Ex-Gov’s camp jittery – VP’s loyalists
Octogenarians should leave stage for youths – Diaspora groups
BY AUGUSTINE AVWODE, BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, TIMOTHY AGBOR, AND MAYOWA SAMUEL
In its November 1 – 7, 2021 edition, The Point Newspaper exclusively reported the goings-on in the camps of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo regarding the race for the 2023 presidential election.
In the report, titled, “2023 PRESIDENCY: Veiled friction between Tinubu, Osinbajo hard to resolve –Insiders”, the paper detailed how it would only take a miracle for the party chieftains not to clash, as both men had their eyes firmly fixed on the coveted seat in Aso Rock.
Events in the past three weeks have amply justified the findings in that publication as core supporters of both ‘Principal and Protégé’ are already at daggers drawn, deploying, in generous doses, the instrumentality of blackmail, intimidation and coercion to browbeat the other party.
A top member of one of the many groups pushing relentlessly for the emergence of Osinbajo as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 presidential election, told one of our correspondents on Saturday that the Tinubu camp was already jittery and not in the mood to brook any opposition from the South-West, much less, from a personality considered as Tinubu’s “boy”.
“If your principal’s life-long ambition is to be President of Nigeria, he should be ready for a challenge from somebody who thinks that he has what it takes to fix the country
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The chieftain, a very reliable source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, “I am surprised at the way the Tinubu team has reacted so far to the news of the VP’s interest in succeeding PMB. Our people say the sky is wide enough for all birds of whatever hue to fly without colliding. Let the Eagle perch and allow the Kite to perch, too. What they have done so far shows that they are already jittery.
“They never saw it coming. And they think the best way to respond is through vicious blackmail, name-calling, coercion in the vain hope that they will be able to intimidate and drive everybody out of the way.
“If your principal’s life-long ambition is to be President of Nigeria, he should be ready for a challenge from somebody who thinks that he has what it takes to fix the country. They are intimidated by his sheer power of oratory, his interpersonal relationship with very many people across the board in the party and outside it. They are afraid of his unassuming nature; his loyalty to his Principal; his pedigree and the fact that God has blessed him with good health to boot. He connects easily with all shades of people, the young, the not too young, the old, the educated, the not too educated, and all that.
“Imagine labeling a man of the stature and status of Senator Babafemi Ojudu as a betrayer. Isn’t that ridiculous? Is it because he has the courage to express his preference? If his preference is at variance with yours, so be it. Why the name-calling? Why the blackmail?”
“The funny thing is that the people behind this unwholesome attack are intellectuals. People who should know, but because they have been bought since the time of Noah’s flood, they are irredeemably sold to slavery. That’s the way I see it. A man who lacks the capacity to express his political conviction because of loyalty is a slave to his conscience. Let’s see how things pan out but they know it is not going to be a walk in the park now. It is a contest. They say PYO has no structure, wait till then before you conclude that he has no structure,” the source averred.
The source was obviously referring to, among others, the attack on Senator Ojodu, which forced him to openly reply his critics and which was widely published last week.
Ojudu had titled his piece, “Principled Political Choices are not Betrayal”.
In it, he said among other things, “So, on this matter of 2023 I wish him well but I cannot in good conscience give him my support or cast my vote for him in the coming primary. It is my right. I am above 60 years of age for God’s sake. I almost died seeking these inalienable democratic rights, held up in detention and severally tortured. Your god is not my god.
“Let no one think he can browbeat or blackmail me to do what does not go with my conscience or my ideals. Enough of your phone threats and embarrassment of my family members.”
“Are there no younger people to take over from President Buhari? See what is happening around the world, young men and women in their 30s are Presidents and Prime Ministers, but in Nigeria, people are asking for a handover from a very old man to another very old man. It can’t work. It doesn’t work anywhere anymore
“
Diaspora group knocks Tinubu’s supporters
A Nigerian group with base in the United Kingdom and the United States of America has condemned those rooting for Tinubu to contest for President in the forthcoming 2023 general election, saying they are enemies of Nigeria.
Speaking with The Point in a telephone interview, a member of the group, named, “Nigeria will get better again”, Mike Merenini, said the APC chieftain had no reason to seek for the country’s presidency, particularly at this time when much “needs to be done to return the country to a sound footing.”
“How can Tinubu be thinking of becoming Nigeria’s President after eight years of Buhari’s rule that has left Nigerians in not only abject poverty but also in a terrorists occupied country.
“Without being told, he should know that he is not relevant to the country now. There were times he could have thought of it as ambition and we could forgive him. But to say the least, it will take haters of the country to support him for such an ambition. It’s really crazy,” he stated.
Merenini claimed that regardless of the reduction of his age, a mere look at him would prove he was not below 80 years and insisted that the country’s presidency could not be handed to an octogenarian, more so, “when he is struggling with his health.”
He wondered why sound minds could present somebody like Tinubu to become Nigeria’s President when there were eminently qualified youths across the country who he said could lead Nigeria out of the cul-de-sac he alleged the current administration had dragged her into.
