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2023:WhyIWillVoteforTinubu
from Asiwaju
ByDr AliyuU.Tilde
On25February2023,Iwillpick this voter's card, walk to the pollingcentreandcastmyvote for His Excellency, Chief Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the Jagaban Borgu. This is a firmcommitmentgivenafterahistoryof association, honour, demographic reality, constitutional requirement, weighing pros and cons as well as the personalities of the candidate and his runningmate.
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Association
In 2011, I supported the presidential candidature of Nuhu Ribadu. Together we travelled and met with the Jagaba manytimesinLagos.WhyIpitchedmy tent with Ribadu then, apart from sharing many things like age, world view, personality, background, geography, etc, was the firm belief that no matter how popular is a northern candidate, he needs to crossover to the South for additional votes and geographic spread that the constitution stipulates. For Buhari to run again that year, 2011, after two previous unsuccessful attempts, would be an exerciseinfutilityasitindeedprovedto be after failure of the last minute CPC/ACN merger attempt then. The resultsdidnottietowarrantthesecond roundascalculatedinBuhari'squarters. In2015themergerwasdoneandvictory was achieved. Elections are about law andnumbers.Nomagic.
There will hardly be any southerner better fit for the position of a partner to the North than the Jagaba today He is ourAbiola,ifnotbetter Assomeofmy readersrightlysaid,hehaspatronizedus many times: Atiku in 2007 under AC, Ribadu in ACN (2011) and Buhari in APC (2015).This is a consistent friend inneed.Honourbegetsreciprocity
Victimization
Furthermore, I am aware that the Muslim identity of the Jagaba has been used to disenfranchise him politically three times. In 2011, Buhari was not keenonthemergerthatrequiredPastor BakaretowithdrawforTinububecause he Buhari was opposed to a MuslimMuslim ticket after receiving over a decade of bashing from the southern pressovershariah.
In2015,Tinubuwasbluntlyandbrutally told at a caucus meeting that he cannot deputize for Buhari because he was Muslim He swallowed that and presentedOsinbajo.
For the third time, for 2023, the some peoplewanttocrucifyhimforpickinga Muslim as deputy against all odds. He believes that the Muslim identity of his runningmatewillearnhimthewinning voteandchoosingaNorthernChristian that will upset the Muslims will deny himourvote.
HowhonorablewouldIlookifIwouldI turn my back against a friend in need who earlier provided platforms for my brothersandnowbelieveinmycapacity to rescue him? What if my son will contestthePresidencytomorrowandhe goes to the Southwest to ask for support?Andthatdaywillcome,whena northerner will again be in need of that alliance. Let us behave wisely 2023 is not the end of Nigeria. We must guard thehonourthatweareknownfor
RepeatDisaster
Southernpartnersofthenorthhavebeen changingovertheyearsbuttheyremain constantlyrelevant.TheNorthmustnot return to those days of serial losses by promoting a candidate acceptable only to it.This is the situation that theAtiku ticketpresentstoday,regrettably
Ourbrother,theWazirinAdamawa,His Excellency,AlhajiAtikuAbubakar,has failed, against all advice, to patiently nurturethesupportoftheSouth-southin 2011 after losing the ticket to the incumbent Instead, he supported BuharioftheopposingCPC.Worsestill, in2015heabandonedthethePDP,led5 governors in rebel against the southern President, claiming that it was the north's turn, and decamped to APC to humiliate Jonathan out of power Now he has gone to the south-south cup in handandtheypaidhimbackinhisown coins.
Still after Bubari's 8 years, in 2022, he blockedtheemergenceofSoutheastand south-south candidates, claiming that rotationisapartymatter Thisproduced PeterObiticketandtheG5;twoblocks that will deny him the traditional PDP votesintheSoutheastandSouth-south. Southwest is already effectively blockedagainsthimbyTinubu. The Waziri is effectively left with the North Here, Benue, Plateau and Southern Kaduna are not likely to vote for “another Fulani”, as we heard them declare repeatedly The votes of the Muslim North are themselves divided for and against him, not united as they were for Buhari. Borno and Yobe, will massively vote for APC The ruling party even for kinship will also take KwaraandKogi.Thenincumbencywill retain for APC the states of Kaduna, Niger, Zamfara, Gombe and possibly Katsina.Yes, Waziri will getAdamawa and Taraba and possibly Sokoto and Kebbi. Bauchi and Nasarawa are still uncertainforhim.
