The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has reportedly told President Muhammadu Buhari about his 2023 presidential ambition.
Sources have disclosed to The Guardian that the former Lagos State governor has also informed Vice President Yemi Osinbajo about his intention to contest for the nation’s number one seat.
This is coming a week after the Director-General, Tinubu Support Groups and former House of Representatives member, Abdulmumin Jibrin, disclosed that Tinubu will be contesting in the 2023 Presidential election
Sources revealed that President Buhari gave the former Lagos State governor his blessings ahead of the election.
Osinbajo, who served as Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General in Tinubu’s eight years administration as Lagos governor, is also rumoured to be planning to take over from Buhari.
It was gathered that Tinubu had in October 29, 2021, also informed Osinbajo about his presidential ambition when they met at his Asokoro residence after his return to the country from the United Kingdom where he underwent a knee surgery.
While it is not clear what Osinbajo’s response was, sources in the know have severally quoted the VP as saying he would not contest against Tinubu.
However, other sources noted that Osinbajo has always insisted that the APC leader has never told him he wanted to contest the 2023 election.
Asked if Tinubu and Osinbajo had spoken about the former’s ambition, Tunde Rahman, Media Adviser to the former Lagos governor refused to volunteer any comment.
He said he would reach out shortly, but he was yet to do so as at the time of filing this report.
Reacting to the development, Mr. Laolu Akande, the Special Adviser to the Vice President, said he was not aware of such discussions.
“I don’t think you should support the flying of such dubious kites. But to answer your question, no. I am not aware of any such discussions to even begin with,” he said.
Inspite of overtures by some Northern governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan to fly the flag of the party in next year’s election, there is no commitment yet from President Muhammadu Buhari or key party leaders on the matter.
It was learnt that the ex-President is still consulting on whether or not to contest or remain a statesman.
Jonathan is believed to have lost the backing of some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors, especially his anointed choice in one of the South-South states.
The particular governor is said to have ruled out the prospect of another Jonathan presidency under any guise.
According to an investigation conducted by our correspondent, the cold shoulder from the PDP governors was capitalised upon by some APC Northern governors to woo Jonathan.
The APC governors opted for Jonathan because he is only entitled to one term, after which power would return to the North.
It was gathered that Jonathan’s candidacy is not acceptable to more than three APC governors.
A top source, who spoke in confidence with our correspondent, said: “Some Northern governors have reached out to Jonathan on 2023 presidency and the need to be APC flag bearer.
“The permutations of the governors border on fostering a North and South-South alliance with some elements in the South-West in 2023.
“The governors believe that with one term for Jonathan from 2023, the presidency can return to the North in 2027.
“But many APC governors are not buying into the Jonathan project at all. They claimed that if Jonathan secures APC presidential ticket, there would be no justification for the 2015 ouster of PDP from power by the ruling party.”
Findings from some close associates of Jonathan confirmed that he is interested in the presidency but he wants the ticket on a platter of gold.
The ex-President is said to have confided in some members of his former cabinet.
A former Minister said: “So far from interactions with him, the ex-President appears to be interested but he is not convinced of the genuineness of the overtures.
“Some APC governors came to beg him to run for the 2023 presidency on the platform of the party.
“I think the affected APC governors are aware of the fact that Jonathan has lost grounds in PDP. They see him as a big catch to renew the aged alliance between the North and the South-South as was the case during the Second Republic.
“The talks are still ongoing. Jonathan has been awaiting a firm commitment from President Muhammadu Buhari and key APC leaders but this is not forthcoming. His terms are to join APC and get the presidential nomination.
“Buhari, who said he won’t disclose his preferred candidate for 2023 presidential race, sticks to due process and he has not given any green light to Jonathan.
“Many APC stalwarts are also not excited by likely defection of Jonathan from PDP to their party. Apart from his gentle disposition and democratic credentials, they don’t rate him as a political asset.
“But Jonathan’s aspiration has received the blessing of two former presidents/heads of state.”
