…As plot against Feb. 25 polls thickens
Three months to the end of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration’s tenure on May 29, some governors of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), have allegedly started a rebellion against him over the currency redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
While it is only a few days to the February 25, 2023 presidential and national assembly elections, and a few more to the March 11 governorship and state assembly polls, President Buhari, who is running out of time, appears determined to leave credible elections as positive legacy’s to leave credible elections as positive legacy appears to have run into troubled waters, with governors of his party up in arms against him; an indication that the ruling party has become a house divided against itself.
According to political observers, “The governors on their part know that their political future is tied to that of Tinubu. So, they are out to do whatever it takes, including fighting Buhari, who is on his way out”.
Buhari had given his word about his determination to ensure credible polls on more than a few occasions, and despite joining the campaign train of his ruling Party, the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, and asking his supporters to vote for the former Lagos State governor, he appears to be in no mood to go beyond this.
However, while Buhari, 80, may be thinking about retirement after his tenure as president, and, therefore, has little personal interest in the battle for 2023, his party’s State governors have ambitions of their own. First-time governors such as Abdullahi Sule, of Nasarawa, and Bello Matawalle, of Zamfara, are seeking for second terms in office, while some outgoing governors, in addition to seeking senate seats, want to impose their candidates as successors. And even more importantly, much of their political futures are tied to the Party retaining power at the centre.
Many of the governors, it was gathered, had also stashed huge sums of money in their homes for the election, and while some have been able to swap a handful in connivance with bank officials, it was learnt that billions are still waiting to be swapped, while the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), allegedly backed by some forces in the Presidential Villa, is determined to ensure that this does not happen.
With their backs again the wall therefore, the governors have rallied against the president, who has himself stood his ground, and a battle line appears to have been drawn.
