Buhari is more strengthened, healthier to re-contest but if doesn’t, who is next?

By Kemi Kasumu, General Editor

President Muhammadu Buhari and his Media Office, where Chief Femi Adesina and Malam Garba Shehu continue to “hold fast against mischief makers” in defence of the President and his government, have left no one in doubt that what concerns the man now celebrated globally as the strongest black President is business of fixing Nigeria as against preoccupying his mind with 2019 election that will naturally decide for itself, although maintaining the President is now healthier and more strengthened to re-contest for the presidency in 2019.

Chief Adesina, in one of his interviews with The DEFENDER in the past, had insisted that performance of President Buhari based on his three cardinal programme of fighting corruption, defeating Boko Haram and ensuring security of lives and property and fixing the economy was central to his heart.

It would be recalled that opposition of different interests particularly from the then just ousted People’s Democratic Party (PDP) under three months of Buhari’s tenure in August had started playing 2019 politics as they already, specifically the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, said because Boko Haram had killed under three months of Buhari administration more than they killed under the six years of Goodluck Jonathan and that he had therefore failed.  They made that declaration and began to follow it up with appeal to Nigerians to either see the reason it was a mistake they were voted out of power or, later, they turned back to apologised to Nigerians and asked the electorates to give them another chance.

Earlier in June 2015, the politicking for 2019 rose from the All Progressives Congress (APC) itself as its National Assembly members locked against themselves over what was described as ambition of two of his major stakeholders, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to control the legislature in order to use it as bargain playing in waiting for the next general elections (2019), which was what the leadership crisis that rocked the National Assembly particularly the Senate up till today was interpreted to mean.

One of the two major stakeholders, Atiku, stood on the same with those who decided to stage tribal and religious oppositions against President Buhari, had engaged in negative criticisms of the government of his party until he opted out and returned to the former ruling party where he is known as founding member, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Until the quit of APC by Atiku, President Buhari had stayed neutral on the struggle of the fittest going on between the two stakeholders who were important to the party and the government and, as a result, he refused even to assume the responsibility of playing the party politics expected of him as Leader of the governing party.  His neutrality at that time had been construed to inform his “I can work with anybody” policy, which eventually was exploited by opposition PDP he allowed by rule of law to work on, in his government, to sabotage his successes, for example the allowance of budget padding by Budget Office headed by a director general appointed by the government of PDP as well as other agencies where their PDP-appointed heads had seriously sabotaged the Buhari government until the APC stakeholders led by National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, went to the President and opened up to him that the PDP-appointed directors-general he allowed to continue with his government were sabotaging his efforts to fix Nigeria and demanded they be sacked, which he did.

The quit from APC of Atiku, some watchers of events said, created the opportunity for Tinubu as the only major stakeholder standing and it further provided the President with the never expected chance to now reconsider his earlier policy to work with anybody and he now began to work with Asiwaju Tinubu, who is believed would have helped him avert many of the political party calamity through which the undesired PDP members of the National Assembly had penetrated his control of the legislature.

The renewed romance between Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu resurfaced when the President took him on the trip he made to Code’ Ivoire where they went to attend an AU-EU Summit.  Coming back, not only had the former Lagos State governor been granted audience by the President in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, several times now but also, only few days ago, the President of black most populous nation has appointed him head of a reconciliation committee to resolve and reconcile all aggrieved members of All Progressives Congress (APC), which Asiwaju, upon acceptance, described a rare opportunity and challenging but doable task he had been given by the President he described as an enigmatic person.

With Buhari and Tinubu returning to their old good love-filled relationship, opposition PDP and other members of what is called Wailing Wailers Association of Nigeria sparked into an uproar with strong effort to confuse Tinubu and South West bloc to reject the Buhari’s appointment but it failed.

It would be recalled that PDP including its last President Goodluck Jonathan, leaders, followers and sympathizers in the economy started catching cold from the time the coast was not clear whether or not General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB) would be APC presidential candidate.  The PDP people were so worried that an Oyo State politician, lawyer and NASS hopeful at that time, Barrister Bosun Oladele, reacting to their worries, had to say, “APC has not decided on its presidential candidacy they are catching cold sneezing.  If it now decides, what would they develop?”

They were so disturbingly interested in who would emerge as APC candidate for no other reason but the reason of Buhari and, ahead of the APC primaries, the then ruling party and his government had engaged in campaign of blood and hate against the person of Buhari and his family using Nigerian (national) Television Authority (NTA), African Independent Television (AIT) and a major stakeholder in the party and governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, running newspapers obituary advertisement telling APC delegates and later Nigerian electorates how not to vote for Buhari as doing so would mean voting for a man near to die as President.  That was the pattern of politics at that time.

While the politicking is on within and without the APC now as 2019 is around the corner, President Muhammadu Buhari’s next line of politics is yet to be known.  Not even those perceived to be the “Cabal” at the Villa are not in the dark by the President’s silence over his 2019 political direction.  To some insider, the President knows what his 2019 politics will be but he has decided to keep it away except to some few allies.  This is reason no member of the party is leaving anything to chance and it appears those who have chosen to come out publicly from within the party to indicate interest to contest are those who are in the know of the intention of the President that he will not seek re-election, even as it has become clearer that whatever will be his decision will have nothing to do with the letters they believe are laden with packs of self-interest by some former leaders.

Those who are not in the know of the President’s intention regarding 2019 are also preparing ahead in case he eventually decides not to re-contest.  All of these activities however will die down if Buhari eventually decides to declare interest publicly and all diverse interests will collapse into one strong force behind President Buhari, The DEFENDER gathered, and 2019 will be a done deal.