Let me re-introduce myself in case you have forgotten. I have been an implacable critic of the politics of Bola Tinubu. Among others, I have written articles against Tinubu entitled: “What Does Tinubu Want?” “Time to Get Rid of Tinubu’s Cronies;” “Time to Disgrace the South-West Godfather;” and “Don’t Cry for Bola Tinubu.” I stand by every one of those articles, even though the warnings I gave in them went largely ignored.

Although many Tinubu supporters don’t seem to realise this, my opposition to Tinubu was not personal. My opposition was based on the grounds that Tinubu’s politics was shortsighted. In that regard, my position has been proved right. The strategic political objectives of Tinubu were unattainable and have been not been attained.

In the first place, Tinubu’s recent politics were designed to make him a key player at the national level, as he has been at the regional level. He really wanted to become the vice-president of Nigeria. This has proved unattainable, and we warned him about that. Most of his so-called friends at the national level are fair-weather friends. They never really liked him and were afraid of him. Under no circumstances would they allow him to duplicate his stranglehold on South-West politics outside the South-West.



The reality of Tinubu’s politics in Nigeria is that he can be a king-maker but will not be allowed to be king. The best Tinubu has been able to achieve has been to nominate a vice-president who, to all intents and purposes, is not even a major power-broker in government. As vice-president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has only succeeded in being a fall-guy; for the collapse of the naira and for the failure to date of the 2016 budget.

In the second place, the strategic design of Tinubu’s politics was to make him a power behind the throne at the national level. This objective has also proved to be a pie-in-the-sky. Since becoming president, Buhari has largely ignored Tinubu’s counsels. Not a single Tinubu nominee became a minister in the president’s cabinet. Those who made it from the South-West were deliberately the people he did not want.

Tinubu nominees failed to make the position of Senate president or Speaker of the House of Representatives. The APC has also failed to make Tinubu Chairman of its Board of Trustees. To date, Tinubu has no statutory post in the party he midwifed. The party chairman, thought to be a Tinubu man, has been bought over, so much so that Tinubu is now asking for his resignation; but to no effect.

Having used Tinubu to win the election, he has been dumped like a used rag. It was because we anticipated this reversal of fortunes, that some of us were loud in warning Tinubu in the heady days of APC coalition-building. It was in that context that I later wrote my article saying: “Don’t Cry for Bola Tinubu” on the grounds that he deserved what happened to him. We warned that this would happen but he refused to listen.

But now times have changed. The bombastic change platform on which APC fought and won the election has failed to materialise. The change we are now facing is one far worse than anything hitherto experienced. It is absolutely incredible that, in spite of the grandiloquent promises made during the 2015 election campaign, the dollar is now exchanging for the naira on the parallel market at virtually 500 to 1. Like the naira, the Nigerian economy is in freefall, going from bad to worse.



But another change has also taken place and this one is political. It is finally apparent to Bola Tinubu that his friends in the APC are really not his friends at all. That is why he has now complained publicly and resigned as inconsequential “National Leader” of the party. Having used him to achieve their ends at the polls, his fair-weather APC friends have now indicated that they are not merely interested in dumping him, their plan is to decimate his ranks and render him powerless. They are now out to use their new-found vantage point to attack him in his hearth of the South-West and to split his coalition by sponsoring those in opposition to him and, if necessary, by rigging them into power at his expense.

Given this development, this is not the time to tell Tinubu “we told you so; we warned you but you did not listen.” This is not the time to say: “Don’t Cry for Bola Tinubu.” This is the time to cry for Tinubu. As a mater of fact, this is the time for all true progressives to rally round Bola Tinubu. The reason for this is simple.

Now that Tinubu has hopefully learnt his lesson, he should be more open to those of us who he thought were his enemies in the past but should now realise have always had his back. Tinubu should now be more amenable to wise counsel. Now that he has resigned from the honorific, but irrelevant, title of leader of the APC, he should start making plans to extricate himself from the APC altogether. At the very least, he should leave no one in doubt that he would not be taken for granted by leaving the door open for a realignment with a more agreeable coalition as the APC begins inevitably to unravel.

The nullification or dilution of Bola Tinubu’s power in the South-West, at this juncture of Nigeria’s economic hopelessness, renders Nigeria at the mercy of Abuja’s incompetence for the foreseeable future. Since coming to power, President Buhari has been unapologetic about the Northernisation of the Nigerian government. He has completely jettisoned any pretensions to the principles of federal character but has placed Northerners in every strategic sector of the government. This is part of the rationale behind the resurgence of pro-Biafra agitators, as well as the emergence of the Niger-Delta Avengers. In the process of consolidating the North, the agenda is now to decimate the South-West. This should not be allowed to happen.

