Last week pruning down the number of registered political parties from a sky-high size of 92 to a small number of 18 parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), could be a signal or the beginning of the march towards the 2023 general elections which, by God’s grace, will produce yet another president under a democratic dispensation that will pilot the affairs of this great country, Nigeria.
The election year, 2023, will also hopefully terminate or lengthen the stewardship of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), that was bestowed with the political throne dates back to 2015, when the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari took the mantle of leadership in what the global community adjudged as the most freest and credible elections the country ever held.
Buhari, has prior to his ascension to the leadership of the country in 2015, had under different political parties, taken desirous shots onto the presidency, but all ending in waterloo. He was even once quoted to have said, ‘I will never contest election again’, an impish statement that hardly a politician of his/her salt could say.
But the 2015 general elections signaled brighter way for the hitherto desperate leadership looking Buhari, courtesy of vibrant political youths from the South West geo-political zone, who took the bull by the horn to launch the retired army general into the nation’s political spectrum culminating to his victory in that year’s elections.
The South West politically minded youths, after the amalgam of three to four political parties, including the Alliance for Democracy that transformed or metamorphosed into today’s All Progressives Congress (APC) took the pains of ensuring that Buhari’s fourth onslaught onto the presidency becomes a reality.
The sub-regional youths were not only supported but also mentored by some notable political heavy-weights in the likes of a one-time Lagos state governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and others of his breed to move the army-turned politician into the Aso Rock Villa in 2015.
These West-drive youths from different political associations of the sub-region under the tutelage of Asiwaju Tinubu, hooked-up by some notable Northern politicians withered the electioneering storms of the 2015, passed through the rigors of electoral processes to realize the aspiration of Muhammadu Buhari of today’s President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
A similar political association, the North East Progressives Youth Group, which has its roots from Bauchi, but with its tentacles spread across the three geo-political zones of North East, North West and North Central, takes a similar crusade to shape the political armory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2013 general elections.
The group’s main objectives are to ensure that the 2023 general elections are freely, fairly and creditably conducted in a peaceful atmosphere, and for President Muhammadu Buhari to reciprocate the South West gesture of handing-over the reins of power to a politically minded South Westerner in tandem with the principles of rotational presidency.
To achieve this feat however, the North East Progressives Youth Group is now anchoring all formidable political forces up North to ensure smooth transfer of power from the North Central to South West geo-political zone which, it believes, could not only strengthen Nigeria’s democracy, but also its survival amidst the country’s various ethnic groups.
The North East Progressives Youth Group, is therefore throwing a political kite to the generality of Nigerian politicians, especially those in the corridors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and in particular President Muhammadu Buhari to see to the word reciprocity in the new political dispensation of his party.
However, can the North East Progressives Youth Group be in Mr. President’s shoes, it would have recommend for the Lagos-born politician of national repute, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, to whom it has every confidence, to carry the APC presidential flag ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The man, has already threw his hat into the arena of the electoral processes, and has these days, seemed to be frequenting the villa, ostensibly to get the nod of President Buhari, to get the party’s ticket and set the stage, and he has every wire-withal to take a shot into the presidency comes 2023 elections.
Tinubu’s political influence has permeated into not only South West, but virtually each and every geo-political zone, with his tentacles spreading across the nooks and crannies of the country.
He not only rejuvenated the political battery of Buhari ahead of the 2015 elections, but also ensured his security against those placing a cog on the wheels of his ascension to power or opposed to the perceived change mantra of the party, a retrogressive move that defied him three attempts to get out of the woods.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, an advocate of democracy and true nationalists, a chartered course which in 1994 forced him to a compulsory exile to Benin Republic and later United Kingdom. He is also an advocate of national unity, building bridges across the various ethnic tribes in the country, while patching-up warring factions among dissimilar Nigerians
It was the then Head of State, General Abdulsalam Abubakar who held the baton of power after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections, asked Ahmed Tinubu and other proponents of democracy to return to the country, and restore democracy in the land.
This political kite is a prelude to the 2023 general elections, it is not out of hand, it is coming at a time when INEC is down-sizing the nation’s registered political parties in conformity with global best practices.
The stage is now left for the APC as political party, and the power-baton passing President, Muhammadu Buhari to heed to the idea, with a view to salvage the country from the foreseeable political quagmire. And can Buhari come to terms and see to the new political order of reciprocal venture; it is left for posterity to judge.
Adamu Hassan is on the membership of North East Progressives Youth Group (08073404690)
