By Lateef Adegbite
Ahead of the 2027, Presidential election, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s plan to seek re-election bid, appears to have given room to some of his aggrieved political Associates who lost out in the ministerial appointment but who had served under former President Muhammadu Buhari to hobnob with the opposition to frustrate his ambition.
Rauf Aregbesola, a former governor of Osun state, on the ticket of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, who may have fallout with his political godfather, President Tinubu, over the second -term bid of Adegboyega Oyetola, his successor, as governor of Osun state but lost to Senator Ademola Adeleke, of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the state. The former Osun state governor, may have crossedthe boundary as President Tinubu had dumped him to give ministerial appointment to Oyetola, without his knowledge. He was appointed the minister of the newly established ministry of Marine and Blue, where he is making an appreciable impact.
The appointment of Oyetola, as the minister of marine and blue economy by Tinubu, may have sent a message to Arebesola, that that he is no longer relevant in Tinubu’s political Camp. This may have informed why the former Osun state governor, and his followers had begun the search for a credible national Opposition party Leader to work with against Tinubu’s second- term re-election bid in 2027.
This may have encouraged the former minister of Interior under the Katsina state born former Nigerian President to extend an invitation to Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, who incidentally was a former governor of Kano state and Presidential Candidate of the New Nigerian People’s Party, NNPP, founded by Bonniface Anniebonam, and Chairman, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF, in the February 25, 2023, Presidential election, but won, by the incumbent President Tinubu, the, Candidate of the APC, to visit him in his Lagos residence for talks.
The Omoluabi Progressives led by the former Osun state governor who had lost face with President Tinubu, for not carrying him along in his Administration, was said to have sent a message to the Leadership of the Opposition APC, in the south west Osun state that the group is set ‘’to dump the party over alleged ‘’ostracization , suspension, and expulsion of party Leaders’’, associated with the group’’ without fair hearing from the party.
The two political heavy weights may have met at Aregbesola’s Lagos residence, amid calls for a credible opposition Candidate to defeat Tinubu and the ruling APC, in the upcoming 2027, general elections. Given an insider information of the closed- door meeting with his new political ally, Senator Kwakwaso, who is still nursing Presidential ambition, against 2027, general elections, had said that the meeting afforded him and his host, Aregbesola, the immediate past minister of Interior, ‘’to engage in discussions on national politics, governance and the future of Nigeria’s democratic Landscape’’.
The aggrieved Aregbesola and his followers, in the Omoluabi Progressives Camp, were said to have given other reasons for quitting the ruling the APC, to ‘’continuous denigration of the party structure and mismanagement of the state’s intra-party crisis’’, which was said to resulted the party’s abysmal loss in the 2022, gubernatorial election in the state that had waned its strength and popularity among the populace.
An informed source told The Value News online Magazine that the decision by Aregbesola to host Senator Kwankwaso, the NNPP, former Presidential Candidate, in his Lagos residence, ahead of the 2026, governorship election in the state and 2027, general elections was agreed by members of the Omolouabi group.
Aregesola, may have alluded to the bold initiative of the political Camp, when he commended group for ‘’their commitment and steadfastness to the principle of character, integrity and governance’’. The message was very clear to President Tinubu, the godfather of Yoruba politics and Oyetola, the minister of marine and blue economy, that the duo, are now free to manage the affairs of the APC, in Osun state, whichever way they want it as they are set ‘’to switch their allegiance to another political camp’’.
Kayode Fayemi, a former governor of Eki state and another political heavy weight in the APC, who incidentally was the minister of Solid Minerals, under Buhari’s Administration, who may have read the handwriting on the wall, that he had lost out in Tinubu’s political Camp, had sent a devastating message to the Lagos state born Nigerian President, which political analysts had described as worrisome.
The former Ekiti state governor, who had described President Tinubu as his brother, was said to have made him to understand in his emotional outburst that ‘’the Administration must have a policy framework that aligns with Leadership to get Nigerians the much -expected change’’.
The former Ekiti state governor, who had admitted ‘’ is well-meaning’’ to develop Nigeria but noted that ‘’well-meaning is not enough in Leadership but intentionality is critical to success’’.
Fayemi, a high -ranking member of the ruling APC, at the state level and an ally of Tinubu, between 1999 and now, and those in previous governments , had said that the ministers and other political Appointees serving under the Tinubu’s Administration know the truth but do not act the truth because of’’ the many mediating factors’’, which include the overbearing influence of the Nigerian President who believes that no one contributed a dine to his election and therefore do not take advice seriously .
The former minister of Solid minerals, who may not have come out openly to hit hard at President Tinubu, on Channels Television ‘’politics today programme, on Thursday, February, 6, 2025, had recalled that ‘’President Tinubu has done many good things, which Nigerians could acknowledge over the last one year’’.
According to the former Ekiti state governor, who could not hide his feelings, he had said that he’s being bold ‘’to take on some of the most difficult decisions, like removal of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, popular, petrol, subsidy, and unification of both the official and parallel, popular, Black market foreign exchange rates’’, that previous Administrations including that of Obasanjo, have been reluctant to take on.
His worries were that the fallout of these weighty economic decision has caused Nigerians ‘’huge cost of living crisis’’. He had alluded to some of the President’s well-intended good policies like the student loan scheme, resisting insurgency in the north eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Banditry , in the north western states of Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto , Kebbi and the Indigenous People of Biafra, IOB, found by Nnamdi Kanu, currently in the Department of State Services, DSS, custody, and Eastern Security Network, ESN, operating in the south eastern part of the Nigerian Federation , stating that there are ‘’some elements are there but needed to come together’’.
It is not surprising why he had repeatedly said that the Nigerian President needed ‘’effective policy framework to go side by side to get a change of the narrative to the drive to revive the country’s economy.’’
Appealing to the APC Leadership, at the state and Federal Levels, to communicate to the President the true state of the nation’s economy, to work on it, he noted that occupants of the office of President and other public officials, both appointed or elected, find it challenging to grasp the genuine sentiments of Nigerians due ‘’to their frequent exposure to sycophants’’.
In spite of the fact that Fayemi, has thrown cautions to the wind to lambaste President Tinubu on Channels Television recently, the Nigerian Leader, appears to have taken advantage of the former Ekiti state governor ‘s 60th birth day ‘’to commend his dedication to the country’s democracy, good governance and national development’’ instead of firing back at him.
The Nigerian Leader who had alluded to the long-standing relationship with the former minister, which dates back to their time in pro-democracy movement of the 1990s, where they had actively opposed military dictatorship, had said that ‘’Fayemi’s brilliance, commitment and strategic skills were invaluable to their cause’’.
President Tinubu, who was said to have alluded to his godson’s role in the struggle for MKO Abiola’s release and de-annulment of the June 12, 1993, Presidential election, had described how the then military Administration of Gen, Sani Abacha, now, deceased, restricted press freedom and arrested activists by they remained committed in the struggle.
He was said to have further recalled that following Nigerian’s return to democracy in 1999, Fayemi had founded ‘’the Centre for Democracy and Development, focusing on promoting peace and security across the African Continent’’.
There is no gain saying the fact that Fayemi, may not have followed the footstep of Aregbesola, to dump his godfather, who had made him what his today, politically, midway, but had remain loyal to him in order to succeed in office.
Unconfirmed reports said he appears to be working behind the scene, with other young political Leaders, across the political divide, to give a direction to the 2027, Presidential election to force out the old politicians.
