Shehu Musa Yar'Adua  the late brother of the new President...
 Two decades earlier  Kingibe had worked extremely closely with Shehu Yar'Adua and was known to get things done quickly...
 Kingibe blocked the nomination of Shehu Yar'Adua's then protégé  Atiku Abubakar  as running mate in 1992-93...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	    General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua's shadow looms large over Nigeria's April presidential elections...
 Shehu Musa Yar'Adua  the Tafidan Katsina (a title inherited from his father)  signed up to civilian politics in 1987 with the formation of the People's Front of Nigeria (PF) at the beginning of the extended  and ultimately failed  transition programme of then military ruler Ibrahim Babangida (1985-93)...
'    Unlikely pair Atiku went into business with Shehu Yar'Adua in the late 1980s and later became one of his most trusted political associates...
 Buhari was Shehu Yar'Adua's oldest friend and Shehu named his second son after him (his first son  Murtala  was named after Murtala Mohammed  with whom Yar'Adua served in the 1967-70 civil war and on whose behalf he helped organise the 1975 coup against Yakubu Gowon)...
 Such a rapprochement would be very much in Shehu Yar'Adua's style of politics  a curious blend of the inclusive and the opportunistic...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
            Vol 48 No 1 | 
            - WEST AFRICA
 
        
        
		
        
        
    
        
	
	            Three contenders  All three are closely linked to General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua  Obasanjo’s deputy in the military government in the 1970s who later turned to politics and died in a prison cell under General Sani Abacha’s regime  ten years ago...
        Three contenders  All three are closely linked to General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua  Obasanjo’s deputy in the military government in the 1970s who later turned to politics and died in a prison cell under General Sani Abacha’s regime  ten years ago...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	    ' Sources at the presidency have indicated that Obasanjo may have passed over El-Rufai  Babagana Kingibe  Adamu Mu'azu (Bauchi State Governor)  Peter Odili (Rivers)  Ahmed Makarfi (Kaduna) and other mooted favourites in favour of Umaru Musa Yar'Adua  the Governor of Katsina state and brother of the late Shehu Musa Yar'Adua  who served as Obasanjo's deputy in the 1976-79 military regime...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     He keeps his hold on the PDP because its largest component  the People's Democratic Movement (PDM)  was launched by him and the family of the late General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua  poisoned in gaol under the Sani Abacha regime...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     The event was held at the Shehu Musa Yar'Adua centre  named after the late General who was deputy leader of Obasanjo's military regime from 1976-79...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	       Katsina: Usman Shehu Yar'Adua (PDP)...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	      Obasanjo won this latest trial of strength in the ruling party but Ogbeh still has influence there and through the political network that Atiku Abubakar inherited from the late Shehu Musa Yar'Adua...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     His comeback was helped by his relationship with the late Shehu Yar'Adua  as a business partner in the Yakon Group of Companies  and later as a political aide during the transition period of Gen...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     This could weaken Atiku's presidential chances and calls into question his value as a northern vote-getter and heir to the late Shehu Musa Yar'Adua's political empire...