Few days to the presidential primary of the APC, having seen the handwriting clearly written on the wall and realizing that the pendulum might not, after all, swing in his favour, the then presidential aspirant under its platform, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, cried in distraught and loud voice, saying *”it is my turn to rule Nigeria!”* And sensing the collateral damage such outburst could inflict on a drowning APC, pronto, the dying aspiration to become the presidential candidate of a dying party became resuscitated and today, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at best, remains the un-anointed presidential candidate of a stinking and sinking APC.
The tantrum displayed then, has since, though humorously, gained coverage in public space such that some segments of the society like the music/entertainment industry are now making capital out of it by either shooting films that reflect the Emilokan syndrome or composing songs that depict the desperation of a natural man.
But the question is this:
*If it is turn by turn to rule Nigeria as propounded or encapsulated by the Jagaban of Borgu, is it really his turn by whatever indices he might have employed in arriving at such jaundiced conclusion?*
In the days of Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida-led military midwifed transition program to civil rule from around 1987 culminating in the crash of the pretentiously organized transition in 1993 due to yet-to-be-explained annulment of the 1993 presidential election, what Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu could only vie for, as at that time, was the senatorial seat of Lagos West Senatorial District which is one-third of the entire Lagos State and to that very extent, 1/109 portion of the entire country.
As at that same time and hour, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, had already gotten the capacity to vie for the exalted Office of the President of Nigeria which he proudly did with the likes of Chief MKO Abiola and Ambassador Babagana Kingibe who later emerged as the presidential and vice presidential candidates respectively, in that keenly contested presidential primary election in Jos, Plateau State. The emergence of Chief MKO Abiola as the flagbearer of the then SDP was made possible due to some sort of horse-trading where Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was strongly persuaded to step down his ambition so as to boost the winning chances of Ch. MKO Abiola at the Jos convention.
And if I may ask again;
*What prevented Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu from slugging it out with Ch. MKO Abiola, if he knew he had the political weight to so do as at that material time?*
In the advent of the Fourth Republic in 1999, what Asiwaju Bola Ahmed’s political strength could carry was to gun for the office of the governor of Lagos State, and that was with the prevailing upon, of Engr Funsho Williams who was believed to be the next person in line for consideration according to the chronological order of the then almighty Afenifere/NADECO leadership.
During the same time under review, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who was warming up again to take up the presidential gauntlets, was only prevailed upon to accept to run for the gubernatorial seat of Adamawa State because of the need to compensate the SouthWest region, having been previously and obviously injured by the wilful annulment of the 1993 presidential election coupled with the unfortunate and mysterious death of the presumed winner of the election, Ch. MKO Abiola of the Southwest extraction.
And whereas by the time Ch. Olusegun Obasanjo won the presidential ticket of the PDP in the same Jos Plateau, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was majestically beckoned upon to accept the vice presidential candidate of the party, even after he had been declared lawful winner of gubernatorial election in Adamawa State.
Eventually, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Waziri of Adamawa became the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999-2007) whereas Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was only governor of Lagos State, one of the 36 states of the Federation in that same period between 1999-2007.
Due to his undying passion to save Nigeria from drifting towards a failed state which it is now witnessing today, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar GCON, who is well prepared, has been making himself available to serve Nigerians as their president for more than three decades ago throwing his cap into the ring, anytime the opportunity presents itself. He did it in 1993, he did it in 2007; he did it in 2011, he did it in 2019, and he is doing it in 2023 and this time around he is winning because this is the set time and hour destined for him to rule.
Suffice to say here that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar did not make it in the previous encounters because he is not made to come in the time of prosperity but specifically and specially prepared to come in this time of adversity when the ship of our nation is fast approaching and almost hitting a huge rock; when our nation is in dire need of a well prepared, proactive, persuasive, productive and truly progressive leader. A leader who through on-the-job training, has garnered sufficient experience needed and superb ability to galvanize, elicit and precipitate a definite course of action from a thoroughly devastated, hopeless and almost lifeless populace.
Without undermining Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s legitimate right to vie for the Office of the President of Nigeria, my concern is the apportioning of turn to himself which the aforestated analysis seek to fault empirically.
