Niyi Odebode, John Alechenu, Eniola Akinkuotu and Olalekan Adetayo
There are strong indications that
President Muhammadu Buhari is making fresh moves to woo the National
Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Saturday PUNCH reliably learnt on Friday that before the President’s recent moves, the relationship between the duo had not been rosy.
Findings showed that Buhari decided to reach out to Tinubu to seek his support for the control of the APC.
It was gathered that Tinubu was not
happy with the appointments the President had been making since his
inauguration on May 29 last year.
Investigations revealed that among those
the APC leader had tipped for appointments under the Buhari
administration were a former Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State,
Mr. Wale Edun, and a former Commissioner for Budget and National
Planning, Mr. Yemi Cardoso.
A member of the APC National Working Committee, who confided in Saturday PUNCH, said that Tinubu had been loyal to Buhari.
According to him, Tinubu was fighting
Buhari’s battle when he decided to support Senator Ahmed Lawan and move
against Senator Bukola Saraki for the senate presidency.
The national officer stated that Buhari
was aware of the fact that Tinubu had been loyal to him since he
(Buhari) joined the presidential race.
He said, “You will recall that Tinubu
was initially supporting George Akume for the senate president position,
but he switched over to Lawan when it became obvious that that was the
man the President preferred. Also, many APC members are aware that
Tinubu lost out in ministerial and many of the appointments made by the
President.”
Another prominent member of the party told Saturday PUNCH that Tinubu had been maintaining what he described as a “siddon look” attitude towards the President before now.
He said prominent members of the party
were worried that the president failed to consider the APC leader’s
candidates for appointments.
A Presidency source, who confirmed the
recent moves by Buhari, said that the President was not unaware of what
the APC national leader did for him.
The source stated that Buhari’s reaching
out to Tinubu was borne out of the alleged subtle moves by some
elements in the party, including a former Kano State Governor, Dr.
Rabiu Kwankwaso, to reposition themselves for the 2019 presidential
race.
The former Kano State governor was
alleged to have launched his 2019 presidential ambition during his visit
to Kano early this month.
The Kano State chapter of the APC had,
at a press conference in Kano, said that it was probing the former
governor’s “misconduct,” adding that there was no presidential vacancy
in the party.
But Kwankwaso, in a statement signed by
his Chief of Staff, Yunusa Dangwani, said the former governor did not
launch any presidential campaign.
Explaining the governor’s visit to Kano,
the aide said, “It is appalling and rather unfortunate that the good
gesture of Senator Kwankwaso has been mischievously interpreted
wrongly.”
Although former Vice-President Atiku
Abubakar has been a loyal APC man, our correspondents gathered that
chieftains of the party were aware that he was not uninterested in the
presidency.
In an interview with Sunday PUNCH in 2015, when asked if he would contest for the presidency again, he said that it was too early to answer such a question.
He had said, “It is quite too early for
such a question. We are in a transition process. We have not even formed
the next government. You are asking me whether I will like to run again
or not. I think it is just too early.”
It was gathered that Buhari was aware of
the moves by some elements in the party to position themselves for the
2019 presidential race.
That, investigations showed, informed
the decision of the party caucus at its meeting on Tuesday to declare
that there was no presidential vacancy.
According to a report on Thursday, the
APC national caucus, comprising serving and former governors, the
National Assembly leadership, and selected members of the national
executive of the party, at the meeting said the endorsement of Buhari
for a second term would help to stabilise the polity in the face of what
members described as the 16-year rot inherited from the Peoples
Democratic Party.
Another top member of the APC, who confided in Saturday PUNCH,
said, “Buhari needs the support of Tinubu to survive the onslaught of
elements that want to seize the control of the party ahead of the 2019
elections.”
The party chieftain stated that in
boards and other appointments that would be made by the President in the
months ahead, Tinubu’s loyalists would be taken care of as a way of
wooing the APC leader.
He said, “Although the President is not
somebody who can be dictated to, he is not an ungrateful person. He is
aware of the role played by Tinubu in his election and he will not
abandon the man.”
When contacted, the Special Assistant to the President on Media, Mallam Garba Shehu, declined comments.
Repeated calls to the Director-General
of the Atiku Media Office, Mazi Paul Ibe, indicated that his phone “was
either switched off or out of coverage area.”
The first call was at 2:56 pm, the last was at 6:14 pm
Also efforts to get the spokesman for
Tinubu, Mr. Sunday Dare, did not succeed as calls to his mobile
telephone did not go through. He had not responded to an SMS sent to him
as of the time of sending this report.
But a prominent member of the party, who
spoke on condition of anonymity, said it would be good if Buhari could
reach out Tinubu in view of the contributions of the party leader
towards Buhari’s victory at the poll.
Also, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, who was the
Joint House Leader of the defunct Peoples Redemption Party, in the House
of Representatives during the Second Republic, advised the APC to learn
from history.
The former lawmaker said President
Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the APC must find a way of
working together in spite of whatever individual differences they might
have.
He said, “I would advise that President Buhari sits with the leadership of his party for them to do some soul searching.
“They must realise that they need each
other to deliver on the promises made to Nigerians; they must be seen to
be on the same page on issues of policy and what have you.
“Those handling the President must be able to tell him some home truths about how democracy works-you need people.”
Speaking in a similar vein, a public
affairs commentator and member of the civil society, Auwal
Musa-Rafsanjani, said it would be a disaster if the APC begins to behave
like the Peoples Democratic Party.
He said, “We strongly advise the APC to sit down and resolve their issues and avoid distractions.
“Whether true or not, there are rumours
of a frosty relationship between and among leaders of the party. The
sooner action is taken to ensure that these rumours don’t turn out to be
true, the better. If on the other hand they are true, it is better that
whatever the issues are; they are quickly resolved in the interest of
the party and the nation.
“Nigerians have invested so much hope in
the APC to be let down on account of unresolved internal wrangling. It
is time for the party to sort itself out and move the nation forward.”
The National Publicity Secretary,
Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said, “Most of the legacy parties in APC
never knew the basics of internal democracy and the party itself was
formed as a special vehicle to grab power.
“Now that they are in power, they must learn how to democratise internally as they cannot give the country what they don’t have.
“It is frightening that they have
allegedly scrapped their BOT because they can’t agree on who to chair
it. The implication of that for the polity is that if any democratic
situation in the polity would not serve their interest, they would look
for an undemocratic means to scuttle it. Indeed the embarrassing
political situations we have seen in Kogi, Bayelsa and Rivers partly
flow from this undemocratic mood.
“The APC must learn to subject its
internal activities to democratic processes so as to be able to affect
the polity positively.”
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