theNorthnotbackingTinubu

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ProgressivesGrandAlliance(APGA).

WithoutdoubtTinubu,popularlyknown as Jagaban, has proved himself a true and worthy friend of the North. Reason the North can't afford to turn its back at him.

Luckily, the Villa forces opposed to Tinubu, who haven't proffered any reasonable excuse, other than pure mischief, lack the political sophisticationtopullitoff.Thefactthat Tinubupickedtheticketinspiteoftheir oppositionoughttohave“calmed”them down, but being political novices they seemdeterminedtoreturnthecountryto 1993.

rightly incensed by the utterly primordial campaign that Atiku is mounting, so as to achieve his life ambition.

Atiku's albatross is the fact that he has never been a loyal party member; his loyaltyisonlytohisambition.Whenhe lost the ticket in 2011, to Jonathan, he workedforJonathan'sdefeat.In2015he once again abandoned the PDP, with somegovernors,andalignedwiththeAll ProgressivesCongress,APC,inanopen rebellion against the southern Jonathan claimingthatitwastheNorth'sturn.He ensured that Jonathan was humiliated out of power How can the South-south supportsuchaslipperycharacter?

The one problem with Atiku is that he doesn't seem to learn from the past. So, themorehedesperatelyplotstobecome the president, the more his past catches upwithhim.

Though Atiku managed to clinch the PDP ticket by subterfuge, he has in the process dividedthepartywiththeG-5, ledbyGovernorNyesomWikeofRivers state burying whatever chance that he thought he had in the February 25 election.

Only a desperate Atiku will defeat his pastargumentsagainstJonathanrunning in2015,byinsistingthatpowerremains intheNorthafterBuhari'seightyears.

ThemainangeroftheWikegroupisthe blunt refusal of Atiku to respect the zoning of the presidency between the North and South. For Wike, an Atiku presidency after eight years of MuhammaduBuhariisanegationofthe principle of rotation, which gives each section of the country a sense of belonging. Part of the reason Jonathan wasdefeatedin2015,washisrefusalto respecttheagreedzoningformula. Clearly,Atikubelievesinmaintaininga winning formula, which explains why sinceheemergedasthePDPflagbearer he has mounted the highly dangerous anddivisive“Naka,NaKa”campaign.

ItisbelievedthatAtikuhasalignedwith the same Villa forces which had vigorously pushed Senate President Ahmed Lawan for the presidency, but wereroundlydefeatedbythegovernors, who saw the negative implication for national unity, which the Villa forces blindedbypowerdidn'tsee.

state, who since 2018 has remained consistentinhiscallfortheAPCtoshift powerin2023totheSouth,inaseriesof media engagements has frontally accused the cabal, which Aisha, the president'swife,hadoncereferredtoas hyenasandnotthepresident,ofworking towards the defeat of the APC An allegation that BolaTinubu had equally made.

For El-Rufai, no argument justifies the Northholdingontopoweraftertheeight years of President Buhari, because it's the perfect recipe for crisis, and not in tandem with equity, common reasoning andworseisthatitwillonceagainpitch therestofthecountryagainsttheNorth. El-Rufaisaid,“Iwanttosaythatthoseof us from the North honour agreements. We do not violate unwritten political agreementsandIwillbethelastperson toleadinviolatingthatagreement”.

Butwhat'sthe implicationfortheNorth, if Atiku and the Villa forces get away withthispoliticaltreachery?

Being poor students of history, they seem to have forgotten how the rest of thecountry gangedupagainagainstthe Northin1993,aftertheannulmentofthe elections,believedtohavebeenwonby Chief Abiola. Every northerner was vicariously held responsible for the actionsofBabangidaandhisgroup. The other problem with the defeat of Tinubuisnotsimplythedeathofthefirst ever North- South-west political alliance, but the death of any future political alliance forever It needs be stressed that since independence, the North and the South-west have never workedtogetherpolitically,until2015.

IfTinubu,whohasshownhimselftobea true friend of the North, is rudely betrayed, it will be extremely difficult for any southern politician to trust and work with the North. The Villa forces don't understand that politics is an “I Owe You” (IOU). That the North can nevergoitalone.

In 2007, Tinubu had offered Atiku the presidential ticket of the Action CongressofNigeria(ACN).In2011,he once again offered Nuhu Ribadu the ACN presidential ticket and in 2015 he wholeheartedlysupportedBuharitowin the presidency, by working for the merger of the ACN, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All

Sadly, the power Atiku and his coconspiratorsseekhasneverbeenforthe advancement of their beloved Arewa. The North despite the eight years of Buhari continues to occupy the bottom in all the indexes of human development. The administration to its eternal shame hasn't been able to complete the Kano-Kaduna-Abuja highway, nor tackle the security challengesconfrontingtheregion.

Buhari, who made a tragic mistake of not backing Yemi Osinbanjo, his vice, will be making a bigger one by not supporting Tinubu. It will be a mistake ofhistoricproportion.Itwillnotonlybe a betrayal ofTinubu who helped him to power, but a confirmation of whispers thatheisaselfishperson.

LikeEl-Rufaihasoftenstated,theNorth respects gentleman's agreement, especially as it was agreed upon by the leadership of theAPC prior to the 2015 general elections. El-Rufai's fears that thefatethatbefellthePDPmightbefall theAPC,whichheworkedhardtobirth, isnotawolf'scry

It's common knowledge that the main reason the PDP was defeated in 2015 was its refusal to respect the power rotation agreement enshrined in its constitution If only Jonathan had respected the zoning policy, the party wouldn'thavelostpowertotheAPC. Against this background, it is only logicalfortheAPCnotonlytorotatethe presidencytotheSouth,inkeepingwith the 2015 agreement it reached with the South,buttoensurethatTinubuwins. Thankfully,thesolidsupportoftheAPC governors led by El-Rufai will save the North the embarrassment of betraying Tinubu,whichwouldhavegonedownin history as a stupid politicaltreacheryof someonewhohasstoodsolidlywiththe Northfrom2007to2019.

El-Rufai's vow that the North “will honour our agreement and keep its words on power shift” is not an empty boast. The governors have a history of having consistently defeated the Villa forces, who are political neophytes, unmindful of the implications of their actions.

If per chance theVilla forces andAtiku prevail,itwouldbeaself-inflictedinjury broughtupontheAPCbythepresident's innercircle.

Buharishouldbemindfulofhisplacein history How does he want to be remembered?Thisisaquestionthatthe Villa forces ought to have been concernedwith.

ByDanjumaMusa