APC Crisis: How Tinubu and Atiku are plotting 2019 takeover of Presidency

Ahead of 2019 general elections, the former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji  Atiku Abubakar and former Lagos governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu are plotting to form a new political party which is being positioned to take over Presidency  from President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.

Topnaija.ng gathered that the two powerful politicians who played prominent roles in the formation of ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and subsequent election of General Muhammadu Buhari into presidency felt betrayed with the turn of events in the party when Buhari became president.

Tinubu, then the national leader of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) with five state governors Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Raji Fashola ( Lagos), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Abiola Ajumobi( Oyo) and Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) teamed up with Atiku who led governors Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Rabi’u Kwankwaso (Kano), Murtala Nyako(Adamawa) and Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara).The Congress  for Progressive Change (CPC), which was President Buhari’s party had just one governor in Nasarawa State, Alhaji Umar Tanko Al-Makura..

President Buhari won in all the states from the two blocks except Rivers and Ekiti states. Surprisingly, he also lost Nasarawa state to PDP.

However, the body language of the President and his close aides have shoved the two men away and there is increased animosity between the two power brokers and the presidency.

“That is an indication that if the two men team up, anything can happen, it’s just that Asiwaju is just being careful, once beaten, twice shy,” he added

“What happened in Ondo APC primary is an indication of what will happen in 2019,”a senior official of Tinubu’s camp told Topnaija.ng.

“It is disgusting, annoying, insulting and provoking that a governor from the north will determine who gets what in Yorubaland, it’s not just a slap on Tinubu’s face but on the Yoruba’s face, “he added.

“However, its not only in APC that we have disquiet, even in PDP and other parties, there are issues everywhere’

Last week, former President Olusegun Obasanjo described PDPas already in the hands of undertakers preparatory to burial, the APC is at an intensive care unit because its internal organs were seriously hemorrhaging.

In 2007, both men came together to form ACN with Atiku as the standard bearer of the party but lost against the late Umar Yar Adua in a hotly contested election. The late Yar Adua later admitted that the election that produced him as the president was not free and fair.

However, a former House of Representatives member from a Southwest state who was at the APC leadership meeting last week said although nothing of such was discussed at the meeting, the consensus among the leaders from the zone is that Asiwaju Tinubu, the face of the party in the geo-political zone is not well treated in the party and this is causing disquiet among them.

“Asiwaju and Atiku are friends but you all know those who didn’t contribute to the victory have sidelined them but the issue of the mega party is not yet on the table but then even among us, we know something is cooking, when a rumour is becoming persistent and strong, anything can happen, by next year, things will be clearer”, he said.

Another loyalist of Asiwaju said all the ministers and governors from southwest who are romancing with strangers to insult Tinubu would sooner or later regret their actions.

“There is a particular governor in Southwest who thinks because he is close to Buhari, he can rubbish Tinubu, he avoids Tinubu and has been boasting around that he will disgrace Tinubu in his state in 2019, to those ones, we shall cross the bridge when we get there,” he said.

Topnaija.ng gathered that at the last week’s meeting, all the APC leaders in the southwest were directed to keep the register of the members intact.

“No reason was given for the directive”.

On the part of Atiku, he was irked by the re-admission of former anti-corruption czar, Nuhu Ribadu into the party after he met with the national chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun against such. It is believed that Ribadu will reduce the political influence of the man who recommended him to former President Obasanjo as the most appropriate person to head EFCC then.

“APC has failed Nigerians, how do we convince them to vote for the party again with this economic mess. This was not Tinubu, Atiku and other leaders of the party wanted when they formed the party. No one is even sure of our debt profile and the president wants to borrow another $29.9bn, there is need for re-appraisal of this union”

However, Engineer Segun Oni, who is the Deputy National Chairman, South, of the APC, in a recent interview, said sore losers are behind the realignment moves. “I have not attended any meeting for any realignment. So, I am not aware. But let me say that right from day one, the losers in this scheme have always been talking of alignment. Don’t forget that when we started, they didn’t even wait for us to spend one year before they started talking of alignment. That is always the mentality of losers. They would always look for a new thing. The winners would always try to promote continuity psychologically,” he said.

“Where we have crises, we are going to resolve them. If there is political alignment going on, I am not aware of it. But our responsibility is to run the APC very well so that whatever problems we have, we can resolve them. That is what we are here to do. If there is anybody who has been attending meetings as it is termed meeting for realignment, good luck to them,” Oni added.

Oni on host to Fayose in his Ifaki-Ekiti country home. No reason was given for the surprise visit by one of the most virulent critics of Buhari but political watchers said it was more than just a brotherly visit as claimed by the two men.

By Ayo Fadimu