Ex-govs, Buhari’s associates lock horns with Tinubu

A gigantic test of wills is rocking the
All Progressives Congress just 12
days to the inauguration of
President-elect Mohammadu
Buhari as Nigeria’s substantive
President.
Impeccable sources within the
party told SUNDAY PUNCH over the
weekend that some ex-governors,
Buhari’s associates and mutinous
party members from the South-
West are trying to whittle down the
influence that the national leader
of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu,
will have on the incoming
government.
Tinubu, the party’s undisputed
leader in the South-West, is widely
feted as the force behind the
merger of all the major opposition
parties in the country which led to
the emergence of the APC as
Nigeria’s major opposition party.
On several occasions, Buhari, who
defeated President Goodluck
Jonathan in the March 28
presidential elections, winning
15,424,921 votes to Jonathan’s 12
853,162 votes, has also
acknowledged the efforts of the
former governor of Lagos State,
fondly referred to as Jagaban by his
admirers.
However, multiple sources within
the party told SUNDAY PUNCH that
the relationship between the duo
might have become strained in
recent times as some forces within
the party are bent on making
Buhari to see Tinubu in another
light.
Some powerbrokers within the
party, some of whom are trusted by
the president-elect, are said to be
mounting pressure on him to
reassess his ties with the APC
national leader. These
powerbrokers are also said to be
questioning Tinubu’s and the South
West’s contributions to Buhari’s
election victory.
Recently, at a public function, the
Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwanu Akiolu,
gave indications of the strained
relationship between the duo,
even as he asked people to pray
that Tinubu’s “labour” would not
be wasted.
“All Lagos residents should pray
that the labour of Tinubu should
not be in vain. A lot of things have
been happening now. Some people
have been telling Buhari all sorts of
things. Awujale (Paramount Ruler
of Ijebuland) and I have decided to
meet Buhari because Lagos and
South West states must benefit
from the General Buhari
administration,” he said.
Reliable sources within the party
however told our correspondent
that the gang up against the party
leader started before the party’s
victory at the elections.
One of the sources, who spoke on
the condition of anonymity, told
SUNDAY PUNCH that those opposed
to Tinubu within the party first
moved against the national leader
during the APC’s national
convention in June last year.
According to him, some ex-
governors and other high-ranking
members of the party backed a
former governor of Bayelsa State,
Timipre Sylva, against Tinubu’s
candidate, Chief John Odigie-
Oyegun.
The source, who is an associate of
the national leader, said, “Even
before Buhari emerged as the
party’s presidential candidate,
some people in the party,
particularly the governors and
some ex-governors, wanted
another candidate as chairman.
They were totally opposed to
Odigie-Oyegun who was Tinubu’s
choice. They believed that if they
succeeded in getting their man as
the chairman, they would have
more control of the party, but they
failed.”
The source added that the same
scenario played out during the
party’s presidential primaries. “It is
not a secret: initially, the same
group of people in the APC were
totally opposed to Asiwaju’s choice
of Buhari. They wanted either
former Vice-President Atiku
Abubakar or Governor Rabiu
Kwankwaso of Kano State. When
you look at it critically, their choice
of these candidates then was not
based on any fundamental reason
but just to oppose Tinubu and gain
more ground in the party. It is
funny that some of them who now
move around with Buhari were
totally against his candidature as
APC’s flag bearer,” he said.
But the source ended his chat with
our correspondent by saying, “We
are optimistic that Buhari and
Tinubu will manage their
relationship well. They will not
allow anyone to come between
them.”
Another source within the party
cited an incident during Buhari’s
February Chatham House event in
London as an example of the high
level intra-party politics playing
out within the party.
The source said both camps jostled
to take the credit for producing the
speech delivered by Buhari at
Chatham House knowing that the
speech would give the then APC
presidential candidate a huge
mileage within the international
community.
The source said just before the
event, a senior party member who
is also a former governor of a
South-West state, had rushed in to
write the President-elect’s speech.
The said ex-governor also
presented the speech to the
president-elect.
He said, “Not knowing that a speech
had been prepared, the national
leader asked if Buhari’s speech was
ready. He was told that the ex-
governor had written it and given it
to Buhari. Tinubu was not happy
because he knew nothing about
the speech despite being one of
the party’s top strategists. He asked
that the speech be sent to him as a
condition for him to attend the
event. When he eventually got it,
he turned it down because he felt
the speech did not represent
Buhari’s and the APC’s ideals
properly.
