By Jude Okoli
President Muhammadu Buhari has continued his cold war with former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu despite recent effort by Presidential Spokesman, Garba Shehu to downplay suggestions that the issue of who to succeed the president has put a wedge between the former allies.
Shehu, on Tuesday, debunked reports that the two politicians are no longer in good terms, with the 2023 presidential election at the center of the feud. Recall that Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Afenifere Acting Leader and prominent Yoruba Elder, last week, said Buhari is deceiving Tinubu that he will hand over to him in three years time when he leaves office.
Adebanjo said Buhari does not trust Tinubu to be his successor, despite reports that an unwritten agreement exists between the ACN and CPC( now defunct), the two major blocks that formed the alliance that wrestled power from the PDP in 2015, that Tinubu will be the next candidate of the ruling party when Buhari completes his term.
South West Agenda, SWAGA, (a group promoting Tinubu’s presidential ambition) Vice Chairman, Senator Adesoji, also on Tuesday, said there was indeed an agreement that Buhari will hand-over to the former Lagos helmsman, even though watchers of the Presidency said the two politicians are not in good terms, and that it will be impossible for Buhari to handover to someone he does not trust, more so when their relationship was said to have broken down as soon as President Buhari came to power six years ago.
But Shehu debunked suggestions that the politician are no longer in good terms, when he spoke to journalists on Tuesday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
He said “To President Buhari, Bola Tinubu remains one of the most respected political leaders in the country who has stuck to his principles in the face of all adversities. He was instrumental in the formation, growth and development of the APC into a formidable political party and the political alliance is waxing even stronger.
“If Tinubu is not a frequent face in the Aso Rock Villa, it is on account of the fact that he is not a cabinet member of this government. The fact that he is not every day around the villa does not make him less of a friend to the president and this administration.
“The president and Tinubu have a very strong commitment to the All Progressives Congress (APC) towards bringing change and this is a commitment they have made to the Nigerian people.”
In spite of the presidency’s efforts to clear the air on the prolonged feud Tinubu, close watchers of events in the country insist that Aso Rock’s is just trying to downplay the matter, when it’s obvious that a deep-seated disagreement exist between the APC stalwarts over who should lead the country from May 29, 2023 when Buhari is expected to handover to a successor.
“It’s very easy for the Presidency to maintain a stone face just to show that things are alright, so that their followers will think that the APC has no problem. But those close to the two leaders know that things have fallen apart for them, and that they have refused to patch up the broken fence,” said Augustine Boladale, a member of APC in Ekiti state.
According to him “everybody can see that Asiwaju has being gradually edged out of the APC by agents close to the president. Some example will suffice to prove this point. First the APC Caretaker Committee led by Governor Mala Buni of Yobe state set up a membership revalidation exercise which Asiwaju said did not go down well with him. To further reinforce this, Tinubu’s alter Ego, former Governor Bisi Akande also said the same thing to drive home the point that Asiwaju’s camps is not at ease with the exercise. If no other thing proves that the president and Tinubu are no longer working together, the appointment of former Governor Akinwumi Ambode into the Contact/Strategy Committee of the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, CECPC, set up by the ruling party is a warning to the APC National Leader that those close to the president, and indeed, Aso Rock do not like him or want him around the president,” Boladale said.
The former Lagos Governor, believed to have been instrumental to the emergence of President Buhari in 2015 has distanced himself from the seat of power since the former came to power, except on few occasions when he visited Aso Rock “to consult with the president whenever he felt he had problems with government,” a Presidency source said.
Therefore, analysts insist that what the presidential spokesperson said is just a mere window shopping that does not amount to anything, that the former Lagos helmsman is not fooled by it, knowing that he cannot afford to keep his guard down at this time despite attempts to fool him that things remain th same with him and the president.
