As the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, forges ahead with its Muslim-Muslim ticket for Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed presidency come 2015, there are fears that the former may be hard to sell to the electorate, both in the North and other parts of the country.
While some northern leaders agree that Buhari is qualified to rule the country under the APC platform if elected, they are also quick to recall that his misdeeds as military Head of State between December 31, 1983 and August 27, 1985 could count against him. They however, disagreed that the age factor could work against his presidential ambition, noting that there were older presidents in other countries than Buhari.
Buhari, was born on December 17, 1942. When the presidential race begins next year, he will be 72 and will be 76 after his first term in office if elected.
Among politicians who fear that Buhari might meet a brick-wall with the Northern elite and traditional institutions because of soured relationship with them when he was military head of state,
is a leader of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, who played a key role in the emergence of APC.
The APC leader who sought anonymity said he had become skeptical because of the dirty way politics was being played in Nigeria.
Also in an interview with Nigerian Pilot in Kano, a prominent Kano politician, Alhaji Musa Gwadabe said anything could happen in politics and decline further comments. But the APC leader said he does not believe that Tibubu is too slippery and could betray Buhari as he did to former Vice president, Atiku Abubakar in 2007 who was the presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress, AC, and Mallam Nuhu Rabidu, the ACN presidential candidate in 2011.
The APC leader however, said that northern leaders, including traditional rulers would not like Buhari as president because of the way he maltreated them when he was military head of state. He said although Buhari still commands the respect of the electorate, “the Northern elders and leaders may not like him, despite the fact that he is believed to be more honest than most leaders.”
As Head of State, Buhari had restricted the movement of traditional rulers within their local government areas, adding that any of them, who had any reason to travel beyond their councils, must obtain permission from the council chairmen.
The order was prompted by the foreign trip of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Sijuwade Okunade. The order restricted the two eminent monarchs to their domains except their council chairmen authorised them to move beyond their areas.
However, a People’s Democratic Party, PDP leader from Kachia in Kaduna State, Mordecai Sunday Ibrahim, told Nigerian Pilot that if some northern elders now decide to back President Jonathan in 2015, “I think they have begun to reason well. And I hope that their reasoning will become a reality. That is also because they have seen the truth that if we want Nigeria to remain as an indivisible country, we should allow this man from the minority ethnic group to rule for the second term and then go away, so that the North can have its turn. It is a good development but they should be careful not to play pranks because if they do, they will be at the receiving end.
He continued: “Buhari/Tinubu ticket is an impossible one because today in Nigeria you can never have elections without taking ethnicity and religion into consideration. Any party that fills a Christian/Christian ticket or Muslim/Muslim ticket is dead on arrival and has failed even before sitting for the examinations.”
According to him, “APC is a woeful failure with Muslim/Muslim ticket. The days we had Abiola/Kingibe was when there was peace in the North. That was when everybody in the North saw himself as a northerner but we have been told that there is North and there is Core North. And we know the definition of the North and Core North; you want to remove that principle, it is a theory that was propounded and cannot be erased. You cannot eat your cake and have it.”
But Alhaji Abdullahi Mohammed Gambo Danpass, A Kano-based politician told Nigerian Pilot that the controversy over a Buhari-Tinubu presidency was unnecessary.
He also said that the North would not be shortchanged if Buhari becomes president in 2015 and he is unable to run for a second term because of old age. He said Buhari won’t be the only northerner qualified to hold the office, adding that “there are still better personalities who are qualified to aspire to rule the country from the North.”
Spokesman of Northern Delegates Forum and former publicity secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum, AFC, Mr. Anthony Sani, said he was not aware that northern leaders are worried and are planning to support President Jonathan or that the north may have a shot at the presidency for one term under APC because he might be too old for the second term and would be a puppet of his vice, Bola Tinubu.
He also doubted fears that Tinubu would betray Buhari and the North and negotiate with President Jonathan “like we saw in 2007 and 2011 between Atiku and Tinubu, Ribadu and Tinubu, respectively. But I know in politics, many things can happen. As far as I am concerned, the emergence of APC was welcome because provides a viable alternative platform to the ruling party, since democracy without viable opposition is a sham.”
“What is more, the cause of national unity would be strengthened with the coming together of the South-West and North-West as against the past practice when they were opponents. That is the good thing about democracy: Ability to break barriers and build bridges across the aisles. As to who will benefit as the ensuing president from the unfolding events is hard to tell, given the different political tendencies across the country.
“I am not aware of this scenario that northern leaders are allegedly considering to support Jonathan in 2015 to get free race in 2019. More so, it is too early to make such a forecast because President Jonathan is yet to declare his interest for 2015. I believe when he decides to run, the dynamics will become clearer. For now, it is all mere conjecture.”
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