Investigation revealed that Jonathan has been boxed into a corner in PDP by some governors and presidential aspirants.
A party source added: “The truth is that Jonathan is not finding it easy in PDP. The PDP governors hold the party’s structure and they are not looking towards Jonathan.
“In fact, Jonathan is no longer enjoying the confidence of PDP governors. He seems to have fallen out with a South-South governor he installed in 2015. The governor has ruled out Jonathan from 2023 presidential race.
“Among PDP governors, there are presidential aspirants, including Jonathan’s 2010 /2011 chief strategist, Sen. Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Barr. Nyesom Wike (Rivers) and his old foe, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (Sokoto).
“Ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar, whom Jonathan defeated at the presidential primary election in the past, is stronger now than the ex-President.
“The option left for the ex-President is to take the risk and plunge himself into the race to try his luck.”
Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said his principal was “was persuaded and pressured” to contest for President in 2015.
Buhari is in his second term in office, and will leave when his tenure expires in May 2023.
Shehu, speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, stated that President Buhari is right to blow his trumpet anytime the opportunity presents itself.
“The president can be very casual sometimes in speaking and jovial and jocularly; I think this is what people fail to understand of him. They need to understand how he was persuaded and pressured to even run in the first instance.
“He had served as governor, minister and military Head of State and that’s the highest it could get. He had retired home and Nigerians came and said you are the right person for this moment, we need you. It took some persuasion.
“So, yes, it is right for the person to say he has given his best and when the time is up, some other person will take over,” Shehu said.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed disappointment over the stance of President Muhammadu Buhari on state police.
President Buhari had in an interview on Channels Television on Wednesday, monitored by Naija News, said state police is not an option in solving the security challenges in the country.
“State police is not an option. Find out the relationship between local governments and the governors. Are the third tier of government getting what they are supposed to get constitutionally,” he had said.
Reacting to the comment, PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, said the president’s rejection of the state police shows that his government is not interested in solving the insecurity in the nation.
Ayu stated that the call for state police was made by Nigerians, urging the president to do the will of the people he swore an oath to serve.
In a statement released on Wednesday night, the PDP chairman asserted that Nigerians will not accept his rejection of state police.
He said: “Watching President Muhammadu Buhari this evening on Channels TV during an interview session was a gratuitous waste of time because there was nothing new coming from the President.
“As has been said by many before now, to expect anything new from our President would be a misplaced and unfortunate expectation. From the economy to insecurity, killing of innocent farmers by terrorists (which some erroneous term farmer/herder clashes) and other sundry issues, President Buhari honoured his calling as a President who has nothing new to offer.
“In President Buhari’s view, State Police is not an option. Yet, it appears the continued killings in some localities of Nigeria, particularly in the North, and more specifically in his home state of Katsina, may not matter, hence, the need to have a security system that feeds on local intelligence and nuances, which the federal police cannot adequately provide, is not an option to our President.
“To him, it appears that continuing the same process while expecting a different output and outcome is the best way to go. We ask, is he comfortable with the killings in the land while the status quo persists?”
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reacted to the rumours that former President Goodluck Jonathan is planning to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Reports emerged on Monday that Jonathan has intensified his move to return to Aso Rock in 2023 after meeting with his supposed campaign coordinators.
It was learned that the former president met with coordinators on December 27, 2021, at Aridolf Hotels and Spars in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
Reacting to the reports, PDP spokesman, Debo Ologunagba, said the opposition party is confident that the Nigerian leader will not join the ruling party.
Ologunagba stressed that the PDP leadership is reaching out to every member of the party to join the rescue mission of the country ahead of the 2023 Presidential election.
He disclosed that the PDP is not aware of Jonathan entering into any form of talks with the APC in a bid to join them and run for presidency.
He said: “The leadership of the Dr. Iyorchia Ayu-led National Working Committee is reaching out to members of the party, including the former President, to join hands with it to help rebuild and rescue Nigeria.
“APC is a special duty vehicle invented to crash Nigeria on a purposeless journey called next level. But we call on Nigerians to team up with the PDP to help win back the nation of our collective dream.
