Muyiwa Says

Nigerians, Behold The Seven Political Gladiators Set To Retire Buhari In 2023 (pics)

By May 28th, 2023, President Muhammad Buhari would have completed his eight years in office after winning the presidential election in 2015. According to the constitutional limit provided by Nigeria’s 1999 constitution, he would have fulfilled his two-term limit of four years each and is expected to hand over to his successor on May 29th, 2023.

Based on past experiences, the new year 2022 preceding the handover date of May 2023 is going to witness a flurry of political activities. The political temperature will be picking up among the contending registered political parties, especially between the two leading parties, the ruling party, All Progressive Congress (APC), and the opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). As at May 2021, there are currently 18 registered parties by the state electoral commission, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but the battle of supremacy will be between the two.

Let us look at how these two parties are warming up for the political battles ahead, especially for the office of the president in 2023.

PDP

PDP

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has just concluded its national convention in Abuja, with Dr Iyorchia Ayu of the North Central state of Benue emerging as the national chairman, succeeding Chief Uche Secondus from the South South state of Rivers. Other elective positions within the party have been filled, fulfilling the gentleman’s agreement of rotation of political offices between the south and north that was adopted by political parties in Nigeria. The convention was largely successful without rancor or recourse to legal battles in the courts.

The office of the president to be contested has been tentatively left open between the north and south by the PDP. It means any candidate from these zones can vie for the office in 2023, which is viewed by political watchers as jettisoning the rotation principle. The rotational principle was complied with when the late Umaru Yar’adua succeeded Olusegun Obasanjo, and Goodluck Ebele Jonathan contested after completing Yar’adua’s term in 2011.

Curiously, four Nigerians from the north have shown interest in vying for the highest office in the land. They are:

  1. Bukola Saraki, Dr.
  2. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar
  3. Governor Tambuwal of Sokoto state.
  4. Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state.

The first three candidates, including Alhaji Taminu Turaki, are not new to presidential contests; they contested in the last PDP presidential primary. It would be recalled that these four chieftains were among the 12 aspirants that converged on Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, for the 2018 convention, won by Atiku. While the former vice president clinched the ticket with 1,532 votes, Tambuwal, Saraki, and Turaki garnered 693, 317, and 65 votes, respectively.

Bukola Saraki

Bukola Saraki:

Dr. Olubukola AbubakarSaraki, a medical doctor, was born on December 19, 1962. He was the 13th president of the senate of Nigeria from 2015 to 2019. He was previously the governor of north central Kwara state from 2003 to 2011 and was elected to the Senate in 2011, under the PDP, representing the Kwara central senatorial district, and then re-elected in the 2015 general elections under the party of the APC.

On July 31, 2018, he left the ruling party APC and returned to his former party PDP, where he became the opposition leader. Saraki declared his presidential campaign for the PDP presidential ticket in the 2019 election but lost the primaries to Atiku Abubakar. He was subsequently announced as the director general of Atiku Abubakar’s presidential campaign for the 2019 presidential election, which Atiku lost to the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.

Saraki declared his intention publicly when he visited Governor Ortom of Benue State, another north central state like Kwara, and insisted “this time we must stand for our own and charity, they say, begins at home.”

Atiku Abubakar

Atiku Abubakar

Atiku Abubakar, born on November 25, 1946, is a former vice president of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 during the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo. He ran as governor of north-east Adamawa state in 1990, 1997, and later, in 1998, being elected before becoming Olusegun Obasanjo’s running mate during the 1999 presidential election and re-elected in 2003.

Since his entry into politics in 1993, Atiku Abubakar has unsuccessfully contested five times for the office of President of Nigeria in 1993, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019. In 1993, he contested the Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential primaries, losing to Moshood Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe.

He was a presidential candidate of the Action Congress AC in the 2007 presidential election, coming in third behind Umaru Yar’Adua of the PDP and Muhammadu Buhari of the ANPP. He contested the presidential primaries of the PDP during the 2011 presidential election, losing out to incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan. In 2014, he joined the APC ahead of the 2015 presidential election and contested the presidential primaries, losing to Muhammadu Buhari. In 2017, he returned to the PDP and was the party’s presidential candidate during the 2019 presidential election, again losing to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.

Who knows, 2023 could be a redefining moment for this politician and successful business man that has made his mark in Nigerian politics?

