Like everything politicians, they delight in deception. When they promise joy, they dispense sadness and misery. In the last two-and-half years, the Nigerian masses have experienced hell. They have continued to hope against hope for the promised change. President Muhammadu Buhari’s ill health did not help matters as he spent several months tending to his health while the country suffered in every sense of the word.
While many observers are expecting that the President should honourably thank Nigerians at the end of his four-year tenure and retire home peacefully, it appears he and his spin doctors believe he has something better to offer and must occupy the seat of power beyond 2019. The President’s body language attests to the fact that his eyes are still on the APC’s ticket for 2019. The decision to travel to Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire with Bola Tinubu, where, he, the President attended the European Union–African Union Summit last week, was a sign that something was fishy.
The former Lagos State Governor had been walking alone following series of crises that hit the ruling party and had at a time called for the removal of John Odigie-Oyegun, national chairman of the party, over allegations of manipulation of Ondo State governorship primary which produced Rotimi Akeredolu as flag bearer. Tinubu, who had also penultimate week stated that there would not be an automatic ticket for President Buhari for 2019 presidency in the interest of the APC, failed to turn up for the Akeredolu’s campaign rally which was headed by the President and again boycotted the inauguration ceremony along with some southwest governors who are loyal to him.
READ ALSO: Buhari will commission completed projects in Imo, before May 29 – Okorocha
Now, the seemingly ‘testing the waters’ game by the chief occupant of the Aso Rock and his party, started when Rochas Okorocha, Imo State governor, declared sometimes in October that there would be no automatic ticket for President Buhari for the 2019 presidential contest. Only two days earlier, before the commencement of the APC National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja, APC governors under the auspices of Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) which is chaired by the same Okorocha, had endorsed the President as the man befitting of the APC ticket.
“All the governors have unanimously agreed to work for the President’s re-election. Concerning the issue of a sole ticket for Mr President, I want to say that if Mr President is performing, well respected and carrying everybody along, all of us have resolved that we will work for him. Do we have any other person that will challenge the President again? Whatever you call it, as far as we are concerned, we have one President and that is the ticket we will fly”, Simon Lalong, Plateau State governor, told reporters at the NEC meeting venue.
Tanko Al-Makura, Nasarawa State governor also said: “For anybody to pre-empt the consensus opinion of the people is, to say the least.” Okorocha introduced joke into it, saying: “The gentleman is looking much more handsome than even before he went to the hospital; he is looking stronger and so, he has every right and qualifications to re-contest; there is nothing wrong at all. But, we don’t allow the imposition of candidate. It must be democratically done.
“If President Buhari will lead the ship in 2019, it must be democratically done, and I said, democratically done, transparently done to the amazement of the whole world, the way we do our things in APC and people will be happy”.
Observers say that the President Buhari’s recent visit to the South-East geopolitical zone, his first since he mounted the power stool close to three years ago, was not a happenstance, but a calculated attempt to broach a rapprochement with the Igbo nation he had been accused of neglecting. The visit, according to observers, is being interpreted by observers as a political move to warm himself into the hearts of the Igbo people who widely still hold the view his regime has been unfair to the region in terms of appointments and government’s presence.
READ ALSO: APC Governors felicitate with Okorocha, Tinubu on birthday anniversaries
The President last week inaugurated a committee to see the modalities for reviewing national minimum wage. The move was greeted with cynicism. Some Nigerians who are not satisfied with the current administrations wondered what the likes of Okorocha, listed among governors owing several months of workers’ salaries, were doing at the inauguration of the committee. Okorocha was also seen beating his chest that the APC meant well for the Nigerian people.
Niyi Owolade, former deputy speaker, Osun State House of Assembly, one-time Attorney-General of the state, opined that President Buhari’s recent moves are clearly written that he cannot resist the temptation to run for the second term in office, hence, his renewed vigour to right perceived wrongs.
“You should know the meaning of a man who has not visited the southeast since he became President to suddenly visit the region and starts making promises. All of sudden the President can no longer do without Bola Tinubu these days. The President, whose governors cannot pay salaries, is talking about new minimum wage; he has also ordered that the remaining 50percent of the Paris Club refund should be given to the governors to enable them to pay salaries before Christmas.
“You know the President’s health is better these days and those around him are telling him to seek the second term in office. The President is trying hard to right every wrong as 2019 election approaches by making new friends, reconciling with old ones and becoming more concerned with Nigerians who are facing economic hardship. All these are pointing to one fact: President Buhari is going to contest the 2019 presidential election,” he tells BD SUNDAY.
