The question should even be can Tinubu trust Arewa? Of course, he can. As a leading presidential candidate, can trust every tribe, region. But one undeniable fact is the former Lagos State governor shouldn’t trust Arewa.
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, seems to have put all his hope on northern region and its voters where he expects to get millions of votes to beat his main rival.
Any serious contestant for the office of the president of the federation can’t underrate the big and wide region let alone the Arewa. However, Tinubu’s calculation and permutation shouldn’t be on the region because it can betray the ambitious Yoruba politician.
Bola Tinubu has done lots for the region. He has picked his running mate from there even though it’s conventionally expected from him. The ex Lagos state governor, who is riding on “emi lokan” mantra has given lots of donations to the region.
In fact, Tinubu specifically held a symposium for his birthday anniversary in Kano, the commercial centre of north. Yet, can Tinubu trust Arewa? Should he pay that much attention on the region known for tilting towards its “owns”?
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was at the Arewa House in Kaduna. He said the region needs a northern president. One would have expected a rebuttal from the Arewa Consultative Forum and other sociocultural organisations in the region. There is none!
The implications include the region and its leaders may, or will, eventually embrace their brother, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Ethnicity, religion and money are key factors that determine winners of the presidential election.
Tinubu must have looked away and given up on south-south and southeastern Nigeria. The two regions are traditionally PDP’s areas. That could have been the reason for his cold attitude to that part of the region. Whereas it would have been easier to woo voters in those parts of the country.
The argument would have been it’s the turn of the southern Nigeria. And that might work considering the negative attitudes of most people in that region to President Muhammadu Buhari.
The participation of Atiku Abubakar in the race is a serious threat to Bola Ahmed Tinubu. It would have been better if there is no northern politician in the contest. Tinubu would have been right to trust Arewa.
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