2015: BUHARI WOOS IBB, GUSAU

The
desire of northern leaders to stop President Goodluck Jonathan from retaining
his seat after the 2015 election has received a boost with the acceptance of a
former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, to bury his differences with
his then successor in office, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) and form
a formidable alliance that will give victory to the newly formed All
Progressives Congress (APC) at the next polls.

The relationship between Buhari and Babangida has not been
cordial since the latter overthrew the regime of the former in a bloodless
military coup in 1983.

To achieve reconciliation with Babangida and other northern
leaders in his camp, like former National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Mohammed
Aliyu Gusau, Saturday Sun gathered that Buhari has set up an eight-man
high-powered committee “that will not only work on smoothening the relationship
between him (Buhari) and a section of the northern elite but also seek their
support for his nomination as APC presidential candidate and at the election
proper.”

Speaking at a public lecture in Minna, Niger State on Wednesday
last week, Gen. Buhari had expressed his preparedness to contest the 2015
election and also his willingness to step down for a better candidate that may
emerge from APC. Many believed that the former Head of State was referring to
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, who is
being backed for the top job by a group of northern leaders led by Gen.
Babangida.

Buhari had declared: “Whoever thinks he has got a chance, let
him come out because the more we are, the merrier it becomes. I will be ready
to step down if there is a formidable and better candidate. It is not about me
but for the survival of the party. APC is about ensuring internal democracy,
whoever emerges is the person I will support. Yes, I will be ready to step
down,” Buhari had declared in a veiled reference to the ambition of Tambuwal to
contest the next presidential election on the platform of APC.

Investigations, however, revealed that Buhari’s public
declaration notwithstanding, he has, of late, intensified efforts to reach out
to a number of northern leaders, who have, in the past, refused to support his
presidential ambition due to some personal and ideological differences.

To make this possible, an eight-member committee had been set up
to drive the process. A member of the committee, who would not want to be named
because of the strategic nature of their assignment, revealed: “As a result of
the work already done so far in this regard, a comfortable number of ACF (Arewa
Consultative Forum) leaders are now ready to back Buhari while the next
critical stage is to get the IBB camp to work on the same page with us to see
Buhari through the next contest.”

When asked the details of how to get Babangida to support a
Buhari presidential campaign, the source said: “The contact committee is
working hard on bringing the two former heads of state together so that some
impressions can be cleared and settled. This won’t be difficult. Remember
former Abia State governor, Orji Kalu, had brought the two of them together
before. What we need now is to build on such past efforts by first taking
Buhari’s message to IBB, Gusau and others.”

Asked about the type of message Buhari is sending the contact
team to these northern leaders, the source said: “The message is simple and not
only for IBB but for some other Nigerians that have a mindset about Gen.
Buhari’s candidacy. Nigerians need to know that Buhari has come of age. Time
has changed and as such cannot be the dictatorial leader some people perceive
him to be. He wants the people to know that in this democratic dispensation, he
can’t do some of the things he did under the military decree, which some still
count against him.  He said the wishes of the majority of CPC members that
have been allowed to prevail in the party’s primary elections in Kano and
Katsina recently should prove to the people that he is a totally changed person
when it comes to allowing the wishes of the majority. He also wants the people
to know that he is not going to chase anybody out of Nigeria as has been
speculated in the past.

“Another message he has mandated us to take round, especially to
those we will be reaching out to in the South of the country, is that he is not
the religious bigot some people believe he is. He said his choice of a radical
Pentecostal pastor (Tunde Bakare) as his running mate in the 2011 presidential
election should be enough to convince those that still doubt his stand on
religious tolerance.”

The contact committee member argued that the interest of
Tambuwal in the APC presidential ticket is not much of a threat to Buhari
because the former Head of State “believes he has all it takes to get the new
party victory in the next election,” adding: “This is without prejudice to his
public promise that he is ready to make the needed sacrifice if there is any
better candidate in the party fold.”

It was further gathered that after the last convention of the
CPC in Abuja today, activities of the contact committee will be intensified and
become a little visible, while Buhari’s message of reconciliation and new
improved personality will be amplified at the convention.

“Starting from the CPC’s last convention in Abuja on Saturday
(today), we will start amplifying publicly some of these messages we have been
taking round to our leaders and our people on the need to drop some of the old
negative impressions about Buhari so that the latest effort to close ranks and
chase out the PDP in 2015 will achieve the desired impact,” the source added.

When Saturday Sun contacted one of the national officers of the
ACF to confirm the claim of the committee, the forum’s National Vice Chairman,
Senator Joseph Kennedy Waku, said he has only been briefed about the Buhari’s
moves but yet to be personally contacted.

According to him, “I have been in the US for some weeks now;
nobody has contacted me personally, but I can’t deny that I am aware that some
of our leaders are working hard to close ranks, bury their individual
differences and collectively bring an end to the PDP misrule in Nigeria. I must
add that I personally appreciate Buhari’s humility in the latest effort and I
say it’s a welcome development.”

He added: “Whatever we can do in form of personal and collective
sacrifice is what we are ready to do as northern leaders with the support of
other compatriots across the country to end the current impunity, insecurity
and senseless looting of our commonwealth going on in our nation.”

Source:
Sun