2023: Tinubu Insists On Presidency Despite Buhari’s Comment

By James Orji

The falcon no longer listens to the falconer. The message has been sent clearly to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu that his ambition, to become president does not enjoy the support of the man he helped to attain power, President Muhammadu Buhari, according to the critics of the former Lagos state governor and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

This, however, has not dampened the spirit of the APC strongman, as those close to him told the magazine that their leader believes in the power of the people to achieve his ambition of leading the country at the highest level. He’s working tirelessly for this purpose, sources close to him said as high wire politics, over who succeeds Buhari unsettles the party.

President Buhari had in an interview with Arise Television said the choice of the APC presidential candidate will be determined by the party and not a single individual, the comment believe by many to be referencing Bola Tinubu, a former Lagos state governor and chieftain of the party.

Buhari said “The hope of this administration is to see APC last beyond it. Therefore, we should allow the party to decide. You cannot sit there in Lagos, for instance, and decide on the fate of APC on zoning.”

Though the presidency has denied that the comment was referring to the former governor, but keen watchers of the party said the president may have made the comment based on the feelings among top echelon of APC against Tinubu succeeding him.

“The Presidency wishes to distance President Buhari from a malicious campaign aiming to drive a wedge between him and a staunch ally, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

A statement by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant of the President on Media and Publicity said on Thursday that “This is nothing short of a mischievous attempt to drag the President into controversies. Our citizens and especially the members of the APC should not fall for this.

“The ruling party, the APC, unlike others before it is a popular political party owned by its entire membership, hence Mr. President was making the point during the 45-minutes interview that neither he nor anyone in the leadership could impose their wishes on the party.

“This is a basic consensus that binds the entire party leadership. The party leaders remain firmly committed to the principles that succession must be through the democratic norms and processes.

“The mention he made of Lagos was not a reference to the respected party leader, Senator Bola Tinubu, as the opposition party’s predatory designs would put it in order to damage the excellent relationship between the two of them.

“The President, the Asiwaju and the rapidly growing members of the party, want a dynastic succession of elected leaders. The APC should not be distracted from its progress as a democratic party,” Shehu said.

In spite of this, many allude to plans to stop Tinubu from achieving his lifelong ambition of becoming president. This schoolof thought cited the removal of his supporters from sensitive positions in the ruling party and government.

For instance, Adams Oshiomhole, the immediate National Chairman of the party and close ally of Tinubu was removed in controversial circumstances. The ruling party is now led by Mai Mala Buni, the Governor of Yobe state, as the Caretaker Chairman.

Also, Dr Babatunde Fowler, a former Chairman of the FIRS was removed from office and is currently under probe by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The former revenue boss served under Tinubu as governor and both are very close allies.

Tinubu who holds the unceremonious title of APC National Leader is speculated to be nursing the ambition to succeed Buhari when his tenure expired in 2023, though he has yet to declare his interest in the nation’s top job.

But the supporters of the former Lagos helmsman have been campaigning for him to be the next occupier of Aso Rock, the nation’s seat of power, based on what they described as a gentleman agreement in APC that power should shift to the south after Buhari’s maximum eight years as president.

Former Governor of Ogun state, Olusegun Osoba recently disclosed that the agreement was reached during the merger talks that brought the legacy political parties together in 2014. The parties are the ACN, ANPP, CPC and a faction of APGA led by Rochas Okorocha, a former governor of Imo state and now Senator.

Osoba said: “My honest opinion is this: I was the chairman of the constitutional drafting committee of the APC merger. We of ACN, we were the dominant group from the South, and the South-west is the home and the root of progressive politicking.

“Part of the understanding in the case of rotation is a conventional understanding that the presidency will move between the North and the South. That was the reason why we now allowed the chairman (of the party to come from the South). I don’t want to use the word zoning because we definitely did not put zoning. We know it may go in conflict with the Nigerian constitution, which says anyone who is a Nigerian, who has read up to school certificate, can contest and at the age of 35, I think can contest for the presidency of the country.

“But there was a clear gentlemanly understanding that the northern part of the country will produce the president when we did the merger in 2013 and the chairman of the party will then come from the South.”

Osoba stated that the understanding informed why the chairmanship of APC has remained in the South; moving from Chief Bisi Akande in the South-west to John Oyegun from South-south and also Adams Oshiomhole from South-south.

“Of course, at the end of the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari, the gentlemanly agreement is that the presidency will come to the South,” he added.

According to him, going by the agreement, presidential candidate of the party in 2023 should come from any of the three zones in the South: the South-east, South-south and the South-west, adding that “that is the gentlemanly agreement that we reached when we are doing the merger.”

Meanwhile, sources in Tinubu’s Bourdillon, Lagos home told the magazine on Friday that the APC strongman did not take the president comment with a pinch of salt. “Asiwaju Tinubu has never believed that wining any election in Nigeria is a tea party. Like any other serious politician, he knows what role that people play in democracy. And that is his staying power, said one of his close aides, who does not want his name to be mentioned because of the sensitive nature of the issue.