Chris Gyang: Tinubu and 2023 825670622 173 Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT), who dressed up Mr. Buhari in the obtained regalia of a messiah, paraded him round the democratic world as a guy of integrity with the nerve to eliminate corruption, reduce insecurity, enhance economic buoyancy and provide motivation to democratic norms, now wants to be successful President Buhari in 2023. Of course there is no issue in any certified citizen aspiring to the primary position of the country. In truth, Nigerians across ethnic, spiritual and political divides are busily praying and working towards making sure that the next president liberates them and their country from this sweltering quagmire President Buhari has buried them. Can BAT’s long-standing aspiration be easily separated from Mr. Buhari’s lackluster performance so far? In fact, numerous Nigerians feel that any of the aspirants who has played an essential function in the about 7 years of the Buhari administration need to also bear the impact of its unwieldy, toxic, luggage that is today weighing down the development of the country and threatening to ground it to a halt. Nigerians are now wondering whether Senator Tinubu and his co-salesmen still proceeded to market Candidate Buhari in the run-up to the 2015 presidential election aware that he did not have the sterling labels they lavishly attached on him. And even when it emerged that President Buhari had mired governance in religious and ethnic bigotry, why did BAT not call him out in the way of a statesman? Rather, he mainly picked to look the other way or, at most, made incoherent noises to at once soothe suffering Nigerians and not to appear unduly antagonistic to Mr. Buhari. His once outstanding antecedents as a dogged fighter for democracy and human rights during the Abacha dictatorship belie the passivity he has actually adopted these seven years in which his friend, Buhari, has actually turned Nigeria into a living hell. It has been recommended that it is very likely that Senator Tinubu has been so lukewarm given that 2015 out of a sense of self-preservation– with an underlying political motive. Possibly, in 2015 and 2019 he made the South-West enormously support Buhari, whether he deserved it or not, mainly because he knew it would advance his political ambition of ending up being president in 2023. Political experts state that this may have informed his technique of focusing the majority of his mobilization/campaign efforts so far in the North-West, Mr. Buhari’s sub-region. BAT has actually not hidden his preference for a running mate from that sector of the country– which is predominantly Muslim, like he himself. This has notified his public pronouncements that he is very happy to work on a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2023 governmental election since the matter of religion is not a lot of a problem in his native South Western Nigeria. Anyhow, there has actually not been much resistance to this view in that geo-political zone– where BAT commands a great deal of regard. However other Nigerians see this stance as insensitive and basically callous to the nation’s religious variety, particularly at this moment in time when most policies of the Buhari administration have actually developed deep seated suspicions in the minds of Christians. The federal government is viewed as generally being pro-Islamic, mainly pursuing a nativist, ultra-Fulani program. Tinubu’s much vaunted Muslim-Muslim ticket is additional construed as belonging to brashly and pompously talking above the heads of Nigerian Christians in the South-South, Middle-Belt, South-East, his own South-West and parts of the core north as if they do not exist and are therefore irrelevant in the country’s total political algebra. In his estimation, an unique alliance with Buhari’s North-West would immediately offer him the presidency on a golden platter. He is likewise relying on the fact of his being a Muslim would guarantee him the assistance of the core north, especially Buhari’s North West– which is said to have among the biggest tallies in the nation. Critics point out that if a power sharing formula between Christians and Muslims for the office of guv is strictly followed in Lagos State (which BAT delighted in for 2 periods of 8 years), why is he averse to such equity and inclusiveness being extended to the much more diverse and polarized Nigeria where religious fault lines run mutual and deep suspicion is at an all-time high? They put this down to Tinubu’s desperation to become president at all expenses. Those who understand the inner workings of the minds of the political elite of the core north will tell you that Tinubu might as well be losing his trust and may be accidentally positioning himself for a disrespectful shock, earlier or later. This is since of the deeply established notion in the core north that, in Nigeria, there are Muslims and there are Muslims. We need not point out the political travails of the popular M.K.O Abiola, of blessed memory. We shall continue this discussion in due course. (Chris Gyang is the Chairman of the NGO, Journalists Coalition for Citizens’ Rights Initiative– JCCRI. E-mails: [email protected]; [e-mail secured]