2023: Tinubu crosses the Rubicon; says he is determined to get on the presidential ballot without Buhari’s support

A former governor of Lagos State and national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has crossed the Rubicon in his 2023 presidential project.

THE CONCLAVE reports that Tinubu is determined to run with the project in spite of lack of presidential backing.

Tinubu is not enjoying the support of President Muhammadu Buhari for the presidential ticket of the APC and this is authoritative.

President Buhari has continued to keep close to his chest his preferred choice of a successor. He had said in a TV interview some months back that if he mentioned the person, he (the person) might be eliminated.

Advertisement

It was easy to deduce from President Buhari’s position that his preferred choice was not Tinubu.

Now, Tinubu has now cleared the air of ambiguity and uncertainty on the likely direction by President Buhari in relation to his presidential ambition: that the president is walking away from him.

The former Lagos governor with a huge war chest, as learnt, opened up to a compact group of Yoruba leaders during his recent visit to Akure that he was not enjoying the support of President Buhari, but that, in any case, he was going ahead with his presidential project.

The meeting reportedly had in attendance a former Chairman of Afenifere and Yoruba leader, Pa Rueben Fasoranti, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and minister of finance, Chief Olu Falae and General Secretary of Afenifere, who doubles as the Ondo State Chairman of the group, Basorun Seinde Arogbofa, among others.

Tinubu’s disposition to proceed with his presidential project aligns with his oft-quoted recent statement that Nigeria’s presidency was his life-long ambition.

He had also been quoted in the media, although some clarifications had, in a riposte by his camp been offered, that he was going to fight dirty in the pursuit of his presidential enterprise.

In clarifying Tinubu’s statement, his publicists had reportedly said that while in Oyo State, he spoke in a context about elements (whom he allegorically referred to as pigs) working to upend his presidential ambition and that in a fight with pigs, one should be ready to get dirty.

Tinubu believes that he is sufficiently entitled to succeed President Buhari who rounds off his second term in office on May 29, 2023.

In 2014/2015, during the politicking that birthed the legacy party-APC and produced Buhari as the party’s presidential candidate, Tinubu had played a significant role in locking in the critical southwest geo-political zone with the second largest votes haul for Buhari.

In an anxious bid at the time to be part of the emerging presidency, Tinubu had wanted to strategically position himself as Buhari’s running mate, but the bid was shot down from within and outside the APC due to the potential religious sentiments that were going to be mobilized against the Muslim-Muslim ticket.

Instead of a Buhari-Tinubu ticket, the Buhari-Professor Yemi Osinbajo presidential ticket had consequently and consequentially received approbation by party leaders.

The ticket won in the 2015 presidential election, defeating an incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan and also won a re-election in 2019.

2023 provides the last, and perhaps not the best opportunity for Tinubu to notch up his dream to be Nigeria’s president, given the rising complexities around the presidential succession race, especially the issue of religion.

Tinubu is a Muslim and although he is a Yoruba from the Southwest, the majority Christian community in the Southern part of Nigeria is conscious of the fact that a Muslim-President Muhammadu Buhari-is about rounding off his presidency on May 29, 2023 and therefore is not interested in another Muslim, in 2023, from the South occupying the presidential seat.

And, analysts contend that when push cones to shove, on whichever party platform Tinubu contests, except he is going to run on a Muslim-Muslim ticket, he would be faced with the dilemma of getting a Christian running mate from the North that would be sellable and acceptable to the core northwest zone with the highest votes haul in the country.

But one-time senator from the southeast told THE CONCLAVE that in terms of readiness to “fight” for the presidential ticket of the APC, Tinubu appeared to be most capacitated and most prepared.

According to him: “He is the only one in the APC from the South who has the resources to prosecute the presidential project single-handed without depending on the Presidency of government for funding.”

THE CONCLAVE, however, reports that in the political history of Nigeria and in the consummation of the presidency, no financially-independent candidate had ever become president. The late Basorun MKO Abiola won it on June 12, 1993 but never became president.

From Shehu Shagari through Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan to Buhari, the validation processes had always been through consensus by some power brokers and owners of Nigeria acting in tandem always with the Presidency, except in the unusual case of Jonathan’s 2015 loss.

There are fears that Tinubu’s determination to relentlessly push for the APC ticket may put the entire party structure under intense pressure, and the down-to-the-wire battle for the presidential ticket may lead to an implosion.

Tinubu, with his massive structures and preparedness for the presidential race, as learnt, will not be disposed to withdrawing for anybody. He would instead expect aspirants in the APC to defer to him on the very sensitive issue given his leadership and monumental contribution to the party and Buhari’s presidential polls victories in 2015 and 2019.