At the moment, Nigerian democracy has no opposition; which is why nobody is complaining about the disastrous collapse of the naira and the adverse economic climate. The government is even floating the idea of further increases in the price of petrol, and nobody is up in arms. The PDP is at war with itself, and the cynical anti-corruption campaign of the government has been used effectively to silence it. That is why the burgeoning attack on Bola Tinubu deserves a rallying response.

Progressive Nigerians should not allow anyone in these climes to make a fool of Bola Tinubu. We must help him to consolidate and even enhance his position. At strength, Buhari can only be a one-term president without Bola Tinubu. All Tinubu needs to do is to start making plans to form another alliance that links truly progressive Northerners with those of the South-West, South-East and South-South. The possibility of that happening should give him a new fillip. At the very least, it would put him back into reckoning, ensuring he can only be ignored at great cost.



Without Tinubu, Buhari would not be the president of Nigeria today. Buhari’s wife, Aisha, acknowledged as much after the 2015 election. Without Tinubu, Buhari would not have secured the presidential ticket of the APC. Without Tinubu, Buhari would not have had the semblance of widespread national acceptability. Without Tinubu, Buhari would not have had the funds to mount a national campaign. Without Tinubu, Buhari only obtained 370,000 votes from the entire Southern Nigeria in the 2011 election. Without Tinubu, Buhari has no political future; unless the unproductive hegemonists currently ranged against Tinubu succeed in turning him into a toothless bulldog.

Therefore, I insist, this must not be allowed to happen. This is the time for all truly progressive people, North and South; East and West to rally to Tinubu’s support. Let us forget the past; even the immediate past. In politics, there are no permanent enemies and no permanent friends. Let us be united in one purpose; the unity of Nigeria is paramount. Nigeria should not be conceded to hegemonists. It is now abundantly clear that those that have clamoured for power for long and have now attained it have no clue what to do with it; other than to put their kinsmen and family members in key positions, while the nation’s economy has gone to the dogs.

We must not be in any doubt as to what is going on now. Instead of investing in the future of Nigeria, the only real investment taking place now is towards the hegemonic control of the country by a small segment of the population for the foreseeable future. This is not only anti-democratic; it is anti-Nigeria. It must be resisted politically with wisdom and clear-sightedness. It must be resisted adroitly by the formation of a new, truly national non-sectarian coalition that stretches across the Niger. In this design, Bola Tinubu would be invaluable once again as one of its principal architects.

Equally important, the South-West must learn from the past when Akintola was used to divide it from Awolowo. That kind of history must not be allowed to repeat itself. From my point of view, the bottom line is as follows. My democratic instincts have always made me opposed to Tinubu’s status as the godfather of South-West politics. But under the present circumstances, I would rather have Tinubu as the godfather of South-West politics, than have Buhari as the godfather of South-West politics. To the extent that a Tinubu can never be the godfather of North-West politics, then Buhari must never be the godfather of South-West politics.

Mujaheeeden:
All i know is that Tinubu advertisement for Oral B was an epic fail

AZeD1:
From Fani Kayode to Femi........

Buhari if you have plans to come back in 2019 or want to install a successor, you better extend the hand of friendship to Tinubu.

As at today, the presidential candidate for the two major parties in 2019 would be northerners, so the votes would be split in that region.
SS and SE would vote against APC,
The battle ground is the SW and Tinubu is worth 2 million votes here.

kalokalo:
I don't see Buhari winning the election in 2019. He definitely won't get the SE and SS votes. Those on ground in the SW will tell you that there is growing widespread disillusionment with Buhari in the region akin to how Jonathan lost their good will. He better retrace his steps as he doesn't have anyone with the clout of Tinubu that can sell him in the SW. He was a bad product that was transformed by the media into a sellable candidate. A media controlled by the SW.

His abysmal handling of the fulani herdsmen recurring saga has cost him goodwill in the NC which will cost
him votes there in 2019.

So the question is how does he hope to win in 2019 without the SW or Tinubu? If history is anything to go by, the SW will betray Buhari in 2019. I expect Tinubu to foresee this going by the political pulse on the ground.

EasternActivist:


Sorry to disappoint you...

One thing the Yoruba's has taught us is hate before tribalism before partisanship then patriotism...