Merenini, a lawyer, further said most people who were clamouring for Tinubu’s candidacy were after his money, “because they refer to him as a very rich man. But should that be the parameter for him to become President of Nigeria? I don’t think so.”
The international legal luminary said he was in the country for both the Christmas and New Year celebrations and could, without mincing words, describe Nigeria as hell on earth, noting that nothing was working, only that people were managing to make themselves happy.
“Nigerians should unite in this fight to make the country work again by rejecting Tinubu at the polls in case he manages to get his party’s ticket with his money. He cannot do better than this administration. The focus now should be on the youth who can lead the country out of the hell it is in now,” he warned.
Asked who he would advise Nigerians to support, Merenini said, “I don’t have any candidate of choice but my advice is that anybody in the age circle of Tinubu, regardless of how strong he looks, should be rejected by the electorate.”
In a related development, Cecil Amechi, living in the United States, said in a sane country, “somebody like Tinubu should be waiting for what befalls him after this administration, not thinking of becoming Nigeria’s President.”
He said the APC leader was a major factor in the maladministration of this government and for him to think of taking over from President Buhari in 2023 “is telling Nigerians that they are worthless.”
“How can Tinubu think of becoming the next Nigeria’s President? What did you call him, APC leader? And that did not send any signal to Nigerians. I’m not condemning the APC, after all, there are quality youths in the party who can return the country where it was left by Goodluck Jonathan and even surpass it,” he said.
“The Tinubu people will call Osinbajo a betrayal because he was a commissioner under his government when he was governor and then when the position of the vice president came up, he was chosen
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Amechi pointed out that those pushing for a Tinubu presidency were haters of Nigeria. He noted that their interest was their belly because no sound mind would “see the numerous youths who are doing great in various endeavours and capable of replicating the successes in governance and go ahead to prefer a very old man whose records show he can wreck the country.”
“I lived in Lagos when he was Governor before traveling abroad. What are his legacies? He empowered those who will help him wreck the country and that is what they are doing right now. Check those rooting for him and you confirm what I am talking about. It’s the duty of you guys, I mean journalists to let Nigerians know that the world has left Nigeria because of people like Tinubu,” he alleged.
For Patrick Joe, support for Tinubu’s ambition is an indication that hunger has really affected the minds of Nigerians and the solution is to get food on their table no matter how.
He said he had no reason to blame the people rooting for him (Tinubu) but added that “if he succeeds, it will be forward one step, backward 10 steps for Nigeria.”
“Over here in the United Kingdom, we hear news about the sufferings of Nigerians back home and this is caused by extremely bad governance. Yet people are jostling for a man who contributed immensely to the country’s level of poverty. He was a governor, his wife is a serving senator, soon his children will be governor and Senator because he owns Lagos and, having conquered Lagos, he feels it’s time to conquer Nigeria too.
“Are there no younger people to take over from President Buhari? See what is happening around the world, young men and women in their 30s are Presidents and Prime Ministers, but in Nigeria, people are asking for a handover from a very old man to another very old man. It can’t work. It doesn’t work anywhere anymore,” he said.
“Truly my concern is not about where the next President comes from. It’s still in Nigeria that someone becomes a President because of his tribe and religion. In this era of technological development, our people are still living in the past. Otherwise, I don’t see the reason Tinubu would want to take over from a Buhari when there are numerous qualified youths who can lead the country,” he added.
Babangida Aliyu’s clincher
The thinking about Tinubu’s ambition by the average Northern elite has suddenly popped up like a bolt out of the blue. Not many had before now given thought to it until last week when former Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, dropped the bombshell.
Aliyu had said that the APC would give its presidential ticket for the 2023 general elections to the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Speaking last week at the 2022 annual lecture of the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation in Kano State, the former governor, while not mentioning any name, said the party would only be interested in his money.
According to him, any “riff-raff or moneybags” will not get to the highest office in the country, even if they bring out the money.
“No matter how much money he has, let him bring the money and we will collect it, Mr. Vice President, wherever you go, we will follow,” he said.
He described Osinbajo, who has yet to declare interest in the presidential race, as the best candidate for the ruling party, saying, “Mr. Vice President, do you know you are the best candidate in your party?”
Coming from a chieftain of an opposition Peoples Democratic Party, some people viewed the statement as a reflection of the thinking of the average Northern elite, while others dismissed it as mere political rhetoric.
Aliyu got it wrong — Yawe
Spokesperson, Arewa Consultative Forum, Emmanuel Yawe, however, took exception to ex- Niger State Governor’s opinion on APC matter, saying it had not gotten to that level.
“Aliyu Babangida was never a member of the APC but a member of the PDP. It hasn’t gotten to a stage where people who are outside the party will jump in and start commenting on what is happening in one political party. I would advise him to wait until Osinbajo becomes the official candidate of the APC, then he can comment on it. I think he’s jumping the gun by commenting about Tinubu and Osinbajo.
“Apart from that, I think people should be allowed to vote from their conscience. I think he’s right by saying if you collect somebody’s money, you should not vote for him. Money should not be a determinant; it should be from the conscience. Who will lead this country from the mess we are in, that should dictate who we should vote for. It should be about competence and whether the person has the correct programme to rescue this country.
