Some associates of one of the leaders of
the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammad Buhari (rtd),
yesterday said the confidence exuded by Bamanga Tukur that Jonathan will
rule the country till 2019 when a young turk of northern extraction
will take over from, is ploy to secure the votes of the region.
According to them, Buhari, who is being
tipped to fly the flag of the APC, discovered before Tukur made his
statement that the PDP and the presidency are working secretly to woo
the former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late General Sani Abacha,
Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, to succeed Jonathan in 2019.
This belief by the Buhari camp is an
indication that they see 2015 a already going to Jonathan and betrays
the defeatist tendency within their camp.
The game plan, one of the sources closed
to Buhari, who pleaded anonymity, is to galvanise al-Mustapha to
continue to mobilise the people of the North for the PDP.
"At payback time," another source
explained, " the former CSO would first of all be made the runningmate
of Jonathan or his next National Security Adviser (NSA), preparatory to
succeeding his principal."
Some opinions in the North show that
some political stalwarts believe that al-Mustapha's release was
engineered by Jonathan for political reasons.
The ex-CSO was accused of complicity in
the murder of Kudirat Abiola, the wife of the acclaimed winner of the
June 12, 1993 presidential election, which was annulled by the military
administration then in power.
Since his release, al-Mustapha, has been
working closely with ex-Niger Delta militant leader, Mujahid Abubakar
Asari Dokubo, to unite Nigerians and mobilise the youths for a yet-to-be
stated purpose.
The litmus test of his political
popularity was when he staged a rally in Kaduna, the political base of
the incumbent Vice-President, Namadi Sambo, despite the latter's
behind-the-scene effort to frustrate the gathering.
"We have information on what prompted
Tukur to make the statement he made, and we are waiting to see how the
deception will play out,"
One source said: "The political strength
of Buhari in the North remains strong. I want you to know that much of
the deliberations and planning for the registration of members of the
APC is being done in his house here in Kaduna."
Equally, it was learnt that in a show of
their political immaturity, the Buhari camp believe that the additional
five PDP governors that would shift base to the new PDP, in addition to
the current G7, would join the APC.
"All the five governors defecting have pledged their support for Buhari"
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