Despite assurances from his hospital bed in Germany that he was okay, pressure mounts on President Olusegun Obasanjo and the PDP to drop Yar’Auda, and replace him with a stronger and healthy candidate. Top on the list of those considered to replace him is Ibrahim Babangida. Also being considered, in case Babangida's bid is rejected, is Gen. Mohammed Gusau (rtd), former National Security Adviser to Obasanjo.

The rumour mill is at work nationwide with speculations that Yar’adua, who went to Germany for medical checkup, had passed on. The rumour was so rife that President Obasanjo had to phone Yar’adua from the presidential campaign ground in Abeokuta, Ogun State where a mammoth crowd had gathered to confirm to PDP supporters that he was still alive. But despite Yar’adua’s assurances that everything was okay and that he would return to the country on Sunday to continue with his presidential campaign, sources told P.M.News this morning that chieftains of the party across the country have been piling pressure on President Obasanjo and the Ahmadu Ali-led PDP National Executive to replace him before he embarrassed the party.

Some of the PDP chieftains were said to have submitted that Yar’adua’s health probably poses a real threat to the chances of the party winning the presidential polls come 19 April. Apart from this, top chieftains of the party from the North also argued that Yar’adua’s delicate health posed a danger to his effective performance in office, if he wins the election. “They said they cannot afford a weak and sickly president who would spend the precious time of governing the country on trips abroad for medical checkup,” one of our sources said.

It is as a result of this, P.M.News further gathered, that the PDP chieftains strongly recommended Babangida and Gusau to the party’s leadership to replace Yar’adua. As at the time of filing this report, various meetings of the party’s caucuses were being held at Aso Rock and the Wadata Building , Abuja secretariat of the party to prevail on President Obasanjo, who is the national leader of the party, to abandon his support for Yar’adua. P.M.News also gathered that these chieftains are putting more pressure on Yar’adua to renounce his candidature for Muazu, who P.M.News gathered, is the choice of majority of Northerners, because he is civilian.