The Tinubu villa declaration

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s Monday’s visit to the presidential villa, Abuja was not officially listed on President Muhammadu Buhari’s schedule for the day. About 45 minutes to his arrival, an alert reached media correspondents who immediately prepared for the chance to take him on over the visit coming a few days after the president publicly addressed the questions on his potential successor in office.

The sign was later given that Tinubu would indeed have a session with the media after the closed-door meeting when his spokesperson, Tunde Rahman, who accompanied him to the president’s office, announced to correspondents that “he must talk to you.” However, conflicting indications set in while the meeting was still going on. The former Lagos state governor’s car was, in, an usual circumstance, driven to the forecourt of the president’s office, suggesting that he would immediately leave from there to avoid the waiting reporters at the briefing room.

As  Rahman promised, the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain later sauntered into the briefing room, welcomed by journalists and a battery of television cameras. This took him aback seemingly as he resisted efforts to get him to have a seat on the chair reserved for officials involved in media briefings. He said he was not at the presidential villa to hold a press conference and would rather stand to have a chat. After a short back and forth with journalists, he sat down to field questions and what followed was the official declaration to contest the 2023 presidency under the ruling APC.

Tinubu disclosed that he had informed President Buhari of his desire to contest the election only after the question was put to him. It was therefore unclear whether he did so before the Monday meeting, which by the former governor’s own account, was to discuss Nigeria, issues of security, what the government has done, what it will do in the new year and strategies for the upcoming APC national convention. Nevertheless, he presented himself as a kingmaker whose time it is to become the king.

What is also not clear is whether he came with a deliberate design to make the formal announcement at the presidential villa aware of the mileage that such declaration in the seat of power could garner. Did he get the blessing of President Buhari? He did not say.

Since leaving office as governor in 2007, Tinubu has functioned as a political strategist, a godfather and one who wanted to determine who should be what in the political sphere. This prompted the question of whether it was not better for him to remain in that role than seeking to be president himself. He did not seem to welcome the suggestion. “About the cap of king maker. I have never seen the cap of a king maker before. That is the truth. And I have never seen where it is written in the rule book anywhere in any country that a kingmaker cannot be a king unless you commit murder. So, whatever is your attribute is your own opinion. Me, I want to pursue my ambition without the title of a kingmaker. You can write your literature and your story based upon your own perception,” he blurted.

The party chieftain conceded that to be the President of Nigeria has been his lifelong ambition. However, he has not managed to come close to the kind of opportunity he thinks he has in this dispensation in which he feels a sense of entitlement to the APC ticket given his role its formation and rise to power.

Tinubu by the accident of his fate narrowly missed the chance to be Nigeria’s vice president in 2015 as the country was not thought to be ready for a Muslim-Muslim ticket. He is set to be confronted again by the same argument already being canvassed by pundits who cannot see the workability of a northern Christian running mate for a Tinubu ticket in a country where a Muslim-Muslim or a Christian-Christian presidential ticket remains a taboo.

That is not all. Asiwaju has more odds stacked against his ambition. If he is elected president, he will be 70 years by the time he is sworn into office. Besides, he has a history of infirmity at a time that many Nigerians have voiced their frustration with keeping up with the aged and unfit leaders who are likely to pay more attention to the health than that of the country.

Elements drumming up support for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo for the same APC 2023 presidential ticket have become more vociferous in recent times. Tinubu was asked about his impression of a race for the APC ticket featuring himself, Osinbajo and, governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state. The question became imperative because he is godfather to the former Lagos state attorney general who he single-handedly nominated for the number two position. Tinubu said he would not discuss individuals and pivoted to his time as governor of Lagos state. “I don›t want to discuss individuals now. I must discuss myself. I have the confidence, the vision, the capacity to rule, build on the foundation of Mr. President and turn Nigeria better. I›ve have done that with commitment and unyielding…you know, in Lagos state. You have seen that experience and the capacity to turn things around and that is what we are doing,” he argued.

As governor, Tinubu revamped Lagos judiciary, established hospitals, and upgraded health facilities, set up rapid bus system (Lagos Bus) and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), created 37 Local Development Areas, and successfully challenged former President Olusegun Obasanjo on true federalism. On the flipside, questions remain about his handling of the state resources and the preeminent position of his family members in the scheme of things.

Even though Osinbajo has not formally admitted that he will be in the race, President Buhari’s suggestion that he has a secret candidate that he wants to protect from “elimination” has done nothing to abate speculation that the Redeemed pastor may be the chosen successor. In which case, Tinubu may be faced with a different dilemma. However, his courage in coming out at this time deserve commendation though it remains to seen what implications it will have on the presidential ambitions of other APC aspirants including Osinbajo.

Notwithstanding his wish to be neutral, President Buhari retains his place as the principal factor to determine who gets the presidential ticket of the APC. For now, he has every party member including Tinubu guessing.