradition,” with which he has cleverly evaded troubled waters in the aftermath of his boss’ absence, the country may expect no less from him in terms of co-operation. As part of the strategy, the president’s men especially those overseeing politics, media, communications have been urged to gear up to the challenge by issuing statements that would be attributed to the president on every issue especially the Anambra elections, and the on-going African Nation’s cup in Angola.

This, it was contended, would deflate the soaring agitations and keep President Yar’Adua constantly in the minds of the people as “working” and not as an invalid as some have chosen to label him.
This is by far the most comprehensive and far-reaching fight back by Yar’Adua loyalists since he left the shores of this country on November 23 last year for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia. Persistent calls have been made by concerned individuals and groups for his Deputy, Goodluck Jonathan to act. About two court judgments have so far been secured for the empowerment of Jonathan constitutionally as acting president in line with section 145 of the 1999 constitution.

The president had been roundly accused of not complying with constitutional provisions of transmitting a letter to the National Assembly informing them of his medical vacation abroad, a situation that has stood the country on the edge of major crises.

http://sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/jan/25/national-25-01-2010-01.htm