Presidency Woos South-South, South-East Leaders
Tinubu, Fayose Close Ranks, Rev Up AD Machinery
Details Of The Moves To Whittle Tinubu’s Influence
| The cold war in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is assuming a new dimension as sources close to the Presidency have squealed to The New Diplomat that the Presidency is moving against one of the national leaders of party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, by wooing the South-South and the South-East region of the country to counter the South-West where Tinubu is believed to wield considerable influence. |
This is even as another highly-placed source in the APC who does not want to be named confided that there are advanced moves to revive The Alliance for Democracy, AD, the moribund political party that once held sway in the South-West in preparation for 2019.
In an interview with The New Diplomat, the source, a known Tinubu loyalist, said he and a large percentage of Asiwaju followers are only waiting for him to sound the call and they will all move to the AD.
Recall that The New Diplomat broke the story of an impending crisis in the APC when the inaugural chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, in an exclusive interview warned that the party was heading for the rocks.
To patch the gaping hole that the impending departure of the South-West from the party would create, the Presidency is already making overtures to the South-South region.
First in the series of such overtures is the soft-pedaling of the President on the initial “no dialogue stance” and extending an invitation to the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, PNDF, established by Niger Delta leaders, for a meeting on October 29, in Abuja, to open talks on how to resolve the crisis in the region.
Another is the composition of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) board. The Senate recently screened members of the board and the inauguration of the board is expected soon.
However, the Tinubu camp is not asleep. In an apparent move to checkmate the President, there are clear indications of underground moves between the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, and the leader of the APC to close ranks.
In a recent interview, Fayose had referred to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a leader of the Yoruba race and that any attack on Tinubu wouldn’t be condoned.
The governor, in a statement issued by his spokesman, Lere Olayinka, in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, warned that “humiliation of Tinubu is as bad as a humiliation of the Yoruba race”.
He said he would not keep silent in the face of attacks on a revered Yoruba leader like Tinubu and declared: “Yoruba leaders must be protected”.
Recalling similar attacks in the past on Yoruba leaders like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Bola Ige, Chief Bisi Onabanjo (all late) and Alhaji Lateef Jakande, among others, Fayose said: “Even though I am not a member of the APC and will never be, I have elected to stand in defence of the Yoruba nation once again by saying ‘no’ to the continuous dishonourable treatment being meted to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, having paid his dues.
“If Tinubu is allowed to be embarrassed and disgraced just the way our past leaders were humiliated by these same elements, the Yoruba nation would have been made to suffer for uprightness.”
Another thing that seems to be adding fuel to the raging conjecture is Fayose’s recent closeness to Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, a known ally and confidant of Tinubu.
Weeks ago, in what has raised eyebrows in the camp of the APC, Aregbesola paid a visit to Fayose, an unrepentant critic of the APC.
Giving an excuse for the visit, Lere Olayinka, said Aregbesola visited Ekiti to celebrate with the state its 20th anniversary. The visit came nine months after Aregbesola hosted Fayose at the Government House in Osogbo. Not a few are reading meanings into the visits.
There had been rumours of a cold war between the President and Tinubu, it was however blown open in the wake of the Ondo State APC primary election.
The rejection of the recommendations of the three-member Election Appeal Committee chaired by Mrs. Helen Bendega, which called for cancellation of the poll that produced Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), and the submission of his name to INEC by the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, was fingered as the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
Tinubu, while demanding the resignation of Odigie-Oyegun, accused the former Edo State governor of treating with disdain the joint petition written by Chiefs Olusegun Oke, Olusegun Abraham and Senator Ajayi Boroffice rejecting the outcome of the primary that produced Akeredolu.
While Tinubu backed Abraham for the ticket, forces in the Presidency supported Akeredolu, a former president of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA).
