An opinion moulder of northern extraction, Alhaji Ahmad Ashir, has described the Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Dr Kayode Fayemi, as the best man to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023 based on experience, vitality, age and political networks.
Ashir averred that within the All Progressives Congress’s fold, the likes of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Babatunde Raji Fashola and Rauf Aregbesola also paraded intimidating credentials, but Fayemi’s is the topmost candidate in terms of religion, political acceptability and networks.
Ashir, who deconstructed the political permutations ahead of the 2023 presidency and the hoopla it has generated across the North and South, stated that the choice of who emerges as APC presidential candidate will go a long way in determining the fortunes and the headway the party will make at the polls.
Periscoping the titanic battle ahead, Ashir submitted that: “Of course, all eyes are on APC leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to succeed Buhari. It is true that Tinubu is a political genius who has contributed immensely to APC and helped Buhari’s emergence as President. As such, he stands in a good position to be considered as a good successor.
“But, in reality, the office of a President requires much energy and vitality, which as a result of age Tinubu cannot offer. Tinubu, 69, cannot cope with the stress and huge demands of the first office. Nigerians have learnt a good lesson from Buhari’s presidency. It is not a good road to take again in 2023. Tinubu is better off as a chieftain and strategist, who should anoint or endorse a younger candidate.
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“Also, Tinubu as APC Presidential candidate will put APC in a dangerous and tight corner of Muslim/Muslim ticket, a decision that would finally confirm public suspicion that the APC is out for an Islamic agenda. Nigeria of today is not the one of 90s when late Moshood Abiola and and Kingibe ran on a Muslim/Muslim ticket and were voted for.
“With the level of religious division in the country, it will be easier for a camel to pass through an eye of a needle than for any political party to win a presidential election with an all Muslim or all Christian ticket. This same factor knocks minister of works, Babatunde Fashola, and Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola out of the winning formula.
“Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, however looks like the perfect candidate for APC in 2023. This is not out of sentiment. In Dr Fayemi, APC has the political genius of Tinubu, the energy and competence to drive good governance of Fashola, a sellable candidate to Nigerian across divides,” he stated.
Ashir also urged the citizens to be circumspect of who emerges the President in the next political dispensation, saying the quality of leaders who emerge in the forthcoming 2023 presidential election will determine whether Nigeria will make good progress or otherwise.
The political commentator, who advised concerned Nigerians who have followed political developments in the last eight years to place high premium on who the political parties put forward, warned that allowing a politician of Northern extraction to succeed President Buhari would backfire and threaten the sovereignty of the Nigerian nation.
“We are not in doubt that putting forward a Northern candidate to succeed Muhammadu Buhari is a bad idea that will backfire and sink the APC. On the other hand, a presidential candidate of Southern extraction will go a long way in dousing the tension in the country, help promote One Nigeria project and as well change the notion that the APC is out to pursue northernization agenda.”
Reeling out the superlative and political wizadry displayed by Governor Fayemi in the past and now, Ashir stated that the Ekiti Governor, as the chairman of APC 2015 primary election, exhibited a high sense of organisation, coordination, fairness, and transparency that endeared the APC to many Nigerians.
“The biggest spenders could not buy or manipulate Dr Fayemi as he conducted the primaries that produced Buhari. Without leaving the party in rancour or division after the primaries, Dr Fayemi displayed quality leadership.
“With this in mind, we northerners and the entire Nigerians have nothing to fear with a candidate like Dr Fayemi. He is not a bigot or a leader attached to regional interest. From his early days, his interest has been Nigeria. His tactful management of herders/farmer crisis in Ekiti State and his intervention on divisive call for state collection of VAT makes him stand out as a national leader.
“With a bridge builder and devoted party man like Dr Fayemi, APC will have no problem at the polls. His exposure and understanding of internal party politics and national politics will help in stabilising the APC and the country.
”Dr Fayemi is that candidate that can win for APC and more importantly win for Nigeria and Nigerians,” he concluded.