TINUBU'S DEMANDS, UNREASONABLE - BUHARI?

Icheoku says sources close to the APC tells Icheoku that the real reason behind the sudden u-turn of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his earlier support for the candidacy of Muhammadu Buhari was due to grave irreconcilable differences between them?  According to the source, there were series of  demands presented to Buhari by Tinubu as conditions, mostly subsequent, which Buhari must accept and agree to satisfy upon becoming the president. After considering them, Buhari reached back to Tinubu to inform him that he cannot honestly and in his character agree to them all. Tinubu got back to Buhari to say it is all or nothing situation and when Buhari told him he is being unreasonable, Tinubu decided to take his support elsewhere, leading to his visit to Obasanjo where the candidate of Aminu Tambuwal was muted. 

Prior to this present fork on the road for Buhari over Tinubu's support, both men had severally negotiated  demands that must be met and somewhat guaranteed as precondition for Tinubu's support. Continuing, the source said that Bola Tinubu was initially very resistant to a Buhari presidency and that it took a lot of horse-trading before he could finally be swayed around and become somewhat comfortable with the idea of a Muhammadu Buhari presidency? However the trust was still tepid because of who Buhari is and represents, an anti-corruption crusader, so Tinubu demanded that their understanding be memorialized in writing and executed as a binding contract.  
Buhari said he needed time to think it through and came back to tell Tinubu that he is not comfortable signing away his leverage in such manner. That he would rather it was a gentleman's agreement to be binding on their honor only and nothing more. 

This led to Tinubu's initial flirtation with the idea of an Abubakar Atiku's candidacy and goaded Atiku in that direction, which made the later to part with generous amounts of money running into billions which some said totaled about five billion Naira as gifts to the APC? But Obasanjo would have none of that and summoned Bola Tinubu to scold him over his Atiku's romance. It was thereafter that both Obasanjo and Tinubu agreed to look elsewhere for an acceptable candidate and agreed to meet subsequently but not before reaching out to the House of Fodio through Babangida to feel them out on their preferred candidate. Now back to the deal Tinubu made or wanted to make with Buhari which later fell through.

Icheoku learnt that Bola Tinubu wanted an assurance from Buhari that he will be off Buhari's radar as he snoops on Nigerians who have corruptly enriched themselves from public coffers. To secure this, Bola Tinubu will choose the Speaker of the House of Representatives as well as the President of the Senate to serve as his joker and a sword of Damocles hanging on Buhari's neck, by way of impeachment, should he ever renege on this promise? Also Bola Tinubu wanted a promise from Buhari to revisit the issue of June 12 and at least officially recognize MKO Abiola as an elected president who was not sworn in nor allowed to rule; and honor him accordingly by designating June 12 as a national public holiday in his honor? Buhari was very receptive to this idea as that would help him win some affection in Yoruba Southwest while demonizing further his arch nemesis Ibrahim Babangida who annulled June 12. Both men also reached a preliminary understanding that the Ooni of Ife Oba Sijuade would be cut to size, if not dethroned? Further both men agreed in principle that  as a further way of getting at Babangida, the issue of Dele Giwa would be revisited and conclusively, somehow resolved? The last of this five understandings was that Bola Tinubu would also nominate ministers for both Petroleum and the Federal Capital Territory as well as Works.  

The source confirmed that while all these negotiations were taking place, Tinubu never mentioned nor demanded what the core ACN as a party would get or what the Yoruba Southwest as a bloc would get under a Buhari presidency; but he was only interested in what comes to him, which the source said smacked of his very selfish personality. However Buhari accepted and agreed in principle to follow through with all these five demands but confided in some people close to him that what is imperative at this stage is to get the party's nomination. That if and when he eventually wins, as the president, he has the executive privilege to do as his conscience would permit him. That all the understanding not withstanding, when he wins, he would be at liberty to change his mind and not obligated to follow through with any of them. 

Unfortunately when Tinubu got wind of this, he confronted Buhari and demanded a formal documentation of their understanding which will help him blackmail a reneging President Buhari in case it comes to that. Buhari refused and that's where the cookie crumbled and Tambuwal is now Tinubu's man of the hour. Icheoku says now you know that the emergence of Aminu Tambuwal as the putative presidential candidate of the APC was not as sudden as many would like Nigerians to believe. Tam is a product of a deal fell through between Buhari and Tinubu; a settled choice upon or optioned choice, who emerged to reap where he did not practically sow? Icheoku warns that because of the so much wheeling and dealing that threw up Tambuwal, in the event he wins, it will be deja vu the old ways by the same old guards that has held Nigeria hostage for a long time since independence using Tambuwal as their frontman.

Anyway, Icheoku was not privy to any of this meetings nor is in anyway specially positioned to either authoritatively confirm or deny the report; but suffice it to say that from the fast-flowing developments within the APC, especially regarding the fortunes of Muhammadu Buhari as the hitherto inevitable presumptive nominee of the party, which has suddenly changed course for the worse, there may probably be some iota of truth in all these allegations? But like they say, it is not over until it is over; and until the battle for the APC presidential candidacy is won and lost, it will too early to count out Buhari or needlessly ascribe to Bola Tinubu some bloated kingmaker status, at this stage. Nigerians as well as Icheoku will have to wait until December 10, 2014 when the APC, hopefully, will choose their presidential candidate and then either revisit the issue  or stand it moot. Until then, the wheeling and dealing for the presidential candidate of the APC continues and may God save us all and see Nigeria through 2015 and beyond.