Even though the bell for active party politics is some one and half years away, the political atmosphere is beginning to show signs of activities towards the contest for 2011.

The utterances and activities of many elected public officers leave every discerning mind with no doubt that some scheming is underway for elections or re-elections into exalted offices.

For instance, a month ago, a pressure group which calls itself Shekarau Political Action (SHEPAC), awashed the national dailies with advertorials, calling on volunteers "to join the task of convincing the Kano State governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, to contest the presidential polls in 2011." Incidentally, SHEPAC is not the only pressure group fronting for Shekarau's presidency as groups like Shekarau Action Coalition (SAC) are also at work. Reports from Kano indicate that banners by the different campaigners dot the city, with some hanging on the walls of the Government House.

Penultimate week, a newspaper quoted the national chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, endorsing Governor Shekarau for the presidential candidate of the party in 2011 while addressing a press conference in Enugu. But the chairman swiftly denied the report, saying he has no powers to do so.

"I was actually misquoted. I never said so because I'm aware that I have no such right to endorse anybody under the constitution. It is only the convention of the party that decides who should be the presidential candidate or nominee as the case may be, even the vice presidential candidate," Ume-Ezeoke told Sunday Trust in an interview last week.

Governor Shekarau himself has denied any knowledge of the activities of the various groups routing for his presidency. Speaking through his Special Assistant on Media, Alhaji Sule Ya'u Sule, Shekarau described the groups as mischief makers, adding that government is making efforts to uncover the identity of the campaigners. What he did not say, however, is what his boss intends to do with the persons involved when they are eventually uncovered.

"We are yet to establish the identity of the persons or groups behind the publications, but we are doing our best to establish their identity. We know people outside will begin to suspect that we are behind this, but I swear to God that Governor Shekarau who was just awarded an honorary doctorate degree (Honoris Causa) from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu campus, was planning to lead the ANPP 2011 round of presidential election," Alhaji Sule said.

Even though Governor Shekarau is in the ANPP, the spokesman expressed the view that the said campaigners were attempting to set his boss against President Umaru Yar'adua. "In the Nigerian political context, it is always difficult the moment you begin to show interest even when the incumbent (in this case, President Yar'adau) has a chance to re-contest the same position," he said.

Sule therefore said it is "a mischief aimed at tarnishing the good relationship existing between President Yar'adua and Mallam Shekarau."

However, against the background of the beehive of activities surrounding the issue at stake, scholars of Nigeria's political history have failed to be taken aback. Many recall that till his death, former military Head of State, late General Sani Abacha, never came out to confirm or deny his ambition to transmute into a civilian president. It would be recalled that four out of the existing political parties of that time had adopted him as their consensus candidate for the impending presidential polls. Even the two-million-man-march in Abuja that was organised to "persuade him to make up his mind" failed to move his lips. But not a few Nigerians failed to belief that the plot was actually hatched in the presidential villa.

Sunday Trust investigations revealed that even though Shekarau has no hands in the sponsoring of the project, he may indeed be aware of it. Sources close to the Kano Government House also revealed that some members of the governor's kitchen cabinet are actually not happy that some distant personalities had initiated the move which ought to have emanated from them. At the moment, therefore, the politics of the leadership of the campaign is up in the front burner. It's like they want to float their own project with time, the source said.

Investigations also revealed that the Kano State governor actually has a soft spot for President Yar'adua and even though not in the same party, he is reluctant to indicate, so early, that he is going to be one of his (Yar'adua's) challengers come 2011. In the same thinking, former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmed Sani, has publicly declared that though his presidential ambition is still alive, he does not intend to slug it out with Yar'adua, if the president eventually indicates intention to gun for a second term. So, with current speculations that Yar'adua may hang the boot in 2011, anything can happen.

Against the backdrop of the denial by Shekarau of any knowledge of his purported presidential project, Sunday Trust tried in vain to contact the SHEPAC through the numbers which the group made available through its advertorials. But determined to unveil the "faceless" campaigners, our reporter eventually got through to Alhaji Shehu Yusuf Kura who said he is indeed the leader of the group.

When asked whether the group got the nod of Governor Shekarau to kick-start the project and whether SHEPAC has any financial backing from the governor, Alhaji Kura denied any of the two suggestions. He said the project was a private initiative which the members, 27 of them, hope to eventually convince the governor to put up for the plum job in 2011.

Kura who was a gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2007, said the group has not received any financial support from the Kano State government. "We sponsor our activities from contributions we get from numerous people who share our views and beliefs in the project," he said.

"The fact is that we believe in what we are doing and it is based on the record of achievements of the governor in the last one and half years. We believe that Mallam Shekarau could be a vehicle for the total emancipation of the people of Nigeria," he said.

According to him, members of the group were particularly impressed with the performance of the governor as well as his consideration for all ethnic and religious groups in the state.

"Governor Shekarau is the only northern governor to appoint Yoruba and Igbo nationals into his government," Alhaji Kura said.

The SHEPAC leader also believes that the ANPP needs a fresh candidate with a national acceptance in 2011. "The era of anointing a consensus candidate is over," he said, adding that Buhari and other aspirants who appear to be nursing the ambition for the ANPP's presidential ticket should be ready to contest in an open and transparent primary so that whoever wins will get the support of the others.

Though it is not clear whether General Buhari will seek ANPP's presidential ticket for the third consecutive time, indications are rife that his ambition for the presidency is still alive. What appears clear at the moment is that he is certain to be subjected to a full processes of primary elections.

The National Chairman of the party, Ume-Ezeoke, had emphasised this point last week when he said: "if he wants to contest a thousand times, he is entitled to it...Every member of our party is entitled to contest the presidential election as many times as he wishes. If he (Buhari) wins the primaries, of course, he will be our candidate. The situation we want to avoid is where we ask people to step down for others. We will not do that again. It is extremely disgraceful."

Soon after the general elections in 2003, the relationship between Buhari and the Kano State governor is known to have deteriorated. Though the two insist that no problems exist between them, the utterances of their principal allies confirm that, at least, not all is well. Many observers believe that with the unfolding state of affairs, the political rift is certain to deepen.