BY ABDUL LATEEF TAIWO AND JONATHAN IPAA

Ahead the 2023 general elections, political re-alignment within the various political stakeholders in the South-west All Progressives Congress, APC, may have taken another dimension with stakeholders divided between the candidature of Ahmed Bola Tinubu, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Governor Kayode Fayemi, on the other hand.

AljazirahNigeria reliably gathered that with few days to the end of the first term in office of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo and the inauguration of the second term of the duo, three interest groups have emerged in the South-west to succeed President Muhammad Buhari.

The groups are made up of those of Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress , APC, Vice President Yemi Osibanjo and Governor Kayode Fayemi, of Ekiti State.
Signs that Governor Kayode, is aiming for the top job started emerging shortly after he was elected on July 15, for the second time, as the Ekiti State Governor.
AljazirahNigeria gathered that shortly after his inauguration, Fayemi began what a chieftain of the APC in the South-west who pleaded anonymity described as a subtle campaign and mobilisation of the South-west under the aegis of Afenifere Renewal Group ,ARG.

Less than one year, Governor Fayemi, has convened series of meeting of the group and selected Yoruba elders, canvassing for the restructuring of Nigeria.
Fayemi has been consistent in his charge to South-west leaders that they must adopt new methods if their quest for restructuring of the country is to be realised.
The governor, who spoke in Ado Ekiti, during one of the meetings tagged a national retreat of the Afenifere Renewal Group ,ARG, which he hosted, said the current tactics being used in agitating for restructuring was defective.
According to him, the Yoruba race needs to be more tactical if it is indeed desirous of actualising its desired restructuring.

He urged the proponents of restructuring in the region to liaise with other zones on how to actualise the plan.
“There are those who entertained fear on this issue of restructuring and whether this is legitimate or not, we must reach out to them because we are not an island onto ourselves.
“We don’t need to be shouting on the roof tops before we get it, but if we want to do it alone, the agitation will fall,’’ he said.

The governor also expressed dismay at the voter apathy in the South West region in the last election, saying a total of 16.2 million were initially registered in the region while the number of those who voted was not impressive.

He said: “In the last presidential poll, Ekiti registered 909,000 voters, only 381,000 voted.
“In Osun 1.67million registered, only 737,000 voted; Ondo, 1.8 million registered, 586,000 voted; Oyo, 2.7 million registered, 891,000 voted; 2.36million registered in Ogun, 605,000 voted and Lagos with 6.3million, only 1.56 million voted.
“This might be caused by deficit of trust or fraudulent multiple registration, but whatever the case was, as long as we remain a constituent part of this country, ARG should reflect on this and act appropriately
“If it was as a result of deficit of voter education, then the ARG and governments need a lot to do.

“Religion also affected us because some people were brainwashed to vote based on religious consideration.’’
Governor Fayemi‘s position is coming barely one year after winning elections and nearly three years after the All Progressives Congress seems to have capitulated to the agitation for restructuring the country. Already, a high-powered committee led by Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State has submitted its report to the party on the need to dispense with the current pseudo-federal structure, which many Nigerians pinpoint as an impediment to national cohesion and economic progress. The panel had made sweeping recommendations to save the APC from the avalanche of criticisms in the build up to the 2019 general elections.

The committee was inaugurated shortly after the first Chairman of the APC Chief Bisi Akande, had taken a swipe at the party’s critics alleging it jettisoned its promise of restructuring, saying the party never promised to restructure the country during its 2015 campaigns.

He said the devolution of more power to the state was what the party has in its manifestoes.
Essentially, AljazirahNigeria sources said the current campaign by Governor Fayemi, is to mobilise the South-west and South-south to support his presidential ambition ahead of 2023.

Although oil-producing states are currently entitled to 13% derivation, most of Nigeria’s oil resources are now offshore. The Federal Government will thus be the major beneficiary in the proposed arrangement. In federal state, the federating units have control over their resources and pay royalties and taxes to the centre, as was the practice in the 1963 Republican Constitution that the military discarded in 1966. For the proposals about State Police and Prisons to be implemented, the states have to generate income from the resources in their domains. Therefore, the proposal has to be reviewed before the final draft is submitted to the National Assembly.

Buhari and the party seem to be far apart on restructuring. In his New Year’s Day broadcast, Buhari dismissed restructuring out rightly, although the party’s committee was already analysing the views of Nigerians as of that time. To the bewilderment of Nigerians, Buhari had said, “When all the aggregates of nationwide opinions are considered, my firm view is that our problems are more to do with process than structure.”

It is, therefore, hard to reconcile Fayemi’s views with the pledge of the APC to restructure the country. This is why many Nigerians believe the el-Rufai committee’s report is a well orchestrated political ploy to buy time. One, the report is yet to be submitted to the President, who might have the final say. Also, it has not reached the National Assembly, which will debate and amend the Constitution accordingly, along with the 36 State Houses of Assembly. This is a legal maze. It requires time, which is a precious commodity, as the fire work for 2023 commences.

