Nigeria 2023: Cracks In Tinubu’s Political Empire

Cracks In Tinubu’s Political Empire

OpenLife Nigeria reports that as the countdown to the 2023 general election begins, there seems to be major cracks on the political walls of one of the major contenders for the position of President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Tinubu who was Lagos State governor from 1999 to 2007 had stylishly oiled his political machinery so much so that by the time a coalition was formed in 2013 to oust then ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, from office, Tinubu, without doubt, became the arrow head of the syndicate that led the war which, for the first time, defeated an incumbent President in Nigeria.
Political observers have severally noted that his cohesive south west political enclave was reasonably responsible for his current position as national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
However, that does not seem to be anymore.
First is the decision by Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s Vice President and product of Tinubu’s political dynasty, to declare interest in the 2023 presidential race.
The declaration has caused sharp division within the rank and file of Tinubu’s loyalists.
Second is the 2022 governorship election in Osun State where Rauf Aregbesola, a core Tinubu’s loyalist, has drawn the battle line with his political boss.
To demonstrate this, Aregbesola on Monday, lambasted those he once trusted politically, accusing them of betrayal.
The former governor of Osun State from 2010 to 2018 declared that enough is enough for the politics of godfatherism and enthronement by treacherous leaders who equated themselves to the status of a god.
The 64-year-old minister said he trusted All Progressives Congress National Leader, Bola Tinubu, but the ex-governor of Lagos State repaid him with betrayal.
Aregbesola accused Tinubu; a former APC interim chairman and ex-governor of Osun State, Bisi Akande, of foisting the current governor of the state, Gboyega Oyetola, on the people, against popular will.
Aregbesola, who leads an APC faction in the state and who had been engaged in a feud with his successor, Oyetola, accused the incumbent governor of not consolidating on his eight-year achievements.
Aregbesola, therefore, called on the party members in Osun to support a former Secretary to the State Government, Moshood Adeoti, in Saturday’s governorship primary.
He also said just as ex-governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, was rejected by APC members in 2019 for working against the laid down rules, Oyetola would be thrown out of office after just a term.
The minister, who declared that the present administration in the state had deviated from the true tenets of the APC, also accused those at the helms of affairs of jettisoning true democracy and the principles which the party and its heroes stand for.
The former governor spoke in the Ijebu Jesa area of the state while addressing members of the APC ahead of Saturday’s governorship primary election.
The aspirants warming up for the party primary include the incumbent governor, Oyetola; former Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives, Yusuff Lasun; and former Secretary to the State Government, Adeoti; who recently returned to the ruling APC in June 2020, from the Action Democratic Party.
Aregbesola and Tinubu had been decade-long political associates. The former was Director of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Campaign Organisation who drove the electoral victory of Bola Tinubu in 1999 and also ensured Tinubu’s return to office in 2003. Aregbesola was also Commissioner of Works and Infrastructure while Tinubu was Lagos governor.
Many keen observers had watched suspiciously the worsening relationship between Tinubu and Aregbesola. The minister was not seen visiting Tinubu in London when he was hospitalised for over three months for knee surgery and when over 100 notable politicians turned the APC leader’s London home to a Mecca of sorts in 2021. Also, Aregbesola has not been seen associating himself with the 2023 presidential ambition of Tinubu.
Aregbesola has been having a running tussle with Oyetola over what he termed poor leadership and over what appeared to be a struggle for the control of the APC organs in Osun State.