Running Mate: Buhari Wants Falae, Tinubu To Reconcile



•Asks Duo To Re-unite South





By Tunde Abatan , Deputy Sunday Editor





Presidential hopeful under an emerging mega political party, Muhammadu Buhari, has asked Olu Falae and Bola Tinubu to agree between themselves who should be his running mate when the whistle for political contest is blown next year.

Falae, a former presidential candidate and Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor, come from the same zone and are believed to be angling to be running mate to Buhari whose candidature seems foreclosed in the emerging new mega party in the forthcoming presidential elections in 2011.

Buhari, after series of consultations with the two frontline Yoruba politicians, challenged them to mend fences in their separate camps in order to secure the block votes of the South West.

Buhari’s advice, which was arrived at after several discussions with the duo separately, was said to have been informed by his belief that only a re-united progressive fold in the South West, which has a history of delivering block votes in previous elections, would be one of his conditions for endorsing either Falae or Tinubu as his running mate.

Sunday Independent sources revealed that Buhari was more particular about the coming together of the old forces in the Alliance for Democracy (AD), whose members have since dispersed into both the Action Congress (AC) and the Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA) with Tinubu and Falae are promoters and chairman respectively.

The decision to mend the crack, which also affected the mainstream group, Afenifere, Sunday Independent learnt was also said to have informed Tinubu’s decision to invite Falae as national chairman of the DPA to the last National Convention of the AC in Lagos, where Falae sent the party’s candidate in the last governorship elections, Jimi Agbaje, to represent him.

It was learnt that the issue of meeting the disparate groups in the AD was also said to have dominated discussions last week in Abuja when Tinubu and Buhari met.

It was learnt that it was at the meeting that Buhari suggested to the duo, as prime movers in the South West, to seriously consider either of them stepping down for the other as his running mate in the new party during the 2011 elections.

Before now, the DPA group in the Mega Summit Movement (MSM) and the National Democratic Movement (NDM) have expressed their preference for Falae, considering his rich experience as former Secretary to the Government, former minister and presidential candidate.

But that was before the decision of the AC group led by Tinubu to embrace the merging of its party with the new mega party in order to present a formidable front to fight the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Their positions, it was reliably gathered, was informed by their fear of Tinubu maintaining his dominance of South West politics, especially his towering influence in the AC in the five South West states.

However, the two personalities are said to have held series of meetings which centered on their two parties and relationships with the crisis in the Afenifere.

While no decision was said to have been reached yet, Kunle Abimbola, media adviser to the former Lagos State governor said he was not aware of the extent of discussions held between the duo. He said that what he knew so far was what he read in the newspapers.

“It is only the speculations that we have been reading in the newspapers and that is what I knew of,” he said.

He said he was also not aware of the position of Tinubu on the issue as he was yet to be briefed.

It is mischievous to write that "Buhari implies Falae and Tinubu are under him". Are you not aware that the 2011 Presidential slot is still zoned to the North? Can Falae or Tinubu become President in 2011? Does it make sense for anyone to try and insinuate that Buhari is arrogant when he is pragmatically stating reality as things stand ? This could have made for an interesting thread but the title suggest baiting to me since anyone conversant with Nigerian politics will know that Buhari automatically gains a Presidential ticket ,  via being a Northerner, while Falae and Tinubu can only gain the VP ticket because they are Yoruba !!! Some would even argue that Buhari should be seeking a SS or SE Vice President!!!!

Buhari is therefore right to tell both SW politicians to get there house together in deciding who will be his running mate. He is not "implying" anything so attempting to whip up sentiments against him for 'arrogant utterances' tells me this thread was not initiated for earnest debate.

Gnawe - Zoning is a PDP arrangement and not necessarily binding on all other parties.

This is treachery from Tinubu and Falae power at all cost. How did Buhari overtake them all?

The country needs fresh ideas from new leaders, Buhari must be consigned to the archives of History where he belongs.

SapeleGuy:

Gnawe - Zoning is a PDP arrangement and not necessarily binding on all other parties.
This is treachery from Tinubu and Falae power at all cost. How did Buhari overtake them all?

The country needs fresh ideas from new leaders, Buhari must be consigned to the archives of History where he belongs.

I am aware of that but are you aware that most of our political leaders , including those not in the PDP, back the current zoning of the Presidency?  As long as ordinary Nigerians are not going to be kicking against the abolition of zoning anytime soon , we better recognise its existence and desist from speaking as if things are anything but what they are.

I am against zoning myself because I believe it leads to the proliferation of mediocrity in our politics. Nonetheless , it is what we have . It will not be ending soon because those who can put an end to it , i.e the Nigerian people themselves , are unwilling to act. Look at how Mark, Bankole, Aondoakaa, the Federal executive council , et al glaringly refuse to do the right thing ( i.e force Yar Adua to hand over to Jonathan) without any sensible opposition from Nigerians .

Why then should we see Buhari's utterance as wrong when Zoning the Presidency is the current arrangement and Buhari's region is the 2011 beneficiary? Unless you are the head of a group about to sieze power and abolish the practice of zoning the Presidency then I don't see the sense of harping on about Buhari talking out of turn or overtaking anyone. As things stand , Falae and Tinubu can only aspire to be Vice President come 2011. That is what Buhari is stating. Regardless of Buhari's antecedent or your opinion of him , he is pragmatically speaking correctly on this occasion.

Abeg the two of them should forget vice presidency and allow an iboman or any other southerner to occupy the slot,

@gbawe,
can you tell us which other party apart from pdp that follows the rotation of presidency?
Why dont you just accept that you did not know that it was a pdp arrangement instead of trying to cover your ignorance with non existent claims.

I will support a good Igboman for presidency, let the candidates step forward and we'll see. Ndigbo really needs to flex its muscles this time. Let's break this Northern monopoly once and for all.

onye_ngbu:

@gbawe,
can you tell us which other party apart from pdp that follows the rotation of presidency?

always happy to oblige those who don't do their homework. At the last election did the CNPP not feature Buhari as Presidential candidate and Ume Ezeoke as VP candidate? Did the AC not forward Atiku as Presidential candidate with Senator Ben Obi as VP candidate? What did you think both Parties were doing if not recognising 'the arrangement'?

Why dont you just accept that you did not know that it was a pdp arrangement instead of trying to cover your ignorance with non existent claims.

Mate , I don't know about you but I am anything but ignorant. It is very convenient to blame everything bad on the PDP. How many times have we heard recently that it is the turn of the SS/SE come 2015 from non-PDP politicians and even folks on this forum? Zoning may be a PDP invention but  many Nigerians now subscribe to the idea of it as perhaps the only gaurantee that their region will eventually produce a Nigerian President. It is you who is ignorant if you think otherwise. Try to sell a Fashola or Ribadu Presidency in 2015 to Nigerians on account of 'meritocratic candidacy' and see the vociferous noise of "it is our turn" you will hear from all mouths (PDP or otherwise) from the SS/SE region.

Pretending as if it is the PDP alone keeping zonal Presidency alive is incredibly naive. Many Nigerians now see zoning as the only way their region will ever gain the Presidency to correct "marginalisation".  For example , folks from the SS region  , from any political Party or affiliation, would hold that the problems of the region would only be resolved under a President from the SS region !!!!

Nigerian politics all talk, no action. At the end of the day only very people will decide. I which I was wrong.