By Joseph Ebi Kanjo
A Kano-base journalist and Editor-in-Chief of Daily Nigerian, Mr. Jaafar Jaafar, has named those against the ambition of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu in the Presidency, saying Tinubu was not there initial candidate.
INFO DAILY reports that Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, had also come out to publicly declare that some persons in the Presidency are working against Tinubu in his bid to become president of Nigeria.
In an interview with with one of the Nigerian dailies, Jaafar, who described some persons as ‘powerful elements and influential’ said some of the opposition to Tinubu’s ambition have already publicly supporting an opposition candidate.
The Kano-base journalist said: “You see, I only talked about the key prominent voices and the power Sabiu Tunde wields, we can say that he is the major element against Tinubu’s presidency. He is on the President’s side and has so much power in the Presidency such that he can influence so many things much more than anyone else.
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“I believe (Governor Nasir) El-Rufai does not want to give so much importance to a ‘small boy’. That’s why he didn’t actually mention the name. Sani Zangon Daura, he’s very close to the President also as I have said in that tweet; he influences a lot of things also, but suddenly he was seen going about campaigning for Atiku Abubakar; I think he was even in Jigawa State a couple of weeks ago to campaign for Atiku. It was so open that he is not hiding his choice.”
The Editor-in-Chief added: “It is very baffling. At the initial stage, Tinubu was not their preferred candidate; they planned to impose Senator Ahmed Lawan and that plan failed. So, after the plan failed, they became aggrieved even after Tinubu emerged victorious; he didn’t get much support from them. Ahmed Lawan was their preferred candidate.”
When asked if the Senate President who he claimed was their initial candidate is among those working against Tinubu, Jaafar said, “No, I can’t say Ahmed Lawan really has a hand in this; I doubt it because even in the Villa, he does not wield as much influence as Tunde.
“In fact, he is among those kicking against Godwin Emefiele’s naira swap policy. It was very clear because he was fuming over the failure of the Presidency to involve the National Assembly in the decision before the President approved the naira redesign. So, Ahmed Lawan is not part of it.”
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Speaking on whether northern governors and some key APC stalwarts are still with Tinubu, Jaafar noted: “There are some that are still not with Tinubu; it is clear that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (Abubakar Malami SAN) did not involve himself in the campaign and you can also see people like Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who is clearly not supporting the ticket. He did not come out to say it publicly, but he is clearly not supporting it. Somebody very close to him was even telling me that as a devout Catholic, he cannot support the Muslim-Muslim ticket; probably, that is his reason for not supporting Tinubu.”
He continued: “You see, northern governors are the ones supporting Tinubu, especially the APC governors. For instance, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano and El-Rufai are all clearly coming out to support their candidate. For me, I’m not saying I’m supporting Atiku, Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso, Peter Obi or Tinubu. I’m only analysing the situation based on the reality on the ground.”
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