Buhari/Osinbajo: a sure-footed ticket

After thanking Buhari and the APC, Professor Osinbajo responded to his choice: “The task of rebuilding this nation is one to which I am fully committed. There can be no other President, leader or commander that can lead that common sense revolution Nigeria urgently needs than General Buhari…I will work with him and the party […]

After thanking Buhari and the APC, Professor Osinbajo responded to his choice: “The task