AljazirahNigeria learnt the Fayemi’s group is working hard to reach out to the North, amidst the rejections of the proposal. It could be recalled that Professor Ango Abdullahi, a member of the Northern Elders Forum had earlier given conditions for the restructuring of Nigeria, saying
“If we want Nigeria to be restructured, the only thing that is required is for us to call a Sovereign National Conference. It is the only conference that Nigeria has not experimented. But can you call a sovereign national conference while there is a sitting government? And there is a sitting National Assembly, there are sitting States Assemblies and governments and so on? They have to step aside.”
While the Fayemi’s group faces stiff resistance from the North, in the South –West, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ambition to succeed Buhari, in 2023 is being resisted within the North and the south – west.

AljazirahNigeria gathered that Vice President Osinbajo, has recently come under pressure from the group opposed to Tinubu, to initiate moves that will prepare him to succeed President Buhari in 2023.
But a source told our reporter that the vice president has been reluctant.

Already, the outgoing governor of Lagos State, Akinwumi Ambode, Babatunde Fashola are believed to be working with the Governor Fayemi’s group.
In a similar vein, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai and the National leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, may be on a collision course ahead the 2023 permutations for the presidency.

Governor el-Rufai, known for his forthrightness whose venom spares no one, no matter how highly placed bares his fangs as his deems necessary. He has hit even those that brought him into the limelight even as one of his books had launched attacks on ex – President Olusegun Obasanjo and his ex – Vice President Atiku Abubakar respectively.
While Atiku first made el-Rufai, the Director General of Bureau for Public Enterprises, BPE from 1999-2003, Obasanjo made him a Minister in his second term as the man in charge of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA. He later moved to become the governor of Kaduna State.

His recent attack on the acclaimed leader of the Yoruba political class, may have forced Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to travel for this year’s Ramadan special prayers along President Muhammadu Buhari in faraway Madina, Saudi Arabia. The trip, political analysts believe is to test once again, the body language of the man Tinubu had assisted to power after losing three conservative presidential elections.
The National Leader of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, has maintained a dignified silence on the verbal assaults, believing, that el-Rufai might be acting an unknown script to test the might of the Yoruba’s ahead the 2023 permutations.

The questions from most Yoruba leaders close to Tinubu were: who could be against Tinubu? Who is el-Rufai speaking for? when he launched his venoms against their leader in a working visit to Lagos, he advised Lagosians on how they could end godfatherism the way he did in his home state of Kaduna. He boosted that he had retired four super powers: Ex Vice President Namadi Sambo, ex governors: Senator Ahmed Makarfi, Ramalan Yero and outgoing senator Shehu Sani, from powers.

The comments emanating from Lagos, a state known for its unflinching control of the National Leader of ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Bola Ahmed Tunubu, is seen as an assault orchestrated by el-Rufai against Tinubu to at least, once again, test his popularity among the Yoruba’s.

Tinubu who halted outgoing Governor Akinwumi Ambode from returning to power in preference to his ex-Commissioner for Science and Technology, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is seen as the godfather of Yoruba politics under the current dispensation.
He survived two terms from the fireworks of ex President, Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999-to 2007 and has been anointing successive leaders in parts of the South-west political region since 1999.
In the build up to the 2019 presidential election, President Muhammadu Buhari, courted Tinubu, even made him the head of his presidential campaign team.
Inner sources even believe, Tinubu could have been offered a succession promise should he deliver APC in the South-west as he did in 2015.

However, the advice by el-Rufai to Tinubu’s kinsmen, was therefore, interpreted as an attack to test run reactions, preparatory to the 2023 power calculation in which the Kaduna governor is an interested party.
As expected, the opposition celebrated the crack in the ruling party as Reno Omokri, a former aide to ex-
President Goodluck Jonathan claimed that President Buhari was working with Malam el-Rufai of Kaduna in the “open insult” on the APC, National Leader, Tinubu in Lagos.

For Tinubu’s associates, el-Rufai’s movement from one god-father to the other: from Olusegun Obasanjo to Atiku Abubakar and now President Buhari casts doubt on his integrity.

“As soon as he gets what he wants, he moves on to the next milk-shop. He succeeded in his renowned opportunism because only a stone-hearted man will not want to listen to a genuflecting-midget”, he added.
For Omokri, Tinubu’s time as a political godfather was up, having been insulted by someone close to

President Buhari like el-Rufai in Lagos of all places.
Omokri claimed that Buhari, el-Rufai and other northern leaders are done with Tinubu politically, adding that he is now as useless as a used sanitary pad.

