Presidency: Atiku, Tinubu stir sharp division in North, younger elements dump older candidates
Serious jostling for the soul of Northern Nigeria is ongoing with indications emerging to suggest that established leaders of the region are currently being challenged by young gladiators ahead of the forthcoming general election.
At the heart of the battle of wits are the aspirations of the candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and his main rival in the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, Saturday Telegraph is reporting.
It was gathered during the week that while the much older elements are rooting for Atiku, the younger yet emerging gladiators are championing the bid of Tinubu to succeed incumbent Muhammadu Buhari whose tenure will lapse in three months’ time.
According to those in the know who spoke with our correspondent during the week, the situation has created sharp division in the once solid and monolithic region. A source who pleaded not to be named stated that the two camps are sticking to their guns on the issue and appear not ready to back down even when election is a week away. Findings conducted by our correspondents revealed that the old order is being coordinated by a former Vice Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Professor Ango Abdullahi, while the other group is made up of younger elements of governors elected on the platform of the ruling APC.
The governors as well as young chieftains of the ruling party are being led and coordinated by Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, and a former Director-General of the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), Mallam Danladi Bako. While the established order is working towards retaining power in the region to starve off relentless calls for the balkanization of the country, the younger elements are calling for a shift in power to the South in the interest of peace and fair play. Another source who spoke with our correspondent stated that the two camps are, however, united on the need to always protect the interest of the region away from any form of likely infiltration from external forces. “I have never seen what is happening now in the history of the North. For the first time in the electoral history of the North, the young people in the North are openly challenging the leaders in the region on the political direction to pursue in the post-Muhammadu Buhari era.
“The situation in the North is tense as I speak with you now, what is happening ahead of the election. While the elders are mobilizing, the young Turks too are mobilizing but what I can tell you is that the contest is being conducted with utmost civility, that is why it hasn’t made newspaper headlines,” the source said. “So far, the jostle has not assumed any serious dimension that could threaten the peace of the region but the camps have been taking their campaigns to the people who would finally decide,” the source said. Abdullahi had during the week hinted that the region would throw its lot with the former Vice President when he spoke at the 10th anniversary of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) of which he is the chairman. The former university don stated that the country owed the North a four-year deficit since the commencement of the current Fourth Republic and that other regions should reciprocate the support the North had rendered to them in the past. One of the young gladiators who spoke with New Telegraph on condition of anonymity said, “We are not fighting our elders. We can’t. What we are doing is to ensure that we protect and preserve the integrity of the country. It is not fair and just for another Northerner to succeed Buhari next election. “If such worked in the past, I don’t think it will work now in this jet age. The best thing we should do is to shift power,” the source said.
(Nigeria Telegraph)
