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When the All Progressives Congress won the 2015 presidential election, which many informed commentators have described as the most closely and keenly contested election in the history of Nigeria, not a few Nigerians gave the unadulterated credit to the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The APC, as it is unfolding now, was a marriage of circumstances, aimed especially at truncating former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, or if you like, 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party rule by all means.
The party had, at inception, and along the line, some of the master planners of the PDP, as well as brain boxes of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Congress for Progressive Change, All Nigeria Peoples Party and a few liberal minds from the All Progressives Grand Alliance.
It was easy to feel the intensity of the political permutations that eventually dragged the reverred rug off GEJ’s presidential feet. But more visible were the fingerprints of the Jagaban of Borgu Kingdom in virtually all the ace decisions that culminated in the first inter-party democratic handover in Nigeria.
From the intrigues around the primaries, which, against all odds, produced General Muhammadu Buhari as the APC candidate; to the tinkering and jockeying, which favoured a less popular Yemi Osinbajo as running mate, and the abracadabra probably involved in gathering the kind of resources needed to confront a 16-year-old hydraheaded monster, Jagaban was a formidable central character. While some economic pests around Jonathan were busy painting a false picture of his over
whelming acceptance across Nigeria, ostensibly to merit a chunk of the huge campaign funds, the Tinubu-led coalition of streetwise politicians perfected the joker that woke the hero of Otuoke up from slumber, rather rudely. Without attempting to undermine the intelligence of a few other smart people in the emergency union, political watchers have said that Jagaban appears to be in control of a magical sword, which, more often than not, tilts South-West politics to suit his target at any point in time.
This probably had worked at a higher level for him in the 2015 elections. For instance, he had, from happenings behind the curtain, been the brain behind recovering what was perceived as stolen mandates for ACN governorship candidates in no fewer than three favourable court judgements; he had also supported a few candidates of lesser political parties to realise their ambitions, though these feats, which were believed to have been heavily financed, had triggered, at one time or the other, investigations into his perceived stupendous wealth.
With Tinubu’s massive political space in the South West; his track record of fishing out potential stars in hiding for leadership positions; and his intimidating followership base, every President, since the return of democratic rule, had to either strategise to clip his wings or dine with him. But either way, it had been very difficult.
Many believed that former President Olusegun Obasanjo took the wings clipping option, what with the many drug and corruption-related allegations hanging around the neck of the leader of Borgu warriors. But, somehow, he did not go too far, even when he would have done everything to keep Jagaban behind bars.
A former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu, moved in to investigate Tinubu, but could not follow the case to Kirikiri, perhaps for lack of solid evidence. But Baba apparently carried the wound beyond Aso Rock. OBJ, who had reportedly openly called the former governor of Lagos State a shameless thief while in power, reiterated in his book, My Watch, released about two years ago, that Tinubu was very corrupt. “Nuhu Ribadu tried to investigate almost all of them to the best of my understanding.
At a time, he publicly announced that 28 out of the 36 governors were either manifestly corrupt or had been tainted in one way or (the) other. He gave me a copy of his report on those governors. Bola Tinubu was definitely one of the worst cases,” he said.
But it has been argued that OBJ himself was stained, justly or not, by some strong bribery allegations around his third term bid. Some even said that he paid Baba back in his own coin by going all out, with other aggrieved parties, to puncture what the executors felt was a master third term plan.
On the part of GEJ, when he was to contest in 2011, he was wise enough to have chosen to dine with Tinubu, regardless of the fact that the ACN had Ribadu as its presidential candidate. Because it was glaring that the party was still too regional to secure a presidential win at the time, a good win-win deal, which gave South West to Jonathan in whole, was reportedly sealed.
Even President Buhari, then the CPC’s presidential candidate, had been quoted to have said, “I can say authoritatively that he sealed the deal with President Jonathan, after which he called a meeting of controlling leaders of the ACN to make them buy into the deal.”
Yes, this might have meant that Jagaban was a traitor, who betrayed Ribadu, despite the widespread criticism of the latter over the u-turn he made on his perception of the former governor. But, clearly, it spells out one thing – the seemingly unparalleled influence of Tinubu on South-West politics.
Unfortunately, Jagaban, whose worst critics also appreciate his political wizardry, has not been able to keep his proteges close for too long. Except for a very few, their loyalty to him hardly went beyond their first terms in office, even though they reluctantly heeded warning signs by prostrating behind closed doors to their benefactor, in their desperation to continue beyond four years.
Now, put aside corruption matters, no matter how carried away one could be with Jagaban’s political intelligence, any rational mind would pause to ask the question: why the usual rebellion? I did some painstaking research on this and came out with interesting findings, particularly in relation to the power game going on currently in our dear APC.
Why did the celebrated marriage of convenience crash even before President Buhari entered the Aso Rock Villa? The details to follow will attempt to answer the million-dollar question.
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