“I insist that we are not aware of our esteemed international statesman, Dr. Jonathan entering into any form of talks with the APC in a bid to join them.”
In what appears like a conscious effort to prevent himself from losing political relevance after leaving office in 2023, Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, has called for “peace and reconciliation among political parties’ stakeholders” in the state.
Governor Ganduje made the call in his New Year message to the people of Kano State issued by the state’s commissioner for information, Muhammad Garba, on Friday.
In the message titled “Year 2022 era of reconciliation, peace building,” Ganduje expressed optimism that political parties in the state would create platforms for internal democracy to flourish.
The governor urged political parties to “produce more credible representatives at various levels who have the capacity and ability to win elections and subsequently build on laudable programs and policies initiated by the past leaders.”
Ganduje said “political gladiators” in the state already made efforts recently to usher in a new dawn in political history of the state.
According to Garba, the governor said “the event, which saw Kano political gladiators emphasizing on the need for reconciliation, elicited excitement from the people of Kano state who have been yearning for the much-needed peace and conciliation in order to advance the cause for proper development in the political terrain and the society at large.”
THE WHISTLER recalls that Ganduje’s appeal for peace and political reconciliation in Kano came a month after an FCT Federal High Court sacked the Kano All Progressives Congress executive committee led by him and recognised the faction led by Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, a former governor of the state and his political rival.
Amid the rift, the governor’s Special Adviser on State Affairs, Muhammad Shehu, had on Tuesday resigned his position and joined Shekarau’s APC faction to support the governorship ambition of Barau Jibrin, the chairman Senate committee on appropriation.
Renowned Nigerian journalist and publisher, Dele Momodu has made comments about joining the 2023 presidential race.
Naija News recalls that the former Presidential candidate in October 2021 officially joined the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The media mogul in a statement also made available to this news platform stated that he joined the PDP to contribute his quota to the growth and development of the nation.
Momodu stressed that he joined the PDP in order to help the party win the 2023 presidential election and sweep away the bad policies and practices of the All Progressive Congress (APC) government led by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a post on his verified Facebook page on Tuesday morning, Momodu revealed how he was stunned some weeks ago when a former speaker of the house of representatives and serving Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal referenced him as MR President.
He disclosed further that some bigwigs in the ruling APC on Monday in Lagos chorused his name as Mr President.
Momodu explained how happy he was to receive such a remark even when he has yet declared his interest in contesting for the 2023 Presidency.
He wrote: “I was truly stunned when GOVERNOR AMINU WAZIRI TAMBUWAL exclaimed MR PRESIDENT when he saw me in Port Harcourt about two weeks ago.
“Yesterday in Lagos, some APC leaders also chorused the same song, even when I’m yet to make such a declaration.
“One of them said 2023 makes 1993 exactly 30 years and June 12 might reincarnate with a candidate loved across party lines like Abiola!” Truly humbled.”
Thugs on Monday attacked and destroyed properties including vehicles at the venue of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Congress in Zamfara State.
Some of the other materials destroyed by the thugs include voting materials, nomination forms, and chairs. Canopies at the venue were also set ablaze.
Naija News understands the congress was eventually shifted from Zaitun Oil mill, behind State Pilgrim Board to the Command Guest House in Gusau, the state capital.
Reacting to the attack, the Personal Secretary to Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, Umar Aminu was quoted by Channels Television to have said the PDP won’t be intimidated by the happening.
Some of the PDP stalwarts present at the congress include the Zamfara Deputy Governor, Barrister Mahdi Aliyu Gusau, and the Caretaker Chairman of the party, Ambassador Bala Mande.
Over one thousand delegates are attending the congress expected to produce the next set of officials to lead the PDP in Zamfara State.
Below are some pictures from the scene of the attack.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressive Congress, APC, may witness a major crisis early next year should it fail to conduct its National Convention as recently rescheduled, Naija News reports.
This is as a faction of the party is sending warnings to Governor Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) over the delayed party convention.