ThenasBabachirandsomeanti-muslim irredentists are threatening northern Muslims of humiliation, a block vote, including Kano, in favour of MuslimMuslimticketispossible.Thatwillseal thefateofAtikudecisively
Now,Thiscalculusdoesnotadduptoan electoralwininanyway Itisarecipefor the disasters of 2003, 2007 and 2011 to repeatthemselves.
ExistentialThreat
Babachir'sinsolenceisanevilthatmust be disproved and defeated by both Muslims and Christians Those who failedtoearntheAPCVPticketshould return and introspect on why they were not electorally viable enough to win it, not resort to blackmailing and threatening 120 million Muslims. That willonlyprovetheeviltheyare,which made it right for the Jagaba to reject them. Nobody can publicly say he will teach 120 million citizens a lesson and be allowed to succeed unless if those citizensareworsethandonkeys.Nolion can stand an army of 120 million donkeys.
Now Babachir's insult has pushed even the reluctant Muslims to prove their electoral worth as they are increasingly rallying behind the Muslim-Muslim ticket The majority well-meaning Christians should also do the same
Babachir is posing an existential threat toallnortherners.IfthereisaChristian thatwillbefairtoMuslimstomorrow,I andmanyMuslimswillvoteforhim,as many of us did for Obasanjo and Jonathanbetween1999and2011.Buta genocidal psychopath of whatever religion does not deserve to be even a deputy local government chairman anywhere in this country Let us leave himtogrumbleandcrumblealone.
SamefaithticketsarenotnewinNigeria and they are presently practiced in all predominantly Christian States like Plateau, Benue, Edo and even in a number of Southwestern states where Muslims are predominant Their Muslims have not threatened national security for their selfish reasons as Babachirandhisgangaredoinguphere. Tam.
ProsandCons
Beyond the acquaintance, honour of reciprocity, averting past electoral disasters suffered by the North and the existential challenge of the Babachirs, the Tinubu/ Shettima ticket presents a lot of pros which my readers expressed when I asked their opinion on the my Facebook page last week. I share the viewsofthosewhoareconvincedofthe Jagaba's record performance in Lagos, arguably the best that the country has knownofagovernorsince1999,which, according to the readers,came from his courage, team work, modernity, foresight,talenthunting,etc.
For a person who also believes in efficiency, I cannot but be attracted to the Jagaba Nigeria needs system upgrading and in some areas even disk reformatting. The Jagaba is the perfect person with the record to handle that squarely No one better than him can pursue digital reform in commerce, taxation, education, governance, communications, etc. His pragmatism andpenchantformodernityisneededto solveoursecurityandotherchallenges. Who can project the success story of Lagosatthenationallevelbetterthanits original author—the Jagaba? None of my readers has denied him these qualities.
From among my readers who are opposedtotheTinubuPresidencyarea number of cons which arise from five sources:theperceivedlimitationsofage and much touted fake stories of his sickness; the accusation of supporting OPC to kill Hausas in Lagos while he was governor; the perception of tribalism,astheIgboandHausatooare accused of by others; his affiliation to APC and the President, considering what the readers consider as the failure of the government in many areas in the past 8 years; and the predominantly Christiannatureofhishouse.
Well on the first and last issue, the runner-up candidate, the Waziri of Adamawa, cannot completely acquit himself of them either He too is old. Being over 70 he must have evidently slowed down and he cannot disclaim having age associated illnesses. Above 60,onemusthaveoneortwo.Theyboth have slip tongues as a President Buhari Buhari did in Germany and suffers issuesofmemorymanytimes.Joswere both misnamed their parties—PDAPC and APDP was no coincidence Kwankwaso had it once in Kano too: NPCP Mischief makers do not deserve ourattention.
