Yar’adua’s recovery hoax: How the four Imams were recruited, paid and used by Turai 
Saturday, 03 April 2010 12:19

More revelations have surfaced as to how the four clerics enlisted in Turai’s latest propaganda about her husband’s health were recruited and used.  The four men reportedly met ailing president, Umaru Yar’Adua, on Thursday.  They are: Ustaz Musa Mohammed, the Chief Imam of the Abuja National Mosque; Sheik Yakubu Musa, leader of the Izala Muslim sect in Katsina State; Sheik Ibrahim Datti Ahmed, the President of the Supreme Council of Sharia in Nigeria (SCSN); and Sheik Isa Pantami. According to Saharareporters sources, Mrs. Yar’Adua began secretly recruiting the four Imams three weeks ago. The choice of their states of origin: Katsina (Yar’Adua’s home state), Bauchi (where his son-in-law Isa Yuguda is governor); and Kano (where Yar’Adua has a lot of spiritual supporters) underscores the importance of using the Imams in the latest project.

The sources said the plot to use the clerics to cause a national uproar was hatched after it became clear that the courts are unwilling to step into the fray after the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court burnt his fingers in aiding Michael Aondoakaa, during his time as Attorney General of the Federation, to stifle a just resolution of Yar’Adua’s absence.

Saharareporters learnt that Hon. Shehu Imam, a member of the House of Representatives and Governor Isa Yuguda were instrumental to the plot and its subsequent sponsorship. As we revealed in our latest article, the plot between Mrs. Yar’Adua and Ustaz Musa Mohammed, the chief Imam of the National Mosque in Abuja, was principally to bring a body-double of Yar’Adua to the National Mosque last Friday.  The body double reportedly rode and practiced in the presidential convoy for hours on Tuesday and Wednesday last week. That plan had to be canceled when a Lagos-based daily newspaper revealed the plan.

Our sources said that the cabal decided to bring Datti Ahmad into the picture because Mr. Ahmed, a medical doctor, has a huge following in the north and he is regarded as an Islamic radical. The plot was aimed at further appealing to the northern parts of the country to see Yar’Adua as a victim of a Christian-South conspiracy.

Dr. Ahmad’s statement to the Nation, one of the newspapers recruited into the farce was ominous, as he “warned that Yar’Adua’s presidential authority must not be taken away from him.” 

Dr. Ahmad also told the newspaper that Yar’Adua did not speak throughout their encounter with him, yet he reportedly threatened, “If any person attempts to seize that presidential authority now, the consequences will remain with the country for a long time.”

Our sources said that the four Imams, contrary to the impression created that they sought to meet Yar’Adua  on their own, were actively recruited and camped at the  Sheraton Hotel for two days before they were fetched by Yar’Adua’s Chief Security Officer, Yusuf Tilde.  It was Tilde who personally drove the clerics to Yar’Adua’s residence at the Presidential Villa where the purported meeting took place. As usual, Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan and the National Security Adviser, Gusau, were kept in the dark.

Since returning from the visit, the Imams have told different versions of their visit to Yar’Adua with glee, but a new dimension is brewing as Islamic faithfuls across the North are accusing the Imams of receiving bribes to orchestrate a lie, which is antithetical to the Islamic faith.  For example the earlier story told by Daily Trust newspapers claimed that the Imams spent over two hours with Yar’Adua, but in interviews with the BBC they said they spent less than five minutes with him and that he had difficulties speaking.

Another account said that Yar’Adua spoke, but that he was barely audible. These varying accounts have put the Imams under intense scrutiny and pressure from across Nigeria. One of them, Sheikh Pantami, now claims he doesn’t want his name in print regarding what transpired with Yar’Adua.

In all, there is no evidence that Yar’Adua met with the clerics at all, apart from what they have told the public.  From all indications, the choice of clerics chosen to engage in the latest plot portrays the visit as an orchestrated attempt by Mrs. Yar’Adua to fan the embers of religious hatred against Jonathan.  An Islamic scholar told Saharareporters that the choice made by Mrs. Yar’Adua and that the rhetoric in the Nation newspaper by Dr. Datti was a “holy call for war” amongst faithfuls of the radical clerics.
http://www.saharareporters.com/real-news/sr-headlines/5699-yaraduas-recovery-hoax-how-the-four-imams-were-recruited-paid-and-used-by-turai.html

Dr. Ahmad’s statement to the Nation, one of the newspapers recruited into the farce was ominous, as he “warned that Yar’Adua’s presidential authority must not be taken away from him.” 

Dr. Ahmad also told the newspaper that Yar’Adua did not speak throughout their encounter with him, yet he reportedly threatened, “If any person attempts to seize that presidential authority now, the consequences will remain with the country for a long time.”