In fairness to the President, Section 137 (1) (b) of the 1999 constitution as amended, provides that “A person elected to the office of president at any time for two previous elections shall not be qualified for subsequent election as president of Nigeria,” which qualifies Buhari constitutionally to seek the second term in 2019, since he had only been elected as president once.
The hide and seek game begins
An insider familiar with the power play and the carefully concealed tussle within the APC, confided in BD SUNDAY that the two sides of Okorocha’s declaration is to first downed internal tension gradually building up after it became clear in early September where the APC governors will pitch their tent, and on the other side, to ‘test the waters’ to see the marketability, acceptability of Buhari and how Nigerians will react to the second coming of a man, perceived by many to have underperformed, coupled with the President’s health challenges, that saw him spend months away from the office this year.
READ ALSO: Buhari assures of improved healthcare delivery commissions 150 beds UMTH trauma centre
Hide and seek culture in Nigerian politics
The current hide and seek scenario of the APC was also the strategies employed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in presenting Jonathan amid internal wrangling over its infamous zoning arrangement which was partly responsible for the formation of the new PDP, as the faction was then called.
Despite Jonathan’s repeated stance in 2013 that he would not decide on whether or not he would seek a second term in office until sometimes in 2014, some stakeholders in the PDP and its ministers were working behind-the-scene preparing to make the ex-president contest for the office again with his full consent. Jonathan’s long time silence was, however, compounded by his alleged promise not to seek re-election in 2015.
Recall that Jonathan’s steps towards his eventual declaration of interest were also aided by some governours led by Jonah Jang, ex-governor of Plateau State and some federal lawmakers who were his close allies and sympathizers. The PDP leadership under Bamanga Tukur also continued a subtle campaign for Jonathan to run for a second term in office.
But as the political intrigues became more intense, the ex-governor of Bayelsa State on November 10, 2014, at the Eagle Square in Abuja, declared his intention to contest the presidential election, just barely seven months to the initial calendar date. He told his supporters that he accepted to contest the election following the calls by many Nigerians for him to re-contest the presidency and after seeking and hearing from God.
As the culture is in Nigeria for a first-term president, Buhari’s supporters and perceived beneficiaries led by the APC governors have started either campaigning for him or giving some innuendoes which clearly indicate that it is only a matter of time before the rejuvenated President finally breaks his silence about the not too obvious writing on the wall but visible enough for political historians to see. Some politicians, under the aegis of Buhari Support Group (BSG), on October 27, 2017, met with the President after which they told reporters that the President has to “continue his good works” beyond 2019.
READ ALSO: Coronavirus: Buhari releases N15b to tackle Pandemic
In a recent article he titled ‘Buhari, 2019 and the talking drum’, Segun Adeniyi, veteran journalist and author, expressed the view that some governors within the APC, especially from the north, want Buhari to seek re-election because that is the only way to guarantee their own return.
“Knowing Nigeria, we are likely to witness more of such well-oiled drama of people ‘begging’ President Buhari to seek re-election in the coming weeks and months. It is a familiar industry in Nigeria that dates back to the late General Sani Abacha era. Indeed, as part of the game, we should also expect sponsored rallies and prayer sessions.
“The cold calculation is that without Buhari raising their hands a second term, his fanatical supporters may not vote and should that happen, they will be defeated at the polls. In this category also are many Senators and House of Representatives members from the north who got to power on the wings of ‘Change’. So, whatever may be the drumbeats, the campaign for Buhari to run is more in their own enlightened self-interest than about the legacy of the President,” he said.
Also talking from the red chamber of the Nigeria Senate as if they are reading from the same script, Shehu Sani, a senator from Kaduna central, opines that the Nigerian political elite see Buhari as a “meal”, and therefore, they want him to seek re-election for their own survival.
“Whether Baba will seek re-election or not remains his individual decision to make. He is old enough and has been in politics and government longer than anyone in his party or cabinet as to know what to do and the right time to do it. He is the best person to judge and decide for himself what to do. The nation still needs his services but it’s still up to him to decide if he is willing and fit to provide more or not. The political elite in habit of applying pressure are pressure cookers and they see Baba as a meal and a mill”, Sani Shehu wrote on his Facebook page.
NATHANIEL AKHIGBE
