Ahead of the forthcoming presidential election which is mandated to take place next year, 2023 the GCFR, President Buhari has reportedly thrown his weight behind his predecessor, ex-president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) to become his successor in 2023, despite the public aspirations of APC party leader and former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Tinubu to contest for the position in 2023....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
Report from The Whistler has it that President Buhari’s decision was fuelled by the need to reciprocate Jonathan’s gesture towards him in 2015 when the former president called him on phone to address him as Mr. President, thus automatically conceding defeat despite being constitutionally opportuned to challenge the outcome of the poll which saw Buhari as the winner.
While this seems to be a credible reason behind Mr. President’s decision to endorse Jonathan, we may also deem it necessary to recall how Tinubu also played a major role in the emergence of President Buhari’s government. It’s in the record that Tinubu was the one whom through his political influence facilitated the emergence of Buhari by convincing many Southern politicians and top Northern bigwigs to vote for him during the 2015 election.
In fact, the APC bigwig is still being regarded today as President Buhari’s campaigner as a result of the unseen battles he fought to ensure that Buhari emerged the winner in the 2015 election despite Jonathan’s wide popularity then. With this in mind, one can comfortably say that both Tinubu and Jonathan played a role in the emergence of President Buhari but he chose to reciprocate the latter’s gestures over the former.