If buhari should choose an Igbo VP and drop osibanjo BC of the west revolt, am sorry to say the Igbo's will play the exact politics of the west which is hate the west, play tribalism, play partisan before playing patriotism...

Foolish hypocrites...
Una never c something, buhari will continue even without the west as done in obj era...

seunmsg:


Okadigbo and Ume-Ezeoke were his running mate in the 2003 and 2007 elections, we know the outcome. yoruba's supported GEJ in 2011 because we believed he would be a departure from the past. He failed to deliver and we voted him out. Again in 2015, we supported Buhari because he presented himself as a change agent and someone who will fight and stop the mindless corruption that took place under GEJ. So far so good, we are still observing his government. If we find any reason not to support him in 2019, we will definitely withdraw our support and vote for another candidate that appeals to us. It has nothing to do with hatred, tribalism or partisanship. You Ibos can vote base on hatred, tribalism and partisanship but not we Yoruba's. We are guided strictly by patriotism and national interest.

EasternActivist:



I know you got my point so stop trying to shift my point to get it weak where there is none...

When buhari choose those Igbo men, we have a southern president who are more competent. Igbo voted for competence against tribalism (obasanjo comes to mind) against hatred, partisanship and overall where first patriotic. This is not about love for Gej but the competency of Gej based on merit as against buhari (2011 elections)

Fast forward to 2015, the Yoruba's brought into our politics what they called sophistication which is founded on hatred, betrayal, partisan, tribalism all before patriotism.

We all know that Most of all this happening is not because of whether buhari is performing or not but selfishness and tribalism. If buhari and north should kick out tinubus fking ideas should that form the basis why the Yoruba's should term his administration a failure? That's bullcrap

Meanwhile
Sw didn't vote out Gej as their votes where even divided as not all southwesterners (including those residing) are tinubu zombies or apc zombies.

Having said all this, if the sw won't continue staying loyal to buhari and his cohort and they should turn eastwards for vp slot leaving osibanjo behind, the easterners will glady welcome them and apply the same politics as shun out by the Yoruba's in the last election and he shall win...

Go and ask the ottah farmer.

Foolish use and dumb hypocrites.

seunmsg:


See, how Ibos will vote in 2019 is not my business. All i know is that Yoruba's will always vote based on merit, patriotism, national interest and the dictates of the time. We voted against Buhari in 2011 despite the fact that Tunde Bakare was his running mate so, spare me the crap about tribal voting. If you guys want to do tribal voting in 2019, please go ahead but stop trying desperately to use the Yoruba's as an excuse for your voting pattern.

seunmsg:
All Tinubu needs to do is to start making plans to form another alliance that links truly progressive Northerners with those of the South-West, South-East and South-South. The possibility of that happening should give him a new fillip. At the very least, it would put him back into reckoning, ensuring he can only be ignored at great cost.


Femi Aribisala and his PDP principals can't even wait for Tinubu to declare that he's leaving APC before they start dangling the carrot of realignment to him. Like I once said before, those who intend to oppose Buhari in 2019 are already salivating at the prospect of an alignment with Tinubu. The rate at which former opponents and critics of Tinubu are falling over each other to support him shows clearly that they all admire and crave for his support from afar. The current crisis has opened the door for a possible realignment and it is left for the handlers of the President to handle the current rift in the party with care else, he may have himself to blame.

Equally important, the South-West must learn from the past when Akintola was used to divide it from Awolowo. That kind of history must not be allowed to repeat itself. From my point of view, the bottom line is as follows. My democratic instincts have always made me opposed to Tinubu’s status as the godfather of South-West politics. But under the present circumstances, I would rather have Tinubu as the godfather of South-West politics, than have Buhari as the godfather of South-West politics. To the extent that a Tinubu can never be the godfather of North-West politics, then Buhari must never be the godfather of South-West politics.

seunmsg:

Okadigbo and Ume-Ezeoke were his running mate in the 2003 and 2007 elections, we know the outcome. yoruba's supported GEJ in 2011 because we believed he would be a departure from the past. He failed to deliver and we voted him out. Again in 2015, we supported Buhari because he presented himself as a change agent and someone who will fight and stop the mindless corruption that took place under GEJ. So far so good, we are still observing his government. If we find any reason not to support him in 2019, we will definitely withdraw our support and vote for another candidate that appeals to us. It has nothing to do with hatred, tribalism or partisanship. You Ibos can vote base on hatred, tribalism and partisanship but not we Yoruba's. We are guided strictly by patriotism and national interest.