Many Nigerians have been eagerly waiting for the National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to publicly declare whether he is contesting for President or not.
Tinubu on Monday revealed that he has told President Muhammadu Buhari about his reported presidential ambition in 2023. He felt it was appropriate to tell Buhari ahead of others since the President is his friend and political ally who could be of help to him.
Buhari’s reply to Tinubu
The President reportedly told Tinubu to go ahead. This is his simple reply. Although go-ahead is not negative, it did not reveal or explain much as far as politics and the issue of endorsement is concerned.
From the above response, it is clear that Buhari did not commit to back Tinubu or not to back him. His response is simply neutral. Tinubu or anybody cannot hold Buhari by his word that he pledged to back him or oppose his presidential ambition. It means that he could work his way out to see if he would succeed or not.
This development may be better understood if Buhari’s earlier stance on the issue of the 2023 Presidency is considered again. It would be recalled that Buhari had openly said that he has no preferred candidate to succeed him. In fact, he was categorical about saying that he does not care about who succeeds him as President. With that, he tried to disentangle himself from the politics of who emerges as the APC presidential candidate and the controversy that may trail it.
While some people may think that Buhari would back Tinubu on the issue, it appears that the President is very determined not to meddle in the issue of who becomes the next President in line with his word. However, it is left to be seen how Buhari will truly be indifferent and play aloof on this key issue of who succeeds ahead of 2023. Many Governors and Presidents usually work hard to produce their successors for political reasons. If Buhari would change the narrative in Nigeria, that will be good. But, time will tell if Buhari will be true to his word as 2023 politics dominate many discuss in Nigeria.
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