By Uche Mbah
Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the National leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, is poised to officially declare his intention to contest the 2023 elections, putting paid to speculations that he is pushing a South west former governor to contest in his place. Speculations were rife that he may have been allegedly behind the travails of the embattled Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, an allegation he has completely denied.
Tinubu, Governor Fayemi of Ekiti state and Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna state appear to be recently engaged in posters war as campaign posters of the trio has been seen in parts of Lagos and Abuja, fueling speculations that Tinubu will contest contrary to speculations in certain quarters. El-Rufai has been at the forefront of campaign for the presidency to remain in the North, with himself clinching the big prize.
Beyond the All progressives Congress, the opposition governor, Amino Tambuwal of Sokoto state is also said to be warming up baring the final outcome of the supreme court case between President Muhammadu Buhari and the Peoples Democratic Party Candidate, Atiku Abubakar. Atiku has gone to the Supreme Court to Challenge the Tribunal Judgement that confirmed Buhari elected. Rumors of the role being played by the Jagaban of Borgu Kingdom-as Tinubu is fondly called by his friends- in the travails of the Vice President has stalked the Cyberspace, and coincidentally, he has taken the time in the midst of the crisis to launch his ambition. One of Atiku’s Lawyers, Mike Ozhekome, was reported to have said that Osinbajo was suffering because of Tinubu’s ambition.
Tinubu has been doing his consultation across political and ethnic divides, and an aid has has expressed optimism that he will succeed. But the general impression is that he may not be acceptable in the South east, who have been apathetic to the present government. The general impression is that he was the one that helped to midwife the current government, which is seen at the South east as anti Igbo. “Unless he can deploy his rigging machinery nation wide, he should perish the thought. Even in Yoruba land, he is fast becoming a pariah”, said a south west politician last weekend.
Tinubu has allegedly used his political structure to install some governors in the North, including governor Ganduje, who had deployed the Osun template to win his re election. The Osun Template brought his Man Friday, popularly called MC Oluomo, to limelight.
The alleged rift between him and Osinbajo started with his presidential ambition. Sources disclosed that he asked Osinbajo if he is interested in 2023 presidency, to which Osinbajo responded in the negative. Unfortunately, using his usual plants around his loyalists, he was told that Osinbajo plans to launch his presidential campaign by 2021. Tinubu, according to sources, was furious, “So he may have been part of the conspiracy to rubbish the Vice president who he sees as backbiting him”, the source disclosed.
But Osinbajo’s attempt at fighting back may boomerang. The recent disclosure-true or false- of his entanglement with a N90 billion campaign fund, alleged by Timi frank, hitherto an APC spokesperson, may be his undoing. His offer to waive his immunity to prosecute the case has elicited calls from the opposition for his resignation. And it appears that Frank is prepared to use any court case to bring up other alleged damaging information against the Vice president. Although his threat is believed by some to be only hot air, the uncertainty of the situation has put the Vice president at a disadvantage. The APC governors, however, has come to the rescue: they have taken the position that there is no rift within the Presidency.
The governors may have been economical with the truth. Most of the portfolios under the Vice President has been removed from under his feet, and rumors of stripping him of his main campaign platform-trader-money- are rife.
While all these are going on to whittle down the influence of the Vice President, Tinubu has taken the period to launch his campaign. His close associates have decided to kick start his campaign by October first. As expected, he has mobilized all the local government chairmen in Lagos to form a coalition of supporters. They called the jumbo coalition ‘ “Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Campaign Organization (ABATCO)”. They scheduled an independence Day lecture in his honor on October 1st.
It remains to be seen how his political journey will unfold. His alleged open antagonism with the Pan Yoruba cultural group, Afenifee, may spell doom for his ambition. It is said he is fast loosing group of leadership of the Yoruba race. Recently, an election among the regional power-brokers to select a Yoruba leader was organized. Tinubu contested with a retired Yoruba historian, Banji Akintoye, and lost by a whooping 71 votes to 3. Interestingly, some youths later held a press conference rejecting the election. Akintoye has since been acting in that capacity.
This may have seen as a popularity test for the Asiwaju. As a Pan Yoruba activists said recently, “Tinubu appears to have developed disdain for the Nigerian public. He believes he can whip them into place using the leadership of agberos. While this can work in the South west, it may not work in the North because the Northerners always speak with one voice and the south does not. And he will make no way in South east. Tinubu may wake up one morning to face the Afonja reality. Then he will have nobody to blame but himself.”
That day may not be too far off, if this is to be believed.
