SO FAR, SO HOPEFUL

 ATOYEBI BAMIDELE is of the belief that Muhammadu Buhari will do what is right in 2027

Most people think that Renewed Hope Agenda which is the pillar on which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu anchors his programme for Nigeria is new; no, it is not. He has always applied it to redeem hopeless cases – like most people would class the national economy- before he assumed power.

He has always proverbially, though adroitly, squeezed water out of stone which people would ordinarily term as miraculous. He reads situations and predicts trends accurately.

One other gift President Tinubu has is that of forging the right alliances to produce unexpected results; a head hunter per excellence in gathering sterling teams.

A look at the political trajectory of the country stops short of confirming him as Kingmaker, a reason people were telling the President not to contest as kingmakers are understood never to be kings, an aphorism that has been debunked.

When former president Muhammadu Buhari struggled to attain the leadership of this country as a civilian, all his efforts came to naught as his best efforts proved regional, but not national dominance.

Buhari was so touched that he broke down in tears of resignation and announced to the world that he was not going to vie for the highest office of the land any more. That was the voice of frustration before his hope was renewed by Tinubu and the rest is history.

However, a walk down memory lane will prove this assertion and may be apt here.

Buhari first had his political stint when he contested on the platform of All Progressives Party (APP) in 2003 against Olusegun Obasanjo and scored 12.7 million votes to lose to Obasanjo who ran on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Obasanjo garnered nearly twice Buhari’s score with 24.5 million votes.

Four years later, he contested under the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) against another northerner, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who trilpled his votes. Buhari got 6.6 million votes to Yar’Adua’s 24.6 million votes.

In 2011, he formed Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and contested again and polled 12.2 million votes to lose to Goodluck Jonathan who got almost twice his votes. GEJ polled 22.4 million votes. That was when Buhari in resignation said that he would not contest for the highest office in the land again.

Then came in Tinubu who confided in friend and political acolytes that he was going to renew Buhari’s hope and show him how to realise his dream of leading the country.

According to a popular tweet on X by @Ashafa, Tinubu took his men, including Baba Bisi Akande to Buhari in Kaduna and told him that if he’d agree to work together with him by forming a big political party with national acceptance, his dream would not be truncated but renewed and he would win.

Buhari like an exhausted giant, reluctantly accepted and the All Progressives Congress (APC) was formed. He went into another contest where he polled 15,416,221 votes to defeat the incumbent and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, President Jonathan, who got 12,853,162 votes.

APC went into that merger with six governors from Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Edo States while CPC with one (Nasarawa) and APGA with one (Imo).

The APC candidate won in 21 states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.

It became clear to all that political dexterity was at play as it was the first time Buhari won in states outside the north since 2003 that he started contesting.

For the record, he won all SW states except Ekiti which Fayose, as governor, delivered for his party with a narrow margin. GEJ had 176, 466 to Buhari’s 120,331.

Fast forward to 2025 when political gerrymandering has thrown up some overambitious political paperweights who are dropping names of those who they feel would confer political advantages on them. One of such said he consulted Buhari who gave him go ahead to leave APC. Buhari being someone that talks straight came out immediately to confirm that he was still in APC and would work for the party.

Buhari followed up the statement with relocating to Kaduna State in an apparent reinforcement for the battle – should there any arise.

El-Rufai knew what he wanted to achieve by saying that he left the APC with Buhari’s consent and Buhari knew what he wanted to achieve by responding same day that he would not turn his back against the party that made him president after several failed attempts.

Buhari did not return to Kaduna because he was not comfortable in Daura. He returned for political reasons and it will become clearer with time.

This game is not for people who cannot control their emotions. It is not for those who cannot be calm when things seem not to go their way like it was for Tinubu under Buhari presidency when a cabal was working openly against Akanbi.

Those elements, which El-Rufai himself mentioned are now private individuals and some of them are seeking favour from the incumbent President. That is what God can do.

Buhari has told us where he belongs and if you’re in his shoes, I don’t think that you would do otherwise because gentlemen know how to return favours.

APC made Buhari president twice. The least he can do is what he has done. Those whom APC made governors twice but are ungrateful are free to remain so.

Comrade Bamidele writes from Abuja, and is of the BAT Ideological Group