It could be recalled that the ruling party announced weeks ago that its convention will hold February 5, 2022.
In its statement earlier, the convention committee attributed the yuletide period and factional party crisis to why it couldn’t hold its National Convention this year.
As uncertainty continues over the National Convention of the ruling All Progressives Congress, a group within the party has called on the party’s Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee under the leadership of Yobe State governor, Mai Mala Buni, not to exceed the next February date fixed for the election.
The national convention was fixed to enable members elect its national officers after more than one year of being run under the caretaker Committee.
The Committee was created after the exit of Mr Adams Oshiomhole, after a protracted struggle for control of the party.
There’s also been confusion over the zoning arrangement in the party even as more than a dozen aspirants are queuing to contest for the position of the national chairman.
Insinuation has been rife that it has been zoned to the north central to counter the opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP, but the party has not come out to categorically say which way.
This, plus what’s now been called a slip off from Kebbi State governor, Mr Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, who also doubles as Chairman of Progressives Governors Forum of the APC, when he said last November that the national convention would hold next February.
The Governor revealed February as the date after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, without sounding specific.
While there have been calls for actual date to be fixed, the committee has not done that.
Few days ago, after a meeting of the APC CECPC, its National Secretary, Mr John James Akpanudoedehe informed journalists that that the interim leadership would “soon unveil subcommittees ahead of the next February Convention,” without mentioning actual date.
With February less than two months away and with primary elections less than 10 months away, fresh anxiety has risen that the ruling party has failed to nail its preparation for the election starting from having a legally constituted National Working Committee, NWC.
Reacting to this development over the weekend, the Progressive Mandate Movement, PMM, in statement issued by Mr Abdullahi Mohammed and Comrade Adekunle Fijabi, the National Coordinator and Secretary of the PMM, respectively, demanded immediate release of dates and other processes leading to the national convention.
The group warned that it was ready to launch the #OccupyAPCNationalSecretariat, if the convention to elect a new set of national officers was not convened by February 5, 2022.
“For some of our current leaders who were there during the merger process that led to the formation of APC, this organisation has always been in the forefront of upholding the progressive ideology of our party and we will not stop at this critical period,” they said in the statement.
According to them, “The delay in conducting the overdue APC national convention is already giving the opposition Peoples Democratic Party some advantages, making it look like nobody is in charge of the governing party.
“We, therefore, call on Governor Mai Mala Buni-led National Caretaker Committee not to go beyond February 5 to hold our party’s National Convention.
“This group is in possession of the instructions given to the Caretaker Committee by the Presidency and we appeal to the CECPC to respect our leader and President Muhammadu Buhari by releasing to the public all the necessary information concerning the forthcoming National Convention.
“We also warn that if nothing is made public before January 5, 2022, we shall launch an aggressive operation #OCCUPYAPCNATIONALSECRETARIAT to force our leaders to do the right thing.
“We make bold to say that we do not have another party and we will not allow our leaders to make mistakes that will eventually cause us to lose elections in 2023.”
Activist and Publisher, Omoyele Sowore on Friday criticised former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), for endorsing Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to contest for the office of president in the 2023 general elections.
POLITICS NIGERIA recalls that Babangida had on Thursday expressed his support for Osinbajo when a pressure group, Osinbajo Grassroots Organisation (OGO), paid him a courtesy visit at his Hilltop Residence in Minna, Niger State.
“I know the vice president very well. He is a good man. I have spoken with him a couple of times; he is a good person. We need a good man like Osinbajo at the helm of affairs of this country – someone people can learn from; someone people of goodwill share a common conviction with. He has this great passion for the country and I want other Nigerians to emulate his passion for the good of our country,” Babangida had said.
Reacting, staunch government critic, Sowore fired Nigeria’s past and present rulers.
“Retired, Sick and Tired Babangida “endorses” cowardly Baba Kekere Professor Yemi Osinbajo and he’s jumping all over the place. Why not ask IBB why he couldn’t even get to two PDP party primaries? Jokers!” he wrote on his verified Facebook page.
