•As Both Aspirants Eye APC Presidential Ticket
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has hinted that the presidential candidate for the 2023 election is expected to come from the southern region of the country, and indications that the new caucus is backing the transportation minister, Rotimi Amaechi. Two days after the dramatic sack of the CECPC Chairman, and Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, Malam Nasir Elrufai, Kaduna State Governor granted an interview on Channels Television that suggests the possibility of a presidential candidate from the South-South. He particularly mentioned that “Our expectation is that our presidential candidate will come from somewhere in the south.”
What is also
noteworthy in the conversation is that the Kaduna Governor volunteered to run
alongside the transportation minister, Rotimi Amaechi if push comes to shove
Nasir el-Rufai, says he will “reluctantly” contest the 2023 Presidency in a
joint ticket with Rotimi Amaechi if President Buhari insists.
Aside from Asiwaju
Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who are at the forefront
of the presidential candidacy battle, Rotimi Amaechi has been rumoured to be
interested in running for president, and he seems to have his interest
sufficiently represented in the current APC committee. When El-Rufai was asked
about the rumoured presidential bid of Amaechi, El-Rufai confirmed that the Minister
of Transportation is interested in being President.
”Rotimi Amaechi is interested in running for
president. He has the right to do so but I’m not running for anything. I’m not
going to be on his ticket.” But when he was asked of his potential response if
Buhari directs him to run for office or become the running mate to Amaechi,
El-Rufai said he will oblige if the President insists.
”I’m tired. I’m not tired of serving the
nation. I’m just physically tired because I do take my work seriously and in the
last seven to eight years, I have worked flat out,” he added. “I’m not young
anymore. I will be 63 next year so I prefer to look at other options to
contribute to the development of my country.
“But of course, as
you said, I did not want to run for Governor, the president insisted that I
should run. If the president insists I should do something, I have so much
regard for him and his judgement that I will do it — even reluctantly.”
With the new
development in the party structure and the newly reinforced cabal, it can be
said that the battle has just begun in the APC camp as factions are set to rise
in the interest of the candidacy of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the
transportation minister, Rotimi Amaechi.
It is an open
secret that the new APC CECPC chairman, Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger
state is a die-hard loyalist of Asiwaju and has on many occasions declared his
unwavering support for the Jagaban himself. The relationship between Governor
Bello and Asiwaju spans beyond the political arena. Gov Bello has become more like
a brother and son to Asiwaju.
A key member of the
new caretaker committee who maintained that the committee will display a high
level of professionalism, transparency and neutrality during the convention,
also hinted that Asiwaju’s interest overrides that of any other aspirant in the
APC as of now. He however maintained that the committee will not influence any
form of permutation to favour anyone.
Now that El-Rufai
has embraced the position of second fiddle, that places Asiwaju in good
stead. This means his influence can only be mildly effective at the committee
level, however, he will play the role of a stern watchdog to ensure that his
preferred candidate is picked as a consensus candidate.
The cold war
between Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinunu and Malam Nasir El Rufai has gone way back
before the latter expressed his reservation for Asiwaju two years ago.
Speaking at a
webinar in commemoration of the 63rd birthday of the Minister of Interior and
former Governor of Osun State, Mr Rauf Aregbesola in 2020, El-Rufai, noted that
Aregbesola remained his man any day but that Tinubu was not his man. This, he
said, was due to the differences between him and the former Lagos Governor.
El-Rufai’s statement came as a subtle confirmation of the disagreement between
him and Tinubu.
Tinubu has never
made any public statement about their seemingly frosty relationship and
El-Rufai had also been conservative on the issue except for very few occasions.
A year before then, El-Rufai was in Lagos and he spoke at an event where he
advised Lagosians on how to defeat godfatherism in the state.
He said: “Let me
tell you something, sir; you know Kaduna State used to be like that. There were
three or four politicians in Kaduna that you could not become anything unless
you had them on your side.“I assure you if you can connect with the people; the
tin godfather, you will retire him or her permanently. But it is hard work; it
requires three to four years of hard work. So, if you want to run in 2023, you
should start now. Many of the godfathers are either on paper or in the mind of
people in politics. They are defeatable” he said. His statement was greeted
with hard responses by concerned youths in the southwest who believed El-Rufai
does not fall in the same political league as Asiwaju.
The question on the
minds of Nigerians is if Rotimi Amaechi is a worthy contender in the scheme of
things.
El-Rufai only
hinted that the President is interested in who becomes the party Chairman, but
did not disclose if he’s interested in who becomes the president. Buhari has
however maintained that the identity of his preferred candidate cannot be
disclosed for fear of assassination of the aspirant.
Will Amaechi battle
Asiwaju for the ticket in the primaries? Will El-Rufai’s influence override Gov
Sani’s Bello’s decision? Will Asiwaju just fold his arms and watch the drama
unfold? These questions will get answers in a matter of days.
-Joseph Seun
Emmanuel
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