Betrayal in politics is the equivalent of being stabbed in the back. You realise how the politicians you helped to lift into positions of power have turned their back on you, their benefactor. Being stabbed in the back is nothing new in life. Friends do it to their friends. Husbands and wives know very well what it means to be stabbed in the back. Business partners undermine one another when a rift develops in their relationship. A stab in the back carries the element of surprise, shock, unexpectedness, suddenness and swiftness. It is like someone who has become a poisoned chalice.
Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu, the unquestionable national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) since 2013, has been speaking openly and painfully about how he has been betrayed and abandoned by the same politicians he helped to put into positions of authority either as state governors or Vice-President or even the President.
Tinubu is seething. With him, all gloves are off. You are either with him or you are against him. Either you support his presidential ambition or you are out to disrupt his long-established aspiration. Last week in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Tinubu spoke about his disappointment with high-profile politicians, including current and previous state governors, as well as President Muhammadu Buhari, who have refused to support his political ambition. Like a man experiencing a terrible incubus, Tinubu believes everyone in his party is conspiring to deny him his God-given right to become President. The fight to become the APC presidential candidate is getting spiteful.
A day after the speech in Abeokuta and realising the damage his speech might have done to his political career, Tinubu moved swiftly to amend his statement, saying he would never belittle Buhari, a man he said he held in high regard. On Friday, June 3, 2022, Tinubu issued a statement in which he attempted to change public understanding of the words he used in his speech the previous day.
He said: “There have been gross misinterpretations in some sections of the media regarding comments I made on Thursday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. To a degree, the erroneous interpretations may be somewhat innocent, given that I spoke in Yoruba. Those who do not understand the nuances of this richly layered…language may have inadvertently yet erroneously missed the true meaning of what I said while attempting to translate my statement.”
With specific reference to Buhari, Tinubu tried to soften the impact of what he said in Abeokuta that has been interpreted to be disrespectful of Buhari. He said: “Let me also erase any doubt. My respect and regard for President Buhari as Commander-in-Chief of this nation and as a person are high and unfailing. I shall never denigrate him. I certainly did not do so in Abeokuta.”
Tinubu should be reminded that words spoken publicly and recorded electronically on digital devices cannot be denied, amended or given a different reading.
Whether his denials and efforts to evade responsibility for what he said in a public space would assuage the harm caused by his speech would become clear when the APC announces the names of candidates endorsed to contest the party’s presidential primary.
In Abeokuta, Tinubu claimed that Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo would not have been elected in 2015 without his influence, his widespread networks, his goodwill among voters and his ability to make the impossible possible. He also said he was the reason why Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun was elected in 2019 despite the groundswell of opposition to the man’s governorship ambition.
This is where I take issues with Tinubu, the man credited with championing the widespread movement that transformed Buhari from his previous profile as an election loser and presidential liability into a charming election winner and success story. The question must be asked whether Tinubu, even with all his money and political power, had the magnetism or appeal to influence all voters in Nigeria to cast their ballot for Buhari in 2015.
Let me make this point clear. There were forces across the country that combined to make Buhari’s victory in 2015 inevitable. The first was the prevalent mood for change in the country. The second noteworthy point was that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had become an emblem of corruption and poor leadership. Nigerians wanted change at all costs. These and other factors paved the way for any presidential candidate of any political party (including pets, as some people suggested) to emerge victorious in the 2015 election.
Tinubu is clearly upset. He should be. He spent a lot of money on the APC and to support politicians he helped to enthrone into various positions of influence. The question must be asked: Why have Tinubu’s political associates chosen to pay him back with animosity instead of the goodwill that Tinubu accorded to them? What is it in Tinubu’s character that would make politicians who benefited from him to turn against him?
Tinubu may have assisted to polish the image of some politicians to make them visibly acceptable to voters. He may have marketed the politicians and positioned them in such a way to give them that important head-start in every election. But Tinubu must be realistic. Human beings do not return favour for favour. His complaints must be a case of sour grapes.
In Abeokuta last Thursday, Tinubu spoke highly of his political accomplishments and his capacity to extract victory (for himself and his acolytes) from the jaws of defeat. Tinubu’s capacity to sway voters in his constituency is not in doubt. What is contested is the strategy he deploys to influence votes cast for any candidate he supports.
Tinubu has not hidden from public knowledge his view that, based on his investments in the APC, he deserves to be the frontline candidate among politicians seeking endorsement to represent the party as the presidential candidate in the 2023 national election.
Listening to Tinubu roll out his acts of kindness, humanity and selflessness to other people will make you sympathise with him. No politician in our modern age has been used and deserted the way Tinubu has suffered in the hands of political chameleons.
In his view, if politicians were to be honest, trustworthy and noble, perhaps he would have easily crushed other APC presidential candidates seeking to emerge as successor to Buhari. Unfortunately, you cannot trust politicians. In politics, you can only trust yourself and be suspicious of every other person. As recent events have shown in the higgledy-piggledy politicking going on within the APC, nothing is guaranteed. You can throw a lot of money to influence the nature and direction of politics and indeed the choice of the victorious presidential candidate, but nobody is guaranteed to receive the nod to represent the party.
As Tinubu weeps, it must be said that Buhari triggered the current uncertainties in the APC when he remained unwilling to endorse any of the candidates who had expressed interest in the presidential seat. It is even weird that Buhari has not openly expressed his support for Vice-President Osinbajo, a man with whom he managed the country over the past seven years.
Politics, particularly Nigerian brand of politics, is a cruel game.