Abuja — The Northern Union (NU) has said it is working to ensure that President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua is re-elected in 2011 for a second term in office.

Dr. Olusola Saraki, the union's founder and chairman, made this known on Friday in Bauchi, when he paid a courtesy call on Governor Isa Yuguda.

"Since the union fought for the Presidency to come to the north, it will ensure that the President is voted to power for a second term," he said.

The former Senate Leader urged the north to support the second term bid of Yar'Adua "to complete the two-term rotational presidency agreed upon during the 1994-1996 Constitutional Conference".

He said that having fought for his presidential ambition, the NU could not afford to criticise Yar'Adua's government, but to support him for another term.

The chairman condoled with the government and people of Bauchi State on the death of the Emir of Dass, Alhaji Bilyaminu Othman.

He said the late emir contributed a lot to the development of the region and the country at large.

In his response, Yuguda expressed dismay over the decay in infrastructure in the north and called on stakeholders to take measures to reverse the trend.

He said that the north was falling apart, not only due to poverty and diseases, but also due to neglect by successive governments in the region, in particular, and the country at large.

According to him, though the region is blessed with agricultural and other potential, its neglect has resulted in its under-development.

The governor expressed concern over the way selfish individuals in the region used religion to cause disharmony among the various communities and urged the people to resist such elements.

Saraki and other leaders of the NU had visited the palaces of the emirs of Bauchi, Ningi and Dass where he condoled with them on the death of the Emir of Dass.