The visit of the National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to President Muhammadu Buhari at the State house, Abuja, on Tuesday has continued to generate suspicions of political simulation to influence the president for support in the 2023 presidential race. Several stakeholders feared that the APC leader may have adopted seeming public relations mechanisms in projecting the president and his policies as tool to win President Buhari’s heart. There is the innuendo that the Tuesday visit could be liken to a political almajiri mission to beg for support, while articulating good postures of the president to lubricate the ulterior motive.
However, Tinubu in a media interaction with State House Correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Buhari on Tuesday, appealed to Nigerians to assist Buhari to accomplish his goal of governance rather than talking of his successor in 2023 or zoning.
He was of the view that it is too early to speak on zoning of the presidency in the preparation for the 2023 general elections. “it will be mere restlessness to talk about it now,” Tinubu has said.
In any case, Tinubu’s visit to President Buhari was less than 24 hours that the president mandated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Nigeria Police to ensure transparent elections in 2023. The president had warned that the INEC, the Police and other relevant agencies must not rig the elections to favour any political party.
Apparently, Tinubu might be diverting attention in his belief that it is too early to talk about 2023 elections when President Buhari is already talking of it. It has been subject of deliberation in the ruling APC since 2019, even at the APC NEC meeting.
These phenomena increased the suspicion and insinuation that the APC national leader might have gone to beg President Buhari for support for the party’s 2023 presidential ticket.