Aminu Tambuwal

Aminu Tambuwal

Aminu WaziriTambuwal, born January 10, 1966, is the current governor of north-west Sokoto state in Nigeria, having won election in the 2015 general elections and re-elected in the 2019 general elections. Tambuwal is a member of the PDP and served as the 10th speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria, also representing the Tambuwal/Kebbe Federal Constituency of Sokoto State. From 1999 to 2000, while working as Personal Assistant on Legislative Affairs to Senator Abdullahi Wali, the then Senate Leader, Tambuwal started learning the legislative ropes.

In 2003, he decided to run for a legislative seat as a representative of the Kebbe/Tambuwal Federal Constituency. He was elected into the House of Representatives on the platform of the ANPP.

A few months before the 2007 general elections, he defected to the PDP, alongside the former governor of Sokoto state, Attahiru Bafarawa, to the Democratic People’s Party (DPP). But when the DPP denied return tickets to former ANPP legislators, Tambuwal swung back to the ANPP, where he eventually succeeded in picking up a ticket for the election.

But then again, when the ANPP governorship candidate for Sokoto State in the 2007 election, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, dumped the party for the PDP, Tambuwal also followed suit. He contested the PDP presidential primary, and as I have pointed out earlier, Tambuwal placed second with 693 delegate votes behind Atiku Abubakar, who won.

If he eventually throws his hat into the ring, a number of factors, including his young age among the contestants, political experience, and unblemished records from corruption indictment, may boost his chances in the next presidential election.

Bala Mohammed

Bala Mohammed

“Some of you saw me last week, going around to meet former ministers, senators, and other leaders to discuss it (political ambition). But I have to consult traditional rulers and ulamas too because I need their support. “

This is the public statement the north-east Bauchi state governor, Bala Mohammed, made to show he has the intention of running for the office of president in the 2023 election.

Bala Mohammed, born on October 5, 1958, was a former minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 2010 to 2015. He was a senator between 2007 and 2010. He is a leading member of the opposition PDP.

He cannot be pushed away if he’s determined because he has successfully fought many political battles, especially against his political godfather and his predecessor in office, Isa Yuguda, to become Bauchi governor. He started as a senior special assistant to Governor Isa Yuguda from 2000 to 2005 before he was elected as a senator under the ANPP. He fell out with his boss and decamped to the PDP when Yuguda married President Umaru Yar’Adua’s daughter. Following the death of Umaru Yar’Adua, Mohammed joined the PDP and became a close associate of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Bala Mohammed was appointed minister of the Federal Capital Territory in March 2010. He was appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan following his brave role in ensuring the ascension of then vice president Goodluck Jonathan to the presidency, following concerted efforts by the cabal of the Yar’Adua government to stop Goodluck Jonathan.

APC

APC

The ruling party has scheduled the national convention party for February 5, 2022, as affirmed by the presidency and the caretaker committee headed by Mai Mala Buni, the governor of Yobe state. Other members of the committee are Ken Nnamani, Stella Okorete, James Lalu, Abubakar Yusuf, Akinyemi Olaide, David Leon, Abba Ari, Tahir Mamman, and Ismail Ahmed.

So far, vice president Yemi Osinbajo, Kogi state governor Yahaya Bello, and APC national leader Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu have expressed interest in running for president. Although the aspirations of the two (Osinbajo and Tinubu) have been kept under wraps, there is visible jostling and structures are being built across the nation to actualise their dreams.

Kayode Fayemi, the governor of Ekiti state, was previously rumored to be a presidential candidate, but little has been heard of him in recent months.

Yemi Osinbajo

Yemi Osinbajo

Oluyemi Oluleke Osinbajo, a professor of law, was born on March 8, 1957, and is currently the vice president of Nigeria since May 29, 2015. Osinbajo is married to Dolapo (née Soyode) Osinbajo, a granddaughter of Obafemi Awolowo. 

In 1981, he was employed as a law lecturer at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. From 1983 to 1986, he was a senior lecturer in law at the University of Lagos. From 1988 to 1992, he was an adviser (legal advice and litigation) to the attorney-general and minister of justice, Bola Ajibola. Osinbajo began lecturing at the age of 23. From 1997 to 1999, he was made professor of law and head of the department of public law at the University of Lagos. From 1999 to 2007, Osinbajo was a member of the cabinet and the Lagos state ministry of justice, also serving as attorney-general and commissioner for justice. Yemi Osinbajo was the pastor in charge of Lagos Province 48 of the Redeemed Christian Church of God.

