Nigerians have reacted to a viral video of a presidential aspirant of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, saying it was his turn to become president in 2023.
Tinubu, while speaking to APC delegates in Ogun State Thursday, said that President Muhammadu Buhari would not have been elected without him in 2015 if not for his influence.
“I have adopted and protected many political children, but in the face of danger, one has to first protect himself.
“I have served enough. I do not want to become history. It is my turn to become president. It is a matter of right for me.
“Bring it on,” Tinubu said.
But some Nigerians who reacted to the statement, in separate interviews with BusinessDay and on Twitter, chided Tinubu for the ’s statement, saying it was wrong for him to assume that he must succeed Buhari at all.
They added that the presidency was not Tinubu’s inheritance in which he must rule at all cost.
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“Crazy how Bola Tinubu genuinely believes he should be rewarded with the Presidency for helping usher in the worst President in the history of Nigeria.
“Aso Rock is not a thank you gift or a souvenir. He should keep crying. His tears will make my weekend. @UgwunnaEjikem tweeted.
Tade Ademola, former Lagos State chairman of the Inter-party Advisory Committee (IPAC), said he was not surprised by Tinubu’s comment and seeming annoyance with President Buhari, stressing that it was becoming clear he may not get the APC presidential ticket.
According to him, “I am not too surprised with the way Tinubu is talking; it is obvious that he had been pushed to the wall. He has reached a point where he must talk, politics is about interest, I see a fight ahead in the next few days; I mean serious implosion in the APC”.
Similarly, a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri tweeted that Tinubu also abandoned pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere which made him president in 1999.
“Tinubu says he made Buhari President in 2015 and expects to be supported in 2023. That may or may not be true. But what is true is that Afenifere made Tinubu Governor in 1999, and he not only abandoned them. He also fought them. One bad turn deserves another”, Omokri tweeted.
Another analyst, Laja Ogundimu, wondered why Tinubu is obsessed with ruling the country even when it is obvious that the odds are against him, adding even though he played a huge role in forming APC, it was obvious he is not in control of the party now.
“Well it appears he wants to rule at all cost, but the presidency is not his inheritance; even when it is obvious he is not the choice of Buhari. I doubt if the President would be comfortable with the way he is going about it. He has a choice to defect and take the ticket of another party,” Ogundipe said.
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