By Ochereome Nnanna
It
is obvious now that, for the first time in his illustrious political career,
Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the much touted National Leader of the All
Progressives Congress, APC, has fallen into a political ditch. He needs a
helping hand to get out fast. If the APC manipulates itself to victory in Ondo
State (by using the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the
Judiciary to ensure that a fake candidate, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim, stands for the
ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP), it might signal the end of the Tinubu
political saga in the South West.
 |
| *Tinubu and Buhari |
Buhari’s
Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, masquerading as the APC that won the
general elections last year will have two states in the zone (Ondo and Ogun) in
its kitty. Being the party in power, and with the Tinubu loyalist governors in
Oyo and Osun not eligible to run again, Buhari can use the same INEC,
Judiciary, Directorate of State Services, DSS, and the
“may-my-loyalty-never-be-tested” former Tinubu boys like Babatunde Fashola to
make a grab for the rest of the South West come 2019. If that happens, the pro-Caliphate, Kaduna Mafia Arewa North led by Buhari
would start calling the shots in the politics of the South West on their terms,
and no longer in alliance with a “homegrown” political leader of the zone.
That
will bode very ill, not only for our democracy that thrives better on
inter-regional alliances (which was what brought Buhari into power) but will
entrench Buharist Northern domination; a recipe for national instability and
eventual disintegration. Buharist Arewaism (coded into his 97%/5% parasitic
formula for the distribution of the Nigerian commonwealth) has been on open
display since he assumed power on May 29, 2015. It has shown itself in the
manner in which the Federal Government was formed, the deployment of the
security agencies, the repositioning of the top echelon of the Federal
Bureaucracy, the denial of the South the right to produce the substantive Head
of the Federal Judiciary (the Chief Justice of Nigeria) and in the way the INEC
has been robbed of its Jonathan-era independence.
It
is also manifesting in the Islamisation of Non-Muslim communities in the Middle
Belt and South by armed Muslim militias masquerading as herdsmen, the frequent
abductions of under-aged Christian girls by emirs and Islamic clerics who
promptly marry them off to themselves or other Muslims without the consent of
their parents, the manner in which “blasphemy” murder suspects are being set
free when the law enforcement agencies bother to get them arrested and tried;
and the way the Federal Character principle in the constitution is
contemptuously ignored while a brash reign of nepotism is plunked down the
throats of Nigerians. Who knows in what other forms we will be seeing it in the
years to come?
How
do you describe the possible outcome of these burgeoning anomalies that have
reared their ugly heads in just 18 months? Is it normal for human beings
subjected to these arrogant violations not to do something about it
(eventually)? I am not sure this is the type of APC Federal Government that
Tinubu and his kinsmen from the South West who put Buhari in the Presidency had
envisioned. I saw it coming, and I warned and warned. But I was called dirty
names here on this forum by the horde of hired e-rats whose ranks have rapidly
shrunk of late like our famished economy. Tinubu had dreamed of an APC Federal
Government in which the North and the West would partner in calling the shots
for the rest of the country, with his Lagos whiz-kids showing Nigeria how they
did it in Lagos.
I
warned here that Buhari, from his track records as a former military ruler,
Executive Chairman of the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF, and his utterances
as a politician (“I will always propagate Sharia to all parts of Nigeria”; “the
dogs and baboons will be covered in blood”, and so on) was not the kind of
person who would share power with a Westerner, Easterner or Minorities of the
North or South. Tinubu had a golden opportunity to put his support in favour of
Atiku Abubakar. He and Atiku had met and shared power in the defunct Social
Democratic Party, SDP. Atiku has many faults, but he is much more cosmopolitan,
has friends all over the country and is reputed for his sound sense of
organised procedure. These are totally absent in this chaotic Buhari’s
government.
Tinubu
chose Buhari because the masses of the Muslim North were fanatically behind
him. They saw him as their messiah with a magic wand to drag them out of Boko
Haram insurgency and extreme poverty. I hope he has met their aspirations. He
obviously hasn’t met Tinubu’s. So, if Buhari’s APC wins the Ondo governorship
without Tinubu, the Party will begin to feel they can do without him. The pronouncements
of Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau that Tinubu’s absence in the electioneering
process would not affect the party is instructive. When Tinubu was deeply
involved in the Ondo elections in 2012, his party still lost.
So, if APC wins
now that he has withdrawn his support, his days as a factor in the party are
gone. It won’t matter that the PDP candidate, Barrister Eyitayo Jegede, was
shackled to give APC’s Rotimi Akeredolu a free ride. The South West must not
allow its political fortunes to be dictated by Northerners. This region has,
historically, fought to maintain its independence and core agenda in Nigerian
politics. Tinubu’s misadventure in handing the zone over to Buhari is
threatening to take away the region’s power to decide its own future. It will
not be in the interest of the nation for this to happen. Not at this juncture,
when the South-East and the South-South zones have found their own independent
footings and are able to determine their respective political directions. The
West must not fall.
*Nnanna
is a commentator on public issues
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