Shehu Sani reacts to Osinbajo’s presidential ambition notification to Buhari

A former senator that represents Kaduna Central in the 8th Senate, Shehu Sani recently took to his Twitter page to react to the recent news about Vice president Yemi Osinbajo informing President Buhari about his presidential ambition in 2023. Shehu Sani said, “The Jagaban has notified Buhari and the VP has notified Buhari; two notifications; it is olrite”.

The truth is that will Buhari endorse him against Tinubu that they struggle to build APC together? The answer is no. Why? Because Buhari is a man of integrity. That is why this might result in the political tussle between political juggernauts in South West. Recall that Umaru Musa Yar’adua started himself much earlier than many Nigeria had ever imagined. It was a rude awakening to a confident Obasanjo who had miscalculated that his Katsina-born successor would sustain his legacy. Some of the major policy reversals introduced by Yar’adua include the reduction of the petrol price hiked by his predecessor, the revocation of the sale of Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries, and the investigation into the $19 billion power projects that consumed money without significantly boosting electricity availability in the country.

Obasanjo perceived such policy reversal as an affront to his person and he took it personally. He took it so personally that he was criticizing Yar’adua even when the man was battling for life at a Saudi hospital. Former President Obasanjo publicly accused Yar’adua of lying to him about his health while speaking at a Daily Trust Dialogue. Obasanjo was so vindictively unhappy with Yar’adua that ill health was not enough to restrain him from attacking a sick or dead man.

Power doesn’t tolerate rivalry; even the meekest successor will assert himself if you push him too hard. A legacy is not something set in stone. So, no sensible successor will blindly sustain a flawed legacy. Even if he wants to do so, public hostility to the unpopular legacy will so intense that the successor will come to his sense to consider the interest of the people.