Evenat61,IhavehadmanytimesthatI could not recall names instantly The brain just fails to retrieve the information from the disk as fast as when I was much younger I had the privilegeofmeetingtheJagabarecently andwassurprisedthathenegatedthose stories by holding me to a night conversation of one hour after a long day he had in Ebonyi. I watched him appear from his room, walked towards me straight, shook my hands and sat right beside me. There is no sign, then and not in his appearance at Chattam House and the BBC a week later, of a debilitatingsicknessaspurportedandhe appearstogetincreasinglystronger
Inanycase,thestrengthofanyleaderis notintheclassofhisweight;otherwise, America would have made Tyson a President. It is in the people a leader rallies around him. To be fair to the Jagaba whose talent-hunting obsession is renowned, his Presidency as an theOPCcame,wehadnoexperienceof Plateau, Boko Haram and Bandits. Is it justified for anyone now to equally accuse Governors Sheriff, Shettima, Zulum, Yari, El-rufa'i or even the Presidentwhohasallourwararsenalof being supporters or financiers or Boko Haram or Bandits? What will be our reaction—believehimorrefutehim?So if the late Sheikh Jafar were alive, he wouldhavewithdrawnhisfatwaonthe Jagaba for he would have known the hardwaythatGovernorsdonothavethe power of controlling high level violence.Theycanonlycooperatewith the Federal Government, which the JagabadidandOPCwasquelledthough not before it left many innocents dead, as Boko Haram and bandits are doing today
Allthemajortribesaccuseeachotherof tribalism.PresidentBuhariisaccusedof preferring Hausa Muslims in appointments The Hausa see the the successes of the President and has promised to build on his good works. Wherenecessary,hewillchangecourse, surely IamBolaAhmedTinubu,hetold the BBC Come again Is the alternative the PDP in a better positionthantheAPCwhenitcomesto failureofadministration?
Soputgenerally,theprosoftheTinubu Presidency would by far outweigh its cons. Yet, there is another pillar of the ticket we must mention before we concludethispiece—thebackup.
KashimShettima
In his choice of a running mate, the Jagaba has made a very strategic one. Choosing Kashim earns him not only a reliableandloyalVP,butalsoacredible one His Excellency, Alhaji Kashim Shettima,theformerGovernorofBorno State and a present senator, is not only highly competent but also carries a political aura that can shelter the entire North, coming from the prestigious institution will run unhindered by his age He cannot have our bests, the Kashims, Elrufai's, the Ribadus , the Hadizas,theModibbos,theArabis,etc. andfailtoperform.Butifhewillresort to family and friends instead of competence,thenIconcedethathisage will become aggravating. He is not as old as Mahathir Mohammed or Joe Biden after all, not minding similar attacks from Trump during the 2020 campaignsaboutthelatter
Intheend,asMuslims,wemustbelieve that“nosoulshalldieexceptbythewill ofGod,adecreedetermined”,asHesaid in the Qur'an. Period. Furthermore, the constitutionhasforeseenthatandmade the necessary provisions, whether an electedPresidentislivingordead.
TheChristiancomponentoftheWaziri's family cannot be denied and neither is he a better practicing Muslim than the Jagaba. None of them is a Sheikh or Imam,anyway
The OPC related killings cannot be ascribedtohimjustbecausehewasthe Governor of Lagos. We northerners in particular must understand that by now better than anyone. Unfortunately for the Jagaba, he was the Guinea Pig of insurrection in this dispensation. When
Yoruba as more tribal though. But the Jagabahassetarecordhere.Morethan any governor, he has elevated nonnatives of Lagos including Hausas to levels of commissioners, helped many grow their businesses in Lagos including Dangote. Of course, as with Buhari in 1984 or Elrufai in FCT and now Kaduna, anyone wanting to modernizecitieshastoencroachintothe business spaces of the common man who is fond of erecting illegal structures The Jagaba cannot modernize Lagos by magic. He has to touch such structures belonging to commonerstoo.Butallsaid,Ithinkhis inclination for merit in administration willblunthisnaturalinstinctofkinship, whichweallshareanyway Hemaynot give 3 ministries to a single Hausaman as Buhari did to Fashola but he will not suppress northern talent at all. His record denies thatflatly
Finally, there is nothing he can do regarding the failure of APC He is undoubtedly its chieftain but not more. The President and members of his cabinetshouldcarrytheircross—andso should governors, each in his own domain. The Jagaba has acknowledged
Kanuri tribe and with the personal humility to listen, respect, engage and accommodateall.Heisamongourbest.
TheJagabadidnotlookforalackluster yesmanofnofirmroots.Hewentfora talent that is both loyal and strong enoughtosupportthePresident,humble enough to follow him and honest enoughtocautionhim.Thatismyfriend andmaster,Kashim.WiththeJagabaas the President and him as the VP, I can find no safer shelter among the 2023 presidentialcamps.
ComewithMe
Thesearemyreasonsforansweringthe call to support the Tinubu/Shettima ticket.AndIcalloneverydispassionate mind to do so for the sake of unity and progress of our country I am not only promisingthiscausemyvoteandthatof myfamily,butIwillworkhardtoearnit manymore,asmuchasmytalent,body andresourcescanaffordmeinthenext twomonths.Comewithme.
May God be with us and guide us to what is best for our dear country as we vote for the next President on 25 February2023.
