• Northern stakeholders, PDP, LP, APC elements plan London meeting to fine-tune strategy
• Atiku’s purported ambition confuses opposition
• Nigerians’ pain’ll disappear soon, ruling party assures
From Ismail Omipidan, Abuja
It is roughly about 27 months to the conduct of another presidential election. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has so far kept mum on whether he would seek a second term. However, his teeming supporters across the country are already drumming support for him to run.
On Tuesday, Saturday Sun sighted an imposing giant-size billboard in one of the strategic locations in Abuja, with the inscription: “Grassroot Support for Tinubu 2027.” The newspaper could not ascertain precisely when the billboard was erected.
Before then, however, another prominent northerner and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, who is next to the Vice President in terms of hierarchy, with regards to political office holders of northern extraction in this current administration, had on Sunday, asked the north to wait till 2031 before contemplating vying for the presidency.
Akume had said: “President Tinubu, as a southerner, should be allowed to have a second term, meaning that those eyeing the Presidency from the North in 2027 should look beyond that year by waiting till 2031.
“If it is the will of God for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to be President of Nigeria, even at the age of 90 years, he can get it. But he and other northerners eyeing the office now should look beyond 2027.”
Reacting almost immediately, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), through its Publicity Secretary, Professor Tukur Muhammad-Baba, said: “Our position is that it’s too early to debate the 2027 Presidency. We think the focus should be on good governance and the delivery of good dividends of democracy to the people.
“This talk of 2027 is too early, and it’s a distraction to the dialogue that should be taking place. Is democracy paying off for the people? Should the government do something for the people? This is what should preoccupy the minds of Nigerians, not the 2027 Presidency.”
Plot thickens
Although the ACF Publicity Secretary posited that it was too early to discuss 2027 presidential contest, Saturday Sun can authoritatively reveal that discussions are already ongoing on how to dislodge President Tinubu, ahead of 2027. The plot, which is being spearheaded by northerners, bore similar characteristics with that against former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Saturday Sun recalls that the plot to dislodge Jonathan in 2015 was first hatched in January 2012, details of which were exclusively published in Saturday Sun the same month, with little or no efforts from Jonathan’s handlers to address some of the contentious issues raised in the said publication.
Like they did to Jonathan, the plot to dislodge Tinubu took a different turn in the last one week, with the elite insisting that the contentious Tax Reform Bills were anti-Islam, a sentiment that is already gaining ground in the North.
Speaking exclusively with Saturday Sun, a prominent northern politician, who is in the know of the plot, but who pleaded not to be named, said: “Well, it is true that discussions are ongoing. We are talking to the aggrieved APC members, and Labour Party. We are doing this because we have realised that it is the only way defeat Tinubu.”
Asked about the strategies in place to actualise the plan, the source further said: “Are you serious? You want me to divulge our plans to you, so you can write about it? Who does that? I can confirm to you that a meeting is actually being planned for London. I won’t say more than that for now. “
Another former governor, who is a member of one of the opposition parties in the country, also confirmed the planned London meeting.
When reminded that none of the opposition parties appears prepared to dislodge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), he added: “Two years is long enough to plan President Tinubu’s ouster. But whoever must lead the battle must be someone who is standing on a higher moral ground.”
Saturday Sun further gathered that so far, apart from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who appears interested in the race, no visible aspirant from the North seems to be working underground to actualise their aspirations. And that incidentally appears to be the major dilemma of those currently working with Atiku to dislodge President Tinubu. They feared that whatever efforts they put in the whole plot now might ultimately be reaped by the former Vice President, who, they noted, might not have what it takes to compete favourably with Tinubu in 2027.
“The greatest challenge we have is that not many people are willing to work for Atiku. Unfortunately, he is the one leading most of the PDP talks. If Atiku announces today that he was no longer interested in the race but that he would be willing to lead the struggle, the struggle will gain momentum and he (Atiku) would become the rallying point. But who will tell him that? This is the dilemma,” the former governor added.
