Saturday PUNCH reliably
learnt on Friday that before the President’s recent moves, the relationship
between the duo had not been rosy.
Findings showed that Buhari
decided to reach out to Tinubu to seek his support for the control of the APC.
It was gathered that Tinubu was
not happy with the appointments the President had been making since his
inauguration on May 29 last year.
Investigations revealed that
among those the APC leader had tipped for appointments under the Buhari
administration were a former Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State, Mr. Wale
Edun, and a former Commissioner for Budget and National Planning, Mr. Yemi
Cardoso.
A member of the APC National
Working Committee, who confided in Saturday PUNCH, said that Tinubu
had been loyal to Buhari.
According to him, Tinubu was
fighting Buhari’s battle when he decided to support Senator Ahmed Lawan and
move against Senator Bukola Saraki for the senate presidency.
The national officer stated that
Buhari was aware of the fact that Tinubu had been loyal to him since he (Buhari)
joined the presidential race.
He said, “You will recall that
Tinubu was initially supporting George Akume for the senate president position,
but he switched over to Lawan when it became obvious that that was the man the
President preferred. Also, many APC members are aware that Tinubu lost out in
ministerial and many of the appointments made by the President.”
Another prominent member of the
party told Saturday PUNCH that Tinubu had been maintaining what he
described as a “siddon look” attitude towards the President before
now.
He said prominent members
of the party were worried that the president failed to consider the APC
leader’s candidates for appointments.
A Presidency source, who
confirmed the recent moves by Buhari, said that the President was not unaware
of what the APC national leader did for him.
The source stated that Buhari’s
reaching out to Tinubu was borne out of the alleged subtle moves by some
elements in the party, including a former Kano State Governor, Dr. Rabiu
Kwankwaso, to reposition themselves for the 2019 presidential race.
The former Kano State governor
was alleged to have launched his 2019 presidential ambition during his visit to
Kano early this month.
The Kano State chapter of the
APC had, at a press conference in Kano, said that it was probing the former
governor’s “misconduct,” adding that there was no presidential vacancy in the
party.
But Kwankwaso, in a statement
signed by his Chief of Staff, Yunusa Dangwani, said the former governor did not
launch any presidential campaign.
Explaining the governor’s visit
to Kano, the aide said, “It is appalling and rather unfortunate that the good
gesture of Senator Kwankwaso has been mischievously interpreted wrongly.”
Although former Vice-President
Atiku Abubakar has been a loyal APC man, our correspondents gathered that
chieftains of the party were aware that he was not uninterested in the
presidency.
In an interview with Sunday
PUNCH in 2015, when asked if he would contest for the presidency again, he
said that it was too early to answer such a question.
He had said, “It is quite too
early for such a question. We are in a transition process. We have not even
formed the next government. You are asking me whether I will like to run again
or not. I think it is just too early.”
It was gathered that Buhari was
aware of the moves by some elements in the party to position themselves for the
2019 presidential race.
That, investigations showed,
informed the decision of the party caucus at its meeting on Tuesday to declare
that there was no presidential vacancy.
According to a report on
Thursday, the APC national caucus, comprising serving and former governors, the
National Assembly leadership, and selected members of the national executive of
the party, at the meeting said the endorsement of Buhari for a second term
would help to stabilise the polity in the face of what members described as the
16-year rot inherited from the Peoples Democratic Party.
Another top member of the APC,
who confided in Saturday PUNCH, said, “Buhari needs the support of
Tinubu to survive the onslaught of elements that want to seize the control of
the party ahead of the 2019 elections.”
The party chieftain stated that
in boards and other appointments that would be made by the President in the
months ahead, Tinubu’s loyalists would be taken care of as a way of wooing the
APC leader.
He said, “Although the President
is not somebody who can be dictated to, he is not an ungrateful person. He is
aware of the role played by Tinubu in his election and he will not abandon the
man.”
When contacted, the Special
Assistant to the President on Media, Mallam Garba Shehu, declined comments.
Repeated calls to the
Director-General of the Atiku Media Office, Mazi Paul Ibe, indicated that his
phone “was either switched off or out of coverage area.”
The first call was at 2:56 pm,
the last was at 6:14 pm
Also efforts to get the
spokesman for Tinubu, Mr. Sunday Dare, did not succeed as calls to his mobile
telephone did not go through. He had not responded to an SMS sent to him as of
the time of sending this report.
But a prominent member of the
party, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it would be good if Buhari
could reach out Tinubu in view of the contributions of the party leader towards
Buhari’s victory at the poll.
Also, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, who
was the Joint House Leader of the defunct Peoples Redemption Party, in the
House of Representatives during the Second Republic, advised the APC to learn
from history.
The former lawmaker said
President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the APC must find a way of
working together in spite of whatever individual differences they might have.
He said, “I would advise that
President Buhari sits with the leadership of his party for them to do some soul
searching.
“They must realise that they
need each other to deliver on the promises made to Nigerians; they must be seen
to be on the same page on issues of policy and what have you.
“Those handling the President
must be able to tell him some home truths about how democracy works-you need
people.”
Speaking in a similar vein, a
public affairs commentator and member of the civil society, Auwal
Musa-Rafsanjani, said it would be a disaster if the APC begins to behave like
the Peoples Democratic Party.
He said, “We strongly advise the
APC to sit down and resolve their issues and avoid distractions.
“Whether true or not, there are
rumours of a frosty relationship between and among leaders of the party. The
sooner action is taken to ensure that these rumours don’t turn out to be true,
the better. If on the other hand they are true, it is better that whatever the
issues are; they are quickly resolved in the interest of the party and the
nation.
“Nigerians have invested so much
hope in the APC to be let down on account of unresolved internal wrangling. It
is time for the party to sort itself out and move the nation forward.”
The National Publicity
Secretary, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said, “Most of the legacy parties in APC
never knew the basics of internal democracy and the party itself was formed as
a special vehicle to grab power.
“Now that they are in power,
they must learn how to democratise internally as they cannot give the country
what they don’t have.
“It is frightening that they
have allegedly scrapped their BOT because they can’t agree on who to chair it.
The implication of that for the polity is that if any democratic situation in
the polity would not serve their interest, they would look for an undemocratic
means to scuttle it. Indeed the embarrassing political situations we have seen
in Kogi, Bayelsa and Rivers partly flow from this undemocratic mood.
“The APC must learn to subject
its internal activities to democratic processes so as to be able to affect the
polity positively.”
Source: THE PUNCH
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