“He then asked a team of experts to
write another speech for Buhari.
Asiwaju had to explain to Buhari
why he felt the initial speech
written by the former governor was
not good enough.”
Asked why some of the party
leaders appeared to be
vehemently opposed to Tinubu,
the source said, “Most of the people
that have a grouse with our
national leader believe he is too
controlling and he’s not allowing
them have a say. But they can
express their grievances through
better ways,” he said.
But as the inauguration day draws
near, sources say the selection of
ministers and top government
officials for the new government is
the newest phase of the battle of
influence that is rocking the party.
The source said, “The battle has
now shifted to the selection of
Buhari’s new cabinet. Many of those
opposed to Tinubu in the party
have presented themselves and
others as candidates. (Some of
these people are from the South-
West).
“There is another sub-group made
up of northerners, mostly, Fulanis.
They have been touting
themselves as Buhari’s closest
associates since he won the
elections. We’ve heard them say
that the North was the dominant
factor in Buhari’s win and that even
though the South-West voted for
him, the North donated the
majority votes.
“But they are making a mistake
because if President Jonathan had
won all the South-West states,
Buhari’s victory would have been
hard to come by. They also forget
that it was on the platform of the
APC that Buhari emerged President.
If not for the merger, Buhari
wouldn’t have won. He tried to win
on the platform of the CPC in 2011,
but it wasn’t successful.
“Having seen that their tactics of
spreading bad rumours about
Tinubu to Buhari is not working,
they are now playing the ethnic
card to divide them. Sadly, some of
our ex-governors from the South-
West and South-South have joined
them to play this ethnic card.”
When asked how the national
leader of the party was fighting
back, another highly-placed source
within the party said Nigerians
should wait for the list of ministers.
“We are not in government yet but
some people are making trouble
underground. Anyway, the
ministerial list will put them in
check. They are following Buhari all
over the place and trying to cause
disaffection between him and
Tinubu but it will yield nothing.
Unfortunately for them, Buhari is
not likely to have ministers of
states so it narrows their chances of
getting appointments. Some of our
party members particularly from
the South-West are in for a surprise
when the ministerial list is out.”
Contacted on Saturday, a former
National Publicity Secretary of the
defunct Congress for Progressive
Change, one of the parties that
formed the APC, Mr. Rotimi
Fashakin, said Tinubu was bound to
have opposition from within the
party due to his political influence.
He reminded those who were
challenging his authority in the
party that the former Governor of
Lagos State was one of the
arrowheads of APC’s formation and
the party’s victory at the 2015
general election.
Fashakin said, “In any gathering of
human beings, you are bound to
have people showing disapproval
and disaffection about others; that
is normal. The APC is not an
exception. It is usually like that.
Some people will say ‘what is his
own? He is having too much
influence. Is it only him?”
He, however, asked those who
were opposed to Tinubu to
consider the positive roles he had
played in the party.
“During the electioneering, the
PDP knew the people that were
strategic to its electoral misfortune
and the need to go after such
individuals. One of them was
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Did
you see the hate documentary that
was produced and aired to
disparage him at that time?
“The individuals talking now
(against Tinubu) were not put
under such scurrilous attacks. Did
they experience such? Whatever
they may say, when the history of
APC is written, you cannot wish
away what Tinubu has done,”
Fashakin added.
A former Minister of Petroleum and
Energy, Professor Tam David-West,
one of Buhari’s biggest loyalists,
also told SUNDAY PUNCH that there
was nobody in the APC, no matter
how influential he might be, that
could influence the incoming
President’s decisions.
He said, I don’t want to comment
on it because I know it is not
possible. Nobody can influence
General Buhari. I know him.”
When contacted, the Director of
Media and Publicity in the APC
Presidential Campaign
Organisation, Mr. Garba Shehu,
described the moves by the
individuals as a party issue. “It is a
party issue, speak to Lai
Mohammmed,” he said.
The National Publicity Secretary of
the APC, Mr. Lai Mohamed did not
pick the calls made to his phone
neither did he respond to the text
messages sent to him by our
correspondent.