Again, as the Fourth Republic unfolded in 1999, I did mention above that the Southwest was first considered to take its turn on the presidency of this country because of the previous and obvious injury done to the region in regard to the wilful annulment of the 1993 presidential election and subsequent killing, in a mysterious circumstance, of the presumed winner of the election, Ch MKO Abiola. Invariably, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo of Southwest extraction, became the ultimate beneficiary of the arrangement culminating in his ascendancy to the Most Exalted Office of the President of Nigeria between 1999 and 2007.
After the Southwest turn, power immediately shifted to the North, to wit: NorthWest region where the lot fell on Alhaji Musa Yar’adua.
He was billed to preside over the country from 2007-2015 but as Yoruba people would say: the ants did not allow people to savour the joy of an attractive kola. President Musa Yar’adua of the Northwest extraction died before the end of his first tenure on 5th of May 2010 thereby causing the presidency to hurriedly return to the Southern part of the country.
This time around, Providence smiled on a minority south which, if the ‘presidential water’ is to be sprinkled around, there was no way it could have touched that already neglected section of the southern Ijaw nation, at least, as at that material time. And as if that was not providential enough, the presidency fell on the lap of a lecturer, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who never had the luxury of wearing a pair of shoes in his primary school days yet the good luck in his destiny refused to leave him right from his nomination as a deputy governor in a riverine Bayelsa State till he was crowned Nigeria’s President immediately after the sudden demise of his boss! So, it became the turn of the South-South to hold sway for uninterrupted six years.
After the six years tenure of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the presidency went back to the NorthWest arguably, to finish its turn due to the untimely demise of her son, Musa Yar’dua.
So, as it stands today, SothWest, SouthSouth and NorthWest had used up their legitimate turn and now, it remains the turn of the NorthEast, SouthEast and NorthCentral in the power equation.
It follows therefore that if power is to come back to South, in the spirit of fairness and equity, it should be the turn of SouthEast where people like Mr Peter Obi comes from and if power is to retain in the North (because they argue that South has done 14years while North will be doing 10years after President Buhari and so they still have 4years to balance up with the South), then it will be the turn of NorthEast where Alhaji Atiku Abubakar hails from, or NorthCentral. And like an idea which time has come, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu had prophetically blessed Alhaji Abubakar Atiku’s presidential ambition at his first campaign outing in this same Jos, while Mr Peter Obi of Southeast had been clearly told by his own State Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, to perish the thought of becoming Nigeria’s President this season. Thank God also that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has promised to hand over power to the Southeast after his own tenure.
Again, without divesting or stripping Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of his inaleniable right to strive to occupy the most exalted office in the land, the questions will still be:
Where is he coming from to arrive at a conclusion that it was his turn?
What empirical formula did he employ in arriving at such *”emilokanic”* answer?
What arithmetical tabulation did he do to get improper fraction solution as it were?
And if truly, it is turn by turn, what yardstick or graph did he plot that placed him ahead of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who had been in the ring for the past 30 years; and who had not only been an elected governor of a State but also a Vice President of the whole country for 8years as against Asiwaju Tinubu’s occupation of governorship seat of one over thirty six States of the country?
What parameter?
Oh, what inferences?
No no no, what experiment did he carry out?
I ask again, what graph did he plot to arrive at such vexatious conclusion?
*Frankly speaking, if it is turn by turn, then it is turn of a man who has been in the trenches for the last 30years.*
*If it turn by turn, then it’s the turn of a man who is rightly positioned for the herculian task of redemption, recovery and rescuing of our dear country from the fangs of pythons in the clothing of a political party, the deceitful and occultic APC.*
*And that man is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Grand Commander of the Order of Niger (GCON), Sadaurna Jada, Waziri of Adamawa, Zegemule of Tiv, Efe Burukutu of Calabar, Aare of Ire Ekiti, Otunba Soludero of Lagos, Otunba Tayese of The Source ( Ile Ife), Duan Gwon of Jos, The Gbedemuke of Yoruba land…*
*The Incoming President Of The Federal Republic of Nigeria.*
A Word Is Enough For The Wise.
*Leye Igbabo writes from Ifedore Local Govt Area of Ondo State.*
