- Osinbajo, Tinubu’s ambitions in danger
There are strong indications that the Organised Private Sector (OPS) in Nigeria are heading for a showdown with the state governors in the country over who should succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
We gathered from very reliable sources that the businessmen in the OPS are not comfortable with the scheming of the governors on the platform of the All Progressives Congress(APC) and some in the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to have one of their own succeed the president, whose tenure expires on May 29, 2023.
Sources close to the APC disclose that the businessmen, made up of Chieftains of local conglomerates, bankers and other corporate leaders, are particularly interested in any candidate that would sustain the economic policies of Buhari beyond 2023.
It was gathered that the business leaders are also pushing for a candidate “who is not a core politician and does not belong to a particular political block,” but would be accepted across the country.
A former Minister and chieftain of the APC in the South West, said that he was aware of the plans to draft a technocrat to replace Buhari by the private sector.
“Yes, I know about that move. They want somebody, who is visionary and can continue the programmes of the President when he leaves office. Imagine if another person comes into office and does not continue the Anchor Borrowers Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria? When the Buhari government came in in 2015, we had about five rice mills. Today, the country has about 68 rice mills around the country. Do you know the boost the CBN gave local industries when it banned about 44 items on the foreign exchange list?”
He said that some of the policies enunciated by the CBN under Buhari had given the likes of Aliko Dangote of the Dangote Group; Abdulsamad Rabiu of BUA Group; Innocent Chukwuma of Innoson Group, Femi Otedola, Tony Elumelu and many other players in the local banking, trading, manufacturing and services industries in the country the leverage to expand their businesses. He said if the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele did not stand firm on the policies, many of the local companies would have gone down.
According to him: “Do you think that a Dangote, Abdulsamad Rabiu, or even Innoson would just sit down and watch another government to walk in and wipe off most of those policies? That is why the private sector is involved. They are looking for someone who can continue with the policies.”
We further gathered that although the businessmen have not arrived at a particular candidate yet, they are thinking of a candidate from the South-South or South East since the APC has given an indication that it would return the presidency to the South.
A leader in one of the groups working on the project on Wednesday said, although the businessmen have not presented their choice to Buhari, they are however convinced that they would be able to achieve it.
He said: “We believe that the president would not want his legacies to be rubbished. We are yet to meet him but we have an idea of the person we want. We also have assurances that since the president does not have money, we will finance the candidature of our chosen person. We don’t need external influences on what we are doing. But we are sure that we are on the right track.”
Further investigations revealed that by the calculations of the backers of the technocrat project, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Buhari’s deputy would have been the best person to carry on with the policies of the administration into the next one.
But there are arguments within the group that it was risky to present another candidate from the South West after Buhari’s tenure, when the zone had since 1999 produced a president (Olusegun Obasanjo) for eight years and Osinbajo himself as Vice president for eight years.
An APC chieftain said: “Do you dismiss the cries of the South East just like that? Don’t you think that they have a genuine claim to the presidency if it is zoned to the South? The worst case scenario is to pick an Igbo from the South South. Yes, the South East may want one of their own in office but if the option they have is an Igbo from South South, would they reject such a person? So, there could be the compromise of picking an Igbo man from the South South for the position. That will serve both zones well.”
It was however learnt that some governors, particularly in the APC are miffed by such calculations. They are insisting that one of them should succeed Buhari. Among governors in the ruling party in the South East and South South are the governors of Ebonyi, Imo and Cross River State, Dave Umahi, Hope Uzodinmma and Ben Ayade respectively. In addition, there are APC governors in the five South West states of Ekiti, Lagos, Ondo, Osun and Ogun.
However, of this lot, only Umahi of Ebonyi and possibly, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State are interested in the race.
“The big Elephant in the room is the ambition of the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. He is desperate for the position. We have even told him that there is difficulty, but he seems convinced. Well, he will go for the battle if they don’t stop him before then. Remember how Obasanjo used Nuhu Ribadu to pave the way for the late Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007. We may see that again very soon. You can’t trust these people. Of course, you also know that Tinubu being a Southern Muslim makes it difficult for him. To get a Northern Christian to pair him with is a problem,” the APC chieftain said.