Though, the Lagos State chapter of the APC has denied the claim, saying Governor el-Rufai situation is not the same as Lagos State. They say it is different from Kaduna where he claimed to have retired four godfathers from politics within a single term in office.
el-Rufai, at that event took a swipe at Tinubu’s dominance of the political structure in Lagos State, saying it was time to end god-fatherism in the state just the way he ended it in Kaduna State.

To free Lagos from Tinubu’s grip, el-Rufai counselled that; “One of the best ways is to start the campaign now by embarking on a study to understand why five million, out of the six million voters in Lagos State did not vote.”

Reacting to the governor’s remarks, Publicity Secretary of the APC in Lagos, Hon Joe Igbokwe, noted that Lagos was not Kaduna where el-Rufai ended the dominance of godfathers.
He also said anyone who wanted to achieve Tinubu’s status in Nigerian politics must work hard and do less talking.
“That was what happened; he was making reference to Asiwaju Tinubu. The person that threw up the question is Muiz Banire, and you know the relationship between Banire and Asiwaju. But Lagos is not Kaduna.
A pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Omoluwabi Movement, has berated the Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, over his recent verbal attacks on the national leader of the APC.

The Publicity Secretary of the state chapter of the group, Miss Idowu Ogundola, described the recent report credited to el-Rufai on ‘ending godfatherism in Lagos’ as a mere “idle talk of a frustrated political expansionist.”

According to the South-west group, el-Rufai should not be taken seriously as he is a well-known “genuflecting opportunist, who will do anything, especially his renowned genuflecting prowess, to achieve his ulterior motive, and who will abandon his benefactor immediately he achieves his pecuniary aim.

The Yoruba group urged all well-meaning Omoluwabis to disregard the comment as a “circumstantial idle talk at a dinner by an evasive governor, who realising his inability to give good account of his crisis-ridden governance of his state, chose to launch an indirect and uncultured attack on an iconic Omoluwabi and pillar of democracy and progressive politics in Africa. It is a divisive and diversionary attempt to escape from giving account on his turbulent and most controversial administration in the annals of Kaduna State.”
“It is on record that el-Rufai has moved from one god-father to the other; from Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and now President Muhammadu Buhari. As soon as he gets what he wants, he moves on to the next milk-shop. He succeeded in his renowned opportunism because only a stone-hearted man will not want to listen to a genuflecting-midget.”
“We wish to join in warning President Buhari to be wary of the man with a gargantuan ambition and to call him to order. His outburst is understandable as his political expansionist voyage of imposing his bookkeeper on the people of Ogun State was checkmated by the members of the APC in Ogun State at the party governorship primary held last year.”
However, the ongoing campaign in getting the new principal leaders of the 9th National Assembly provides the fighting ground for the two political giants.

The ruling party in which Tinubu has an ace is bent on the Lawan/Gbajabiamila ticket as Senate President/Speaker respectively.
The APC National Chairman, Comrade Aliyu Adams Oshiomole and Hon Femi Gbajabiamila are political godsons of Tinubu.

President Buhari who had endorsed this ticket was quoted as retracing his office as aides have distanced the presidency from such endorsement.

Presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, had last week said the presidency was neutral on the election of the key officers of the 9th National Assembly.
Apart from the party’s anointed Lawan and

Gbajabiamila, other candidates in the race for the key offices include: ex Governor Danjuma Goje ,Gombe, Senator Ali Ndume ,Borno, for the Senate Presidency, while Hon. Idris Wase ,Plateau, Hon Mohammed Bago ,Niger, Hon Mike Dyegh ,Benue, and Hon Mrs. Onyejeocha, the only female from Abia State are contesting for the House Speakership against Gbajabiamila.

el-Rufai, a known close ally to the president may choose to hit at Tinubu’s anointed candidates and go outside the box to set the stage for the 2023 race.
Political analysts believe the president might have used the Kaduna Governor to stir the hornets’ nest and get reactions from some quarters as regards the 2023 power calculations.

Nobody gave the former FCT Minister any chance in his return ticket to the Government House, Kaduna when he ran with a Muslim-Muslim ticket. But he had his way as the ruling APC won with a wide margin, defeating the opposition PDP backed by ex Vice President, Namadi Sambo, ex PDP national chairman and two former governors respectively.

In fact, all the three serving senators from Kaduna State : Shehu Sani, Danjuma Laah and Suleiman Hunkuyi, sacked traditional rulers and over forty thousand fired primary school teachers all lost to el-Rufai. AljazirahNigeria gathered that, el-Rufai may have received a presidential nod to commence a restructuring of the system ahead of the 2023 permutations.

Tinubu, being the most formidable force within and outside the system became the first target.
How this plays out could only be determined as events unfold.

https://aljazirahnews.com/2023-tinubu-osinbajo-fayemi-battle-over-presidency/