Segun Showunmi, former spokesperson for the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign organisation, says northern politicians visiting former President Muhammadu Buhari, with the intention of unseating President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027 may be disappointed.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, in an interview with Punch, said Buhari is straightforward and would not join any conspiracy to unseat Tinubu.
According to him, Buhari will have no choice in 2027 but to return the favour Tinubu did to him in 2019.
Speaking further, Showunmi said Nigerians will also determine the fate of Tinubu in the next election based on his performance.
His words” What I know for a fact is that anybody who loves Nigeria will think very deeply about the present circumstance Nigeria is in and what should be the way out even for the future. Buhari is not a conspirator; that is not in his nature. He doesn’t join people in conspiring, to be planning against people. That is not him. He is as straightforward as a knife. So, if anybody is going to him looking for a conspiracy, the person may be disappointed.
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“The reason is that I have a feeling that Buhari may have no choice but to return the favour that President Bola Tinubu did to him in 2019. In the build-up to 2015, all the leaders were on the same page with Bola Tinubu and Buhari, to make Buhari President at that time. By 2019, all of them had left that agenda, they had gone on to the PDP agenda, Bola Tinubu did not move, even when President Buhari was a little bit ill, and people felt it was a good time for people to dump him, but Tinubu did not move. He stood by him (Buhari) to help him achieve 2019.
“Without prejudice, I know Buhari very well, and that is going to be weighing very heavily on his mind. Will it now be time for him to stand by Bola Tinubu or will he dump him? I know that at the back of Buhari’s mind, he will consider what is in the best interest of Nigeria. I don’t want anybody to link any politics to this visit, and I don’t want anybody to imagine that there is any crisis between Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, but I also don’t want anybody, especially President Bola Tinubu, to sit in the Villa with his friends and be making unrealistic assumptions as to how 2027 will look like.
If they have done well with the economy, the Nigerian people will tell them; if they have done well with insecurity, the Nigerian people will tell them. If they have done well with inflation, the Nigerian people will tell them. If they have done well with the cost of living, the Nigerian people will tell them. If they have done well with poverty alleviation, the Nigerian people will tell them. If they have done well with debt in the country, the Nigerian people will tell them, and in any case, what the future holds is in the hands of God, but if you underrate the influence of Muhammadu Buhari in the rural North, especially, in the rural North-West, you are a joker.”