As a prominent member after the formation of the party in 2013, Osinbajo was tasked with other notable Nigerians to design and produce a manifesto for the new political party. This culminated in the presentation of the “Roadmap to a New Nigeria”, a document published by the APC as its manifesto if elected to power. The highlights of the roadmap included a free school meal plan and a conditional cash transfer to the 25 million poorest Nigerians if they enroll children in school and immunize them.

On December 17, 2014, the presidential candidate of the APC, Muhammadu Buhari, announced Osinbajo as his running mate and vice-presidential candidate for the 2015 general elections. On March 31, 2015, Buhari was confirmed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the presidential elections. Thus, Osinbajo became the vice president-elect of Nigeria. They were both sworn in on May 29, 2015.

Almost completing his second term in office with President Buhari, Osinbajo has shown interest in contesting the presidential election in 2023 with a supporter group under the aegis of the Progressives Consolidation Group (PCG) promoting his candidacy. The PCG has received approval from the APC to canvass support for his emergence as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 presidential election. If he succeeds, he will be the only vice president in Nigeria’s political history to succeed his boss.

Bola Tinubu

Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu, born on March 29, 1952, is an accountant, former governor of south-west Lagos state and a national leader of the ruling party, APC. He was Lagos state governor from 1999 to 2007.

He attended St. John’s Primary School, Aroloya, Lagos, and a children’s home school in Ibadan, south-west Nigeria. Tinubu then went to the United States in 1975, where he studied first at Richard J. Daley College in Chicago, Illinois, and then at Chicago State University. He graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting. Tinubu worked for American companies like Arthur Andersen, Deloitte, Haskins & Sells, and GTE Services Corporation. After returning to Nigeria in 1983, Bola Tinubu joined Mobil Oil Nigeria, and later became an executive of the company.

His political career began in 1992, when he joined the SDP, where he was a member of the People’s Front PF faction led by Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and made up of other politicians such as Umaru Yar’Adua, Atiku Abubakar, Baba Gana Kingibe, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila, Magaji Abdullahi, Dapo Sarumi, and Yomi Edu. He was elected to the senate, representing the Lagos West constituency in the short-lived Nigerian Third Republic.

In January 1999, he stood for the position of governor of Lagos State on the Alliance for Democracy AD ticket and was elected governor. Tinubu’s tenure as governor ended on May 29, 2007, when his successor, Babatunde Fashola of the Action Congress, took office.

In 2007, following the landslide victory of the PDP in the April 2007 elections, he played an active role in the merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and the new PDP (nPDP), a faction of serving governors of the then ruling PDP into the APC.

In 2014, Tinubu supported former military head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari, who had previously contested and lost in the 2003, 2007, and 2011 presidential elections. In 2015, Buhari rode the APC to victory, ending the sixteen-year rule of the PDP and marking the first time in the history of Nigeria that an incumbent president lost to an opposition candidate.

In 2019, he supported Buhari’s re-election campaign, defeating the PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar. In 2020, following an internal party crisis that led to the removal of Tinubu ally and party chairman Adams Oshiomole, it is believed the move was to scuttle Tinubu’s presidential prospects ahead of 2023. Undaunted like a Trojan soldier, he has inaugurated the South West Agenda for Asiwaju 2023 (SWAGA 23) to actualise his ambition.

Yahaya Bello

Yahaya Bello

Yahaya Adoza Bello, born on June 18, 1975, is currently the governor of north central Kogi state. He was born in Okene, in a senatorial zone that has never produced a governor. Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1995 and obtained an accounting degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1999. Yahaya Bello further enrolled in a master’s program at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, where he obtained a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) in 2002. In 2004, Bello became a chartered fellow of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria. How he became governor was more of a twist of fate.

Bello was declared winner of the 2015 Kogi gubernatorial election after he was chosen on the platform of the APC as the replacement for the late Abubakar Audu, who originally won the election but died before the result was declared. On November 16, 2019, Bello was elected to a second term after he defeated PDP nominee Musa Wada by over 200,000 votes. Bello is the youngest governor in Nigeria and the only governor to be born after the Nigerian civil war. Almost completing his second term in office, Bello has declared his intention to run for the office of president in the 2023 general elections.

All things being equal, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, Nigerians, meet the seven political titans who are ready to retire Muhammadu Buhari to his Daura farm in Katsina state in 2023.

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