Emerging report indicates that 2019 politics is now a survival of the fittest, as many Politicians eyeing the number seat, have started circling around the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
President Muhammadu Buhari, has traveled to the United Kingdom, UK, since May 7th for medical treatment over an undisclosed illness while constitutionally handing over to his Vice, Yemi Osinbajo as Acting President.
Osinbajo, rushed to London for a few hours last week. On his return he said his boss was recovering fast and would be back “very shortly”.
Post-Nigeria gathered that politicians especially from northern Nigeria are circling, in the expectation that it will be one of them who gets to contest the next presidential election, due in February 2019.
Osinbajo, who was previously Lagos state’s attorney-general, will automatically take over if the president resigns or is declared incapacitated.
Osinbajo, a Christian pastor who has said he is on loan from his church, has also been cultivating his own brand. When on tour he makes sure to be photographed chatting with market traders, hugging children and flying in for the funerals of departed politicians.
“The fact that he is perceived as someone who is very loyal to Buhari definitely helps him,” says Chris Ngwodo, an analyst.
However, Northern politicians will want one of their own to step in to any vacancy. There is an unwritten rule that the presidency rotates between north and south, and the northerner Mr Buhari has only served two out of his potential eight years if he decides to re-contest.
The reform-minded governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai, was once seen as Buhari’s heir. But his intolerance of dissent, including the banning of a Shia organisation after at least 347 of its members were massacred by the army in December 2015, has seen him fall from favour.
Atiku Abubakar, a wealthy former vice-president, is likely to contest any primary of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, party. However, he is dogged by corruption allegations and has already run unsuccessfully for president four times.
Another possible candidate is the Senate president, Bukola Saraki. The former governor of Kwara, a state in Nigeria’s “Middle Belt”, was not the APC’s choice to lead parliament. He was nonetheless elected with the backing of opposition party senators in June 2015.
“He’s about as savvy as they come,” says a ruling party source. But the northern elites reportedly do not see Saraki as one of them.
Saraki could strike a deal to become Osinbajo’s deputy, says a source. Or he could wait for the presidential primaries in 2019, and run himself.
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