How the North Scammed Bola Tinubu

By Eric Elezuo

Shortly before the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, settled for Alhaji Kashim Shettima as presidential running mate, The Boss had carried a story, which questions if Tinubu will go ahead to choose a Muslim like himself as a running mate, thereby risking a Muslim/Muslim ticket. He did, not minding that the matter has been a source of heated debate on the public domain. That ended up to be a scam.

However, any keen watcher of Nigerian politics must be wondering why Tinubu failed for such a scam of a Muslim/Muslim ticket as perpetrated by the North. It must be noted that not even President Muhammadu Buhari who has been endlessly accused of being a religious bigot agreed to Muslim/Muslim ticket, which explains why  Tinubu was roundly rejected as Buhari’s running mate during the run up to the 2019 presidential election. Now, the situation has become more volatile.

But in defence of Tinubu’s selection of Shettima as running thereby defiling the agelong unwritten law of Nigerian political timeline, the supporters have said the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Bashorun MKO Abiola did it in 1993, and as a result, can be replicated in Tinubu. But the supporters failed to understand three basic factors, which have come to gain ground overtime. They are:
1. Tinubu is not MKO Abiola
2. Religion today is not what it used to be in 1993
3. Tinubu does not have wide spread acceptability like Abiola did in 1993

Tinubu was misled into thinking he was another Abiola, or Abiola incarnate as he went ahead to choose a another Kanuri man as running mate. It will recalled that in 1993, Abiola chose Babagana Kingibe as his running thereby floating a Muslim/Muslim ticket, which was not even noticed as at the time. But time has changed.

It is also of paramount importance to note that the Fulani and the Kanuri hardly relate well. They are mutually suspicious of each other. Therefore, picking a Kanuri is a spite on the Fulani/Hausa community, especially in the Northeast.

Tinubu’s choice of a northeast running mate is still a mystery knowing very well that the candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, is from the Northeast. Adamawa to be precise. It is therefore, unheard of that Tinubu should pick a running mate from the same zone. Stakeholders have wondered if he expect the Northeast to reject their own in Atiku, and make him president. The argument is not clear.

Again, will the Northeast, which has been clamoring for a president now reject Atiku and settle for a vice in ‘Shettima’ from the same zone. The argument is baseless.

Anyone who understands northern politics knows that Kano and Katsina produce the largest number of voters, without which it will be impossible for anyone to become president of Nigeria. Now there is no rationale that these states will settled for Shettima as number two citizen when they could have Atiku as number one citizen. This is a daylight scam against Tinubu, and he seems to not to know it.

Again, becoming the president of Nigeria is to an extent controlled by a group of people described ‘Owners of Nigeria’. These people, it was that persuaded Governor Aminu Tambuwal to step down for Atiku during the primary election because they want a formidable candidate who can win the election. And so will not sit back, and watch Tinubu clinch the presidency,

The North has played their game, and the likes of Tinubu has fallen for the scam as 2023 beckons.