By Kay Lord
When Dr. Bukola Saraki abandoned Buhari before the end of his first term and moved with 15 APC Senators to the PDP.
Guess what? Saraki was the No. 3 citizen in the country, overseeing a sizeable national budget as Chairman of the National Assembly and head of the Legislative arm of that government.
Naysayers chorused, “Buhari is finished! He can never win a second term with these powerful men leaving the APC.” Saraki held power and had considerable influence across the board. In fact, he was purportedly instrumental in cutting the budget for the Lagos-Ibadan expressway that was under construction so that Buhari would face backlash for not prioritizing its completion.
Tell me, how did it go in the 2019 election after all the drama and mass defections? Obi was with them as Atiku’s VP candidate. Kwankwaso was with them. Wike was with them. And yet, tell me, what was the outcome of the 2019 election for the APC?
See, one of the greatest issues for entitled politicians is that they don’t like it when they feel they are not in control. It takes discipline and endurance for a politician to avoid making arbitrary and tactless decisions. When you are not strategic and act solely on emotions—how you feel, how you think you’ve been treated, how they make you look and feel—you will always make knee-jerk decisions that eventually backfire.
If Tinubu had jumped ship because he felt mistreated or abandoned at a time in APC—even after a National Chairman of the party, whom many saw as his ally, was unceremoniously removed—would he be president today? Real political statesmen don’t just jump ship because of personal ego; they stay and fight from within.
Just because a coalition came together to form APC and it worked does not mean you have a template to replicate it successfully. There was a key factor that made it work at the time—actually, two strong factors: Buhari and Tinubu. They brought their massive bases to the table. It was the political capital of these two men that made APC strong, and if you look closely, that coalition still remains intact. You can’t do cut and paste….
Now, tell me two other politicians in this country with the same political capital and coalition within the opposition today. Is it El-Rufai? The same man who left Kaduna, only for all the major politicians who left APC because of him to start returning, courtesy of the bridge-building efforts of the incumbent governor, Uba Sani?
Oh, do they think Kwankwaso will join them? They are in for a shocker because Kwankwasiya is already home—unofficially. The days ahead will surprise many. Write this down and quote me: In politics, you don’t win or fight an election based on personal anger. A lot of people opposing Tinubu do so mainly out of personal vendettas.
Selah!