‘Sins’ against North
Asked to list some of the sins of the President Tinubu’s administration against the north, the source further said: “His appointments are too lopsided. That is why most Nigerians don’t seem to trust his Tax Reform Bills. We have never in our recent history have one ethnic group dominate the financial and economic sectors of government. Finance Minister, FIRS boss, CBN governor, Tax Reform committee chair, Customs boss and so on, all from his ethnic group and from his clique. And just two days ago, the acting Accountant-General of the Federation, all Yoruba from one clique. Besides, all his policies are anti-social. How can we trust whatever that comes out from that kind of a system? Majority of us have not forgotten how he planned to wage a war against us in the north, in the name of declaring war on Niger Republic. How can Tinubu, a Muslim be promoting an anti-Islam policy? Well, lets see how far he can go,” he added.
Saturday Sun further learnt that the current coalition against Tinubu comprises members of the PDP, Labour Party, and aggrieved APC members, including some of those who either served or identified with the immediate past administration.
Regardless, following Akume’s call to the north to tarry awhile over the 2027 presidential contest, Nigerians have continued to react to the statement, with Vice President Atiku, arguing that allowing the South to have the presidency in 2027 would amount to short-changing the North.
In a statement by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, Atiku noted that by 2027, the South would have had 17 years of leadership, leaving the North with just 11 years since the advent of democracy in 1999.
“Where, then, does true equity and fairness reside? By the year 2027, the South would have enjoyed 17 years of leadership — eight years under Obasanjo, five years under Jonathan, and four years under Tinubu — while the North would have experienced only 11 years, with Yar’Adua serving three and Buhari eight. This resulted in a disparity of six years between the North and South, casting a shadow over the balance of power.
“In any case, the power to elect and vote out their government lies firmly with the Nigerian people, entrusted to them upon the government’s ability to prove itself worthy of the people’s ballot. But has the Tinubu government demonstrated that it deserves to be re-elected? The answer, alas, is as clear as the heavens themselves — God forbid.” The PDP on its part, declared that it would defeat the APC in 2027, the same way the National Democratic Congress (NDC) defeated the ruling party in the just concluded Ghana’s presidential election last Saturday.
In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, the PDP noted that Ghana’s opposition victory was a clear example of the people’s power prevailing over misrule and oppressive government policies.
“The Peoples Democratic Party congratulates the people of Ghana for their resilience in defending democracy and ensuring that their will prevail in the Saturday, December 7, 2024, presidential election, which returned the National Democratic Congress and President John Mahama to power.
“The victory of democracy on the platform of the opposition NDC is a clear demonstration of the triumph of the power of the people over misrule and oppressive policies of government as now being witnessed in Nigeria under the corrupt, rudderless and insensitive APC.
“The verdict of the people of Ghana in this presidential election is a signal to the APC that its days in office are numbered as the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, will surely prevail, end APC’s oppressive rule and return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”
Current pain’ll dissolve soon – APC
But the ruling APC believes that it is well positioned to emerge victorious in 2027. According to the party, before the election, Nigerians would have begun experiencing the positive gains of the economic reforms being implemented by the government at the moment.
A Director in its Publicity Directorate, Bala Ibrahim, noted that “there is no doubt, there is pain in the land. But I think it is easy to also say most of these people who lost elections have anger, which is turning into hunger. That is why they are complaining. Even the President has admitted it because of the reforms.
“However, it is not a pain that is going to last forever. It is the kind of pain you experience when you are undergoing changes. At the end of the day, when the light brightens at the end of the tunnel, everybody will be happy.
“President Tinubu has won his first term. If he decides to contest for a second term and the party gives him the go-ahead, I can guarantee you that he is going to emerge the winner. This is because that will be the time when people will begin to reap the benefits of what has been put in place from his reforms.”
Many have noted, however, that, if by the first quarter of next year, most of the challenges currently being experienced by Nigerians persist, it would be difficult for the ruling party to convince an average Nigerian to give it another chance.
