2023: Tinubu briefs Buhari on Presidential ambition
…Describes ambition as life-long
…Says NASS, Presidency’s resolution on electoral amendment to guide 2023 game
By Moses Adeniyi
All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has broken from silence as he disclosed on Monday his intention to contest the 2023 presidency seat, a development clearing the doubts and speculations of many.
The former Governor of Lagos State and the APC stalwart made the disclosure following his declaration visit to President Muhammadu Buhari to make his intention known.
Tinubu who said his official declaration to Nigerians is still on hold following the need for broad consultations, made his intention public to State House Correspondent, after a closed door meeting with President Buhari on Monday at the Aso Rock Villa.
Tinubu who described Buhari as a democrat said the President has not asked him to stop the pursuit of his ambition which for him is life-long.
“I have informed the President of my intention but I’ve not informed Nigerians yet. I am still consulting and I have no problem consulting and I have not set a parameter of limitation to the extent of how many people will I consult.
“You will soon hear all you want to hear; it is a categorical declaration. You’ve gotten that truth from me that I have informed Mr President of my ambition,” he said.
The former governor of Lagos State stressed that he has “the confidence, vision, and capacity” to build on the foundation laid by Buhari to “make Nigeria better.”
Tinubu who said the antecedence of his capacity and commitment could be easily traced to his achievements while he served as Lagos State Governor, said: “In Lagos State you’ve seen that experience and capacity to turn things around and that is what we are doing.
“The drift of the past in PDP is being corrected and you can’t take away from that,” he said, berating the era of the People’s Democratic Party in the Country.
Recall that a number of groups drumming support for the APC stalwart have recently surfaced with mobilisation campaigns to garner support for him (Tinubu).
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had in October 2021 inaugurated the South-West Agenda 2023, a political movement mobilising support for Tinubu to contest the 2023 presidential election.
Speculations of his intention to contest the 2023 presidency seat began to take course following strategic moves sensed by observers on Tinubu’s part in recent times – a development that has sparked varying thoughts and reactions.
Chances of Tinubu’s bid taking force of reckon is believed by pundits to be driven by the course of the call for power shift from the North to the South, though ambitions from Northern political gladiators have not ceased to surface.
Tinubu who served two terms as Lagos State Governor between May 1999 and May 2007, has maintained a strong influence within the Nigerian political space. He is believed to be the grand godfather and kingmaker of Lagos politics.
The influence of Tinubu is known to have expanded with the strategic role he played in the political marriage that brought in the APC which seized power from the PDP in 2015. Since 2019, speculations that the APC leader would contest for the Presidency seat of the Country began to surface following observations of his strategic political dispositions.
Although some believe the APC stalwart should maintain his well pronounced role as a “king-maker,” “elder “statesman,” and a “national party leader,” the APC leader argued his ambition remains unchanged.
Responding to questions on the king-maker concept – a status which some have argued that he should maintain, rather than running for the presidential seat, Tinubu said, “About the cap of king-maker, I have never seen the cap of a king maker before and I have never seen where it is written in the rule book, any where in any Country, that a king-maker cannot be a king. So, whatever is your attribute, it’s your own opinion. (As for me), I want to pursue my ambition without the title of a king maker.”
He assured that, “it is certain the APC would hold the expected convention.”
On the electoral amendment bill, he mentioned that the outcome of the resolutions between the National Assembly and the Presidency would be the rule guiding the game for 2023, stating that “whatever they come out with on electoral amendment is what we must comply with. We have to plan and plan well and be able to manage the time effectively.”