“The tantrums from both camps, I don’t see anything wrong with it, that is politics. In politics, you take a position and then you try to advise the opposition that will help him. The Tinubu people will call Osinbajo a betrayal because he was a commissioner under his government when he was governor and then when the position of the vice president came up, he was chosen. Initially, it was Tinubu that was supposed to be the Vice Presidential candidate but because of the Muslim-Muslim thing, which most people believe will not fly now, they decided to go for Osinbajo. I don’t think it’s a question of betrayal. I don’t know him a lot, I don’t even support him. I only wish him well in his political ambition but we should be careful with the language we use, not to heat up the whole place.
“So, it was not that they went to pick one yeye man and they promoted him beyond his capabilities. The man is very capable in my own opinion, they should not try to destroy him, instead, they should promote the credentials of Tinubu instead of running their own comrade down. As far as those outside are concerned, Osinbajo is their comrade who came from their own setup, so they shouldn’t run him down. Very soon now, the primaries will be over and the crisis will soon be over.
“Regarding this zoning, we don’t believe in it because the constitution has vested in the political parties the exclusive right to decide where their candidate comes from and sponsor him, it’s exclusive. Each political party has absolute control over its own candidates, therefore, there’s no way one can intervene. If the APC decides that their candidate is coming from the North or from the South, we have no quarrel with that, it’s their right within the constitution.
“The PDP has gone ahead to even say they’ve entrenched zoning in their constitution, that is within their rights. What we are saying is that anywhere a candidate comes from, what we will do is to sit down with you, what programmes do you have for the North?
“Out of the many candidates that will emerge from many political parties, we will interact with most of the prominent ones and decide who has the best programme for the North. We are not worried about who emerges as a presidential candidate whether he’s from the North or from the South, we have gone past that.”
“Look at the problems the North is facing now, these are problems we have never faced before. Problems of terrorism everywhere, they are just killing, kidnapping people, even small children are being killed, we have not seen all these in the North before and this is happening to us when our son is the President,” Yawe lamented.
Osinbajo shouldn’t contest against Tinubu who made him – APC
The All Progressives Congress in Osun State has disregarded speculation that the VP would want to contest the presidential ticket of the party with his political godfather, Tinubu.
Speaking with The Point, the party’s spokesman, Kunle Oyatomi, said the only presidential aspirant the APC knows is Tinubu and urged party stakeholders to galvanise support for the person that had already officially declared his ambition to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.
The party’s Director of Media and Publicity in the state said Tinubu had the financial war chest to execute the election, adding that the structure appeared favourable to him.
Oyatomi noted that he would never expect Osinbajo to rival with Tinubu over presidential ambition because “everybody is aware that the making of Osinbajo was a contributory effort of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. That’s not hidden at all. So, I don’t know why he (Osinbajo) has now grown wings to say he wants to be (President) against your boss (Tinubu). But if that’s possible, let’s wait and see.”
He added, “The very first mention of Yemi Osinbajo, in relation to other aspirants, is just speculative for now, apart from Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as he officially announced that he is going to run. I don’t think Yemi Osinbajo has spoken in direction of a presidential contest at all.
“The way it is, I don’t think we should bother ourselves so much about speculation. Let us rev our engine towards the reality and the one that is before us, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu because when people continue to say this, it’s either they want to cause ‘wahala.’ I don’t know where Yemi Osinbajo will stand and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will also stand and they will now be throwing banters or something else against each other. I really do not imagine it. But there is nothing impossible in politics. So, that could also happen.
“Whatever it is, we are waiting to see. Ambition is one, then the way to achieve the ambition is another. Structure is one, what it takes in terms of cash is another, and all that. Even if people are contributing money, it’s not out of place… Buhari didn’t have money but was supported by the people. So, anybody could be, let’s wait and see.”
North won’t support Tinubu – Usman
Also speaking, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Kaduna State, Abdulraman Usman, said the North would not support Tinubu to succeed Buhari.
Usman said the presidential ambition of the former Governor of Lagos State would not yield any positive result.
He added that Tinubu’s hope of clinching APC’s ticket was dead on arrival, saying that the Governor of Kano State, Abdulahi Ganduje, known as the one of the strongest supporters of Tinubu, would not back the former Lagos State Governor.
Take or leave it, Tinubu’s hope of getting the APC presidential ticket is dead on arrival. Ganduje is one of the strongest supporters of Jagaban and you can see how he dealt with him (Tinubu) politically in Kano State; how they have taken the machinery of the party from him,” he said.
Meanwhile, Osinbajo has warned his supporters against insulting or abusing Tinubu as both men eye the APC 2023 presidential ticket.
Some supporters of Tinubu had reportedly accused Osinbajo of being an ingrate for not supporting Tinubu’s presidential quest despite what Tinubu did for him politically.
Sources close to the Vice President said Osinbajo was against any one abusing Tinubu and had therefore warned his supporters.
“Even if his supporters abuse my mother, don’t retaliate. On no account must he be insulted or denigrated,” he was quoted as saying.
