Tinubu revives defection to SDP if APC fails to give him presidential ticket
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Bola Tinubu has a cracking plan B to defect to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) despite claims in public that him clinching the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket is a done deal, his confidant has disclosed.
Tinubu told market women leaders when he met Kwara APC presidential primaries delegates in Ilorin on Wednesday that his Presidency would be theirs because he is part of them beign the first born of a market woman leader.
“It is your [market women’s] turn to be President. We are going to emerge the next president,” he said, insisting he would win the APC ticket.
In private, however, the former Lagos Governor is firing on all cylinders to defect to the SDP and contest on its platform if the APC primaries are schemed against him, according a close associate and confidant of his.
Plot against South by Aso Rock cabal
In reality, the odds are stacked high against Tinubu and most other Southern APC presidential aspirants.
There is scheming by the North to directly refuse to rotate power to the South after Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure or bankroll a crowded Southern field so no Southern aspirant gets enough votes to win the APC presidential primaries.
The Aso Rock cabal – comprising Mamman Daura, Abubakar Malami, and Isa Pantami, among other Buhari’s hatchet men – is plotting to split the votes of Southern delegates among several Southern aspirants sponsored by the cabal so that bulk Northern votes can win the ticket for a Northerner.
Only four Northerners are among the 25 contestants who submitted their nomination forms to the APC National Working Committee (NWC) by the deadline on 20 May.
The four Northerners are Governors Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa, North West), Yahaya Bello (Kogi, North Central), Senate President Ahmad Lawan (North East), and former Zamfara Governor Ahmed Yerima (North-West).
The remaining 21 are Southerners, most of them sponsored by the Northern cabal which also pooled resources and used proxies to buy nomination forms for other Southern aspirants some of who later withdrew from the race for various reasons.
Those who withdrew include former President Goodluck Jonathan, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele, African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, and Labour Minister Chris Ngige.
Other Southerners fielded directly or indirectly by the Aso Rock cabal are still in the contest. Most of them know they cannot get the ticket but are playing along to split Southern votes among the 2,300 APC delegates.
The North to has 1,257 delegates, the South 1,068. The North has 189 more delegates.
But the numbers could increase in the same proportion if Buhari signs into law the latest amendment to the Electoral Act done by the National Assembly that enlarges the pot for statutory or “super delegates”.
The plan of the Aso Rock cabal is to produce a consensus candidate among the four Northerners to compete for the APC ticket with the crowded field of the South, the region that has the right to occupy the Villa in 2023, based on power rotation.
The only way Buhari and his hatchet men will not succeed in this plot is if God directly steps in to scuttle it.
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Tinubu wary of APC
The Tinubu confidant told Vanguard that the APC remains his primary platform for his presidential ambition but he would explore other options, including the SDP, if the APC primaries are not transparent and credible.
His words: “It is too early to ask if Asiwaju would leave the APC for another party. He is a big factor in APC, a party he helped form, finance and nurture into what it is today.
“We are not unaware of recent developments and attempts to insult a man who has paid his dues in the political evolution of this country.
“But that is not important for now. What I can tell you is that our leader, like other contestants, is looking forward to a credible process that would lead to the emergence of our flag bearer.
“But if that process is compromised, I can tell you for free that we will encourage him to explore other options.
“Yes, a lot has been said about SDP and Asiwaju. When we get to that bridge, we will cross it.
“SDP offered him a platform to become a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria years ago but for now, he is in APC and will remain there until circumstance dictates otherwise.”