By Tunde Olusunle
Signs that the
presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed
Tinubu, will run a government by proxy if elected, emerged at his outing at
Chatham House, London, earlier in the week. Tinubu, who has made a tradition of
avoiding public speaking events in the run-up to the February 2023 elections,
jettisoned the Arise Television “Townhall Meeting” organised for the major
presidential contenders, Sunday, December 4, 2022. It was the latest in
Tinubu’s non-appearance at similar engagements since he won the presidential
ticket of his party last June.
*Tinubu
Last August,
Tinubu was conspicuously absent at the annual conference of the Nigerian Bar
Association, (NBA). Presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party,
(PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and the candidate of the Labour Party, (LP), Peter Obi,
honoured the invite at the conference held in Lagos. Tinubu’s running mate,
Kashim Shettima, stood in for him. In September, Tinubu was again absent when
presidential candidates of all the political parties endorsed the “2023
election peace pact.”