Like 1992, Like 2022- Asiwaju Tinubu’s agenda to reclaim denied glory

The build-up to Eagle square is fascinating! It is looking more like the build-up to the famed Jos convention of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1993 when President Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola contested. Abiola won but was denied the victory. Asiwaju Tinubu was TT here all through learning the ropes and paying his dues.

 

For those that can recall, the similarities are awesome now. In 1993, about 30 presidential aspirants emerged under SDP by the option A4 instituted by the Babangida military regime then. The process was that each aspirant must emerge from their wards to the state and then go for primaries. There was tension everywhere leading to the Jos SDP convention and no one could tell who exactly Sheu Musa Yar’Adua who was the leader in SDP was supporting between MKO Abiola and Atiku Abubakar (the two front runners in the Yar’Adua political camp then) with Baba Gana Kingibe as the 3rd gladiator, other aspirants were in Jos to negotiate and many withdrew before the convention having negotiated with the leading contenders.

The tension became thick with the attendant apprehension when the MKO team got to Kaduna for a meeting with delegates and the leader. The leader emerged from the closed-door meeting raising the hands of MKO and Atiku together telling the delegates that the two were his candidates and the SDP delegates should support them. The stage was then set for confusion, bargaining, and horse-trading among others.

At the convention ground in Jos, it was a long night after the first round of elections and MKO won with only 400 votes and Atiku came third behind Kingibe thus setting the stage for a run-off between MKO and Babagana Kingibe

Sleep became elusive and appetites were gone. The only thing that anyone could remember and get involved with was networking, bargaining, and consultation.

At the end of it, MKO Abiola emerged as the flag bearer of the. SDP. Abiola went ahead thereafter and won the general elections. For those that could recollect, Abiola campaigned across Nigeria. He promised to beat the National Republican Convention (NRC) candidate, Bashir Tofa in his ward in Kano. MKO did!!! He surpassed every expectation. He scored 8,341,309 votes winning Kano in the process against NRC’s 5,952,087 The rest is history.

The road to 2023, looks the same, with about 25 aspirants expressing interest in and picking the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential form against Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is not only large-hearted like MKO but has built leaders across the landscape with connections even beyond the shores of Nigeria, you may not be sure where President Muhammadu Buhari stands now, but at least you are sure of where Tinubu stood in 2015 and 2019, you may look at the number of the aspirants in APC now with bewilderment, fear not. Asiwaju Delegates are across the Country steady and ready. They all know where they stand and will be standing come June 6, 2022, at the Eagle Square!!!

For those that may be willing to negotiate to step down, they have their choices and it is commendable and equally a measure of integrity, fairness, and equity that the Northern Governors Forum APC has resolved to yield to the quest of the Southern Nigeria to produce the next President by zoning the position to the south and prevailing on their members to withdraw from the race. As for others still in the race, the signal now is that it is not likely to be as contentious as earlier envisaged by many, and of course, to those who may still not be able to stand the heat in the next few hours, they will be out of the kitchen.

When the going gets tough, the tough will keep marching! The North still holds the aces and Kano leads the pack! Katsina, Oyo, Osun, Lagos, Borno , Niger, kaduna, Sokoto, Adamawa, Nasarawa, among other trusted states, Asiwaju still leads the pack.

The results of this election will NOT be annulled so you must perish the thought if you’re a naysayer or bellicose individual. This is not a military regime! I understand the “anointing” is elusive at this time due to “network failure”.

Use your tongue to count your teeth.

We shall come back from Eagle square with the Mandate secured on a flight of victory.

 

 

‘Bosun Oladele, was a member of the House of Reps 2015-2019, former Commissioner of Information Oyo State, former Nigeria Rep at Ecowas Parliament and Acp-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, now National Secretary SWAGA’23.