His feeble showing at the election was due mainly to the rival attractions of another northerner to whom many northern federalists switched their support: Mr Berlusconi.
Mr Yar'Adua, a northerner, had served only part of one term, and northern hopefuls are already laying claim to the second.
Most British species prefer ponds or slow-moving water, but not the golden-ringed dragonfly, a true northerner and happiest on an acid moorland stream – like this female with her elongated body banded in black and yellow.
As a northerner and one of the most leftwing candidates, he is probably the most likely to get trade union endorsement for any leadership bid.
When a friend, a northerner who has lived in the republic for nearly 25 years, heard that the cuts included the end of Ireland's traditional Christmas bonus for those on social welfare his reaction was one of astonishment.
But his "proper northerner" status also makes him an "easy target".
"Before I came here, I thought I was cosmopolitan, but now I think I'm a proper northerner, me".
The term Ch'ti is a slang for northerner derived from the dialect of the region called Chitimi.
Reporters conducting random interviews in cafes and malls from Birmingham, Alabama, to Jackson, Mississippi, found voters saying they had been offended by his attempts to pander to local opinion, the northerner treating them as country bumpkins.
He was always going to struggle down South: his Mormonism is more of a problem than anyone wants to admit, and if you're going to be a northerner at least be from Pennsylvania, like Messrs Gingrich and Santorum, rather than from Massachusetts, like Mr Romney and the Kennedys.
Thousands of people have been killed since 12 northern states (Nigeria has 36 in all) declared sharia law in 2000.Muslim power-brokers expect the ruling People's Democratic Party to name a Muslim northerner to succeed Mr Obasanjo, a Christian southerner.
