Kindly permit a space on your medium for a response to the above titled topic that was published by your newspaper by Ibrahim Mustapha.
Since the emergence of the current political dispensation in 1999, no doubt that Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) is one of the gladiators of the political landscape in the country. He earned that credit; if it were a school grading, he will definitely score an A! The South-west geopolitical zone where BAT came from, is a hot zone this election. The major challenges the writer alluded facing BAT are running a Muslim-Muslim ticket, Christian running mate, and above all, BAT’s health condition. I agree. How he handles these challenges will surely make him either a hero or runner!
Other challenges BAT will face from his doorstep are OBJ and Afinefere. APC’s political crisis is one of the most serious challenges BAT is facing – governors (aspiring to vice president), woeful performance of PMB, northern establishment at war with PMB, the crack within the BAT political dynasty, Nigerian polarization, the Igbo presidency question, etc.
The biggest challenge for BAT in the 2023 general elections is who is going to be his running mate? Whoever studies the body language of Progressive Governors, knows that is what they are all jettisoning, particularly the two outspoken ones, and the prominent arrowheads from the North. We all know that they want to be running mate to either Osinbajo or Fayemi. One of their scheming was led to the aborted coup at the APC headquarters recently, or gave the birth of All Progressive Confusion (as veteran journalist Mahmud Jega put it).
We all know the relationship of OBJ and BAT since 1999, is that of cat and mouse; add that to Afinefere leaders. Thus, it is going to be a real dirty and nasty fight in the South-west! OBJ will do whatever possible to scuttle BAT’s chances of coming close to the stool, as a revenge of what BAT did to them in 2015 by bringing PMB to power. Though his political clout has declined drastically, OBJ is still relevant, particularly at the international level where BAT himself is banking, particularly in the US congress members.
Another serious challenge for BAT is that of the woeful performance of PMB. BAT counts on PMB to sell him to the masses, particularly PMB’s cult followers in the North. This is where BAT will receive the most shock of his political career, as that cult is seriously awaiting not only anointed candidates by PMB, but PMB himself. It is one thing to be the most popular politician in Africa as an opposition candidate, and another to be a popular sitting president. What distinguishes the two is performance. This is an area PMB failed woefully to the extent of him and his government scoring -0 if it were a paper one is marking! The campaign promises were not fulfilled! What PMB used as campaign tools to dislodge GEJ, were too enormous to even list.
The insecurity situation in the country is one area that PMB failed woefully as the situation deteriorated under his watch despite his historical records of being a civil war veteran, rebel crusher, and former military head of state.
Let’s look at one area the writer touched which has been an issue the South-west uses to boost their political career – “pro-democracy” or “activism”. The whole reference of this is to the era of late General Abacha. According to the writer “The history of Nigeria’s democracy cannot be complete without Tinubu. During the dark days of the military junta, Tinubu and other key actors or activists played a great role in ensuring that the men in khaki were pressured to quit and return the country to democratic governance”. There are lots of questions here, particularly when referencing revelations made by retired Major Mustapha. Not only that, who benefited from their (the so-called pro-democracy or activists) activism? Did they use their activism to enrich themselves or enrich Nigeria and Nigerians as our first-generation leaders (most of whom died with either no house or one made of mud!)? Even a blind person can firmly answer it.
Another challenge that will give BAT the political battle of his life is that of crack within his political dynasty. The younger generation or precisely the lieutenants he groomed are challenging him today -Governor Fayemi of Ekiti state, Osinbajo, Fashola’s interest of becoming a running mate for the northern candidate. These are all in addition to the intra-fight within the BAT dynasty. Recently, there was a dirty fight between BAT and Agrebesola, the internal affairs minister. This is a clear indication of the collapse of the dynasty.
It is interesting to quote the writer again where he said “has at various fora repeatedly appealed to either traditional rulers, political groups and even the National Assembly to support his lifetime ambition to be president of Nigeria”. One classical question here is on what reason(s) would we support BAT to fulfill his “life time dream”? Are we going to sacrifice our future again just for BAT to become President of the Federal Republic? This is very pertinent for the fact that Nigeria is presently on the brink of the ocean, either swing by the ocean current or otherwise. Thus, not every person soliciting just to be president for the sake of fulfilling lifetime ambition is capable of getting us out of the woods and putting us back on the path of prosperity.
It is high time Africans and Nigerians started to view issues from an important perspective rather than sentimental angles. If this is not done, the same mistake made in the previous administrations will resurface and the electorate will suffer for nothing.
Mustapha Maikudi Abdullahi,
Texas, United States
