Barely one week after a non-violent agreement was signed by all presidential candidates in the February 14 general election, indications emerged that desperate politicians may have devised fresh moves to plunge the nation into avoidable crisis amid the existing mounting tension in the country.

This is not unconnected with a rash of unprovoked attacks against the person of General Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), one of the critical signatories to the non-violent pact.

It started with a recent medical report purportedly from Anmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria, which went viral on the social media claiming that the retired Army General is suffering from prostate cancer..

According to the report released by an unknown doctor: “The case of Pa Muhammadu Buhari is a serious medical condition as it has gotten to the levels of that of an elevated prostate specific antigen”.

The pandemonium generated by the alleged damaging report caused tremendous confusion in the polity as the embattled former Head of state denied having such ailment attributed to him.

 He said the report on his state of health was orchestrated by some individuals not only to gain undue advantage, but to divert public attention from corruption which had assumed the front burner of national discourse.

“There were reports that I was to jet out for medical check-up, but here I am. I sincerely don’t know how they got the impression that I was sick. I had a cold, but it did not stop me from going through my schedule” Buhari said.

Also the ABUTH authorities had flatly denied issuing the medical report saying the letter was forged and could not have emanated from it as Buhari was not in the list of the hospital’s patients.

But not done with the hospital denial, the PDP in quick reaction, said instead of denying the report, Buhari should jog round a stadium to prove to Nigerians that he is healthy enough to rule the country.

The party stated this at a news conference by its Director of Media and Publicity, Femi Fani-Kayode, who insisted that the rumour of Buhari suffering from prostate cancer was worrisome

“We are constrained to urge him to prove to the Nigerian people that he really is fit as a fiddle by taking a brisk walk or even jogging around the perimeter of the stadium before any of his rallies’  

As the dust raised by the ongoing controversies over Buhari;s health saga was about to be laid to rest, what appeared as the scene 2 of the unwarranted attack on Buhari came to the open last Monday through a paid advertorial in some Nigerian newspapers sponsored by Ekiti State governor, Mr Ayo Fayose

The advert, which was meant to canvass votes for President Goodluck Jonathan in the next month election, eventually ended up as ‘unkindest cut’ to some former Heads of State who died in office coming from a particular zone in the country.

Coincidentally, Buhari also comes from that region.

However, not a few Nigerians have interpreted the said publication as not only ethnic inciting, but a death wish for the APC presidential candidate as it portrayed that what happened to the late former rulers might happen to Buhari if elected.

Fayose practically warned Nigerians that a vote for Buhari may plunge the country to another path of ‘state burial’ in the advertorial.

The advert displayed photographs of 3 Nigerian former Heads of State from the north-west who died in office with a fourth photograph of Buhari followed by his age, (72) with a question mark suggesting that he may go the same way of his predecessors.

“Will you allow history repeat itself? Enough of state burial’’ Fayose was quoted to have said in the advertorial.

What the advertorial failed to tell Nigerians however, is that, except General Murtala Mohammed who died in a military coup at 38, the other two late leaders died in their 50’s, a confirmation that death has little to do with the age of an individual including the president of a country.

The publication has however generated widespread condemnations by a cross section of Nigerians who felt that politics of death wish for another fellow human being was an act of desperation carried too far.

Jimi Disu a public affair commentator and media executive in a radio programme last Tuesday, ironically went further to congratulate the APC for the negative advertorial as it may have unknowingly succeeded in boosting the soaring popularity of the party and its candidate in the forth coming election.

He however urged President Jonathan to take a critical look at his handlers and supporters whom he suspected may have been working against his second term bid

Echoing Disu sentiments, the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation has advised President Jonathan and the PDP leadership to take charge of their campaign for re-election before their surrogates plunge Nigeria into confusion and anarchy.

Reacting to the inflammatory advertorial, the APC campaign said, “This is the height of desperate tactics by the PDP, which is capable of degenerating into unnecessary bloodshed and destruction. They are choosing death for us. This is not politics. We are therefore, asking our supporters to stay calm and be law-abiding.”

The opposition in a statement signed by the party’s Director of Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, allayed fears over the safety of its candidate before, during and after the election.

The APC alleged that the on-going campaign on Buhari’s health, using forged medical reports, and now suggestions of death are reeking of plots to eliminate him (Buhari) before or after he wins.

The statement warns: “The whole world is watching and that if anything happens to General Muhammadu Buhari before, during or after the elections, under the pretext of X, Y, or Z, we shall be left with no option than to conclude that the PDP and their surrogates are to be held accountable.”

On the non violent Memorandum of Understanding recently signed by all political parties, Shehu explained that APC campaign remains faithfully committed to the peace accord signed by the country’s political parties under the auspices of Ambassador Kofi Annan.

He, however, alleged that ‘the PDP is paying lip service to this commitment by trying to stroke the embers of hate and smear campaign, which is inconsistent with the commitment to peace.

Buoyed by the torrents of criticisms arising from Fayose’s death wish advertorial, the PDP had in what many have described as a belated reaction, washed its hands off the controversial publication on Tuesday when the party declared that neither the PDP nor its presidential candidate, President Jonathan, were privy to the controversial publication

According to Fani-Kayode, the message portrayed in the advertisement was the personal opinion of the Ekiti State governor.

Describing Fayose as ‘distinguished leader of our party, a democratically elected governor and someone we have immense respect and affection for,‘ Fani-Kayode said the governor ‘released this advertisement in his own name and that represents his personal opinion which he is entitled to’

Are the PDP jittery of losing to Buhari in the next month general election?. The argument was advanced by Lagos- based human rights lawyer, Festus Keyamo in a statement on Monday.

According to him, “All the personal attacks on the person of Buhari in the last few weeks have only convinced me that he is the best available option at this time.

“Anyone on the weaker side in any argument always resorts to personal abuses and attacks. Have you noticed that on corruption, the only accusation against Buhari is that, he was too high-handed in fighting corruption in the past?

“In other words, nobody has accused him of lacking the courage, zeal and will to fight corruption”.

Fayose, in an unrepentant statement believed to be laced with fear of his party conceding victory to the APC candidate in the February poll, has restated that he has no apology for the controversial advertisement but the consequence of Buhari winning the election..

In a separate statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary Idowu Adelusi in Ado Ekiti, Fayose declared: ‘The APC should declare the state of health of Buhari. The same way Obasanjo said Yar’Adua was healthy, but later died. Buhari is a spent force; he should display his medical and educational certificate if he is sure of himself”

Meanwhile, one of the unexpected fallouts of the ongoing controversy was the reaction by a daughter of the late military ruler, Sani Abacha, Gumsu Sani-Abacha who said in a tweet: “When will our leaders learn to respect their predecessors?

‘I am utterly disgusted by this poster. Shame! I still cannot believe it”