hehehe......The prolonged cold war between President
Muhammadu Buhari and his erstwhile close political associate and
South-West political strongman, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, may soon come to an
end.
Reliable sources within the party told Fidelis Chidi blog during the week that the two sides began planning to bury the hatchet
during a recent meeting that President Buhari held with some of Tinubu’s
loyalists in Aso Rock.
The President had met with the trio of
Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, former Osun governor, Chief Bisi
Akande, and Senator Olusola Adeyeye last week Sunday. The sources also
said both parties agreed that the President needed to take some
confidence-boosting measures to restore Tinubu’s faith in him.
The two men reportedly fell out
following what Tinubu and his loyalists saw as attempts to diminish his
contributions to President Buhari’s victory at the 2015 poll and erode
his political capital in his South-West base. Some supporters of the
former governor had also complained that the President rejected Tinubu’s
ministerial nominees, and worked against the ex-Lagos governor’s
candidates in the Kogi elections and Ondo governorship primary, among
other ills.
A reliable source who was privy to the
events that culminated in the meeting said its seeds were planted during
President Buhari’s three-day state visit to Germany. Prior to that
time, Buhari and Tinubu had not had any private communication in a
while. But the source said the President contacted Akande, who is one of
Tinubu’s closest associates and a former Interim Chairman of the APC,
asking him to see him in Aso Rock.
The President’s call reportedly came barely 48 hours after the controversial interview the President’s wife, Aisha, granted the British Broadcasting Corporation.
In the interview which went viral, the president’s wife accused her
husband of neglecting those who helped him to power in 2015. Mrs. Buhari
also threatened not to support her husband in 2019 if the President did
not change tack.
Sources said although both men’s
relationship began to sour almost as soon as Buhari won the election, it
deteriorated when Professor John Paden, in his book titled ‘Muhammadu
Buhari: Challenges of Leadership,’ claimed that Tinubu was against the
emergence of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as Vice President. Both Buhari and
Tinubu were present at the book launch.
Insiders say this did not go down well
with Tinubu and his men, as the All Progressives Congress national
leader’s camp saw it as yet another attempt by the President and his men
to reduce his contributions to the emergence of the APC government and
also rewrite history.
Shortly after, Tinubu in a scathing open
letter asked the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John
Odigie-Oyegun, to step down, after alleging that the chairman doctored
results of the Ondo State APC governorship primary. Odigie-Oyegun, a
former Edo State governor, who had been cautious in his initial response
to Tinubu’s letter, paid a visit to Buhari in Aso Rock and thereafter
launched an attack on Tinubu, describing his letter as ‘reckless.’
Seeing that he was fast losing at the
centre, the APC chieftain, popularly known as the Jagaban (of Borgu),
started reaching out to his political foes in the South-West in order to
consolidate his influence in the region. With several meetings held,
Tinubu’s most vocal critics such as Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State,
Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Sir Olanihun Ajayi, among others, began to drum up
support for him publicly.
A source in the presidency told our
correspondent that Akande, who cut short his trip abroad to see the
President, did not mince words during the meeting.
The source, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said Akande told Buhari that despite the roles Tinubu and the
South-West played in making him President, he had relegated the APC
national leader and the region.
The source said, “Baba Akande told the
President that they were not happy with him. He told Buhari that apart
from not giving Tinubu sufficient consideration during the ministerial
appointments, everything that played out in the Kogi and Ondo elections
showed that the President was supporting Asiwaju’s enemies.
“Baba also said Paden’s book was a major
slight and that they believed the President was aware of the content of
the book before it went public. He further said some of the people
around Buhari were hell-bent on ensuring that the President and Tinubu
became enemies because of what they would gain from the crisis.”
The source stated that Buhari countered
that he was unhappy with the acrimony in the ruling party and that he
had tried to be fair to all parties. But Akande was said to have
disagreed with the President in his response, and cited further
examples.
We further gathered
that Akande told the President to take practical steps to show that he
was not fighting Tinubu and the South-West. While listing their demands,
Akande and others told him that they needed to see more representation
of those that helped him to power during the next cabinet reshuffle.
There have been reports that a cabinet change is imminent.
Akande, who travelled abroad after the
meeting with Buhari, could not be reached for comments, but a top APC
member close to him confirmed details of the meeting, saying, “They want
Buhari to accept Tinubu’s list when he makes changes in his cabinet.
They specifically told him that they are only in support of one of the
South-West ministers in his cabinet. They also asked him to get the
party leadership to hold the National Executive Council meetings
regularly while also facilitating the constitution of the party’s board
of trustees.”
A source close to the South-West
leadership of the party disclosed to one of our correspondents that
Akande and Aregbesola had met at the former’s residence in Ila-Orangun
two Wednesdays ago before meeting the President.
Akande had been honoured by the Catholic
Diocese in Otan-Ayegbaju, Osun State, where a school was inaugurated in
his name. The late mother of a former Governor of Osun State, Prince
Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who hailed from Otan-Ayegbaju, was also honoured by
the church, which inaugurated a multipurpose hall in her honour.
APC leaders, members and supporters,
including Aregbesola, who thronged the venue of the ceremony,
accompanied Akande to Ila-Orangun as a mark of respect.
It was gathered that Aregbesola and
Akande held a meeting at Akande’s residence, where they discussed the
face-off between Buhari and Tinubu.
The source said, “We were at
Otan-Ayegbaji together. We later accompanied Baba Akande to Ila-Orangun
after the Otan-Ayegbaju ceremony. When we got to Ila-Orangun, both the
governor and Baba Akande went inside for a very long time. I’m sure that
was where the decision to intervene in the matter was taken.
“When they met Buhari, they complained
about the marginalisation of Tinubu’s men. At the meeting, Aregbesola
said they (Tinubu loyalists) were not out to fight Buhari, but that the
President should consider the Tinubu group in terms of appointments.
“Buhari told them that he was not out to undermine Tinubu’s group and that things would change in the coming days.”
The Senior Special Assistant to the
President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in an interview with one
of our correspondents, said he was not aware of what transpired during
the meeting between the President and the APC chieftains.
He said, “I am not aware of what was
discussed with the President in the said meeting. As a matter of fact,
it is not the nature of the President to disclose what people discuss
with him in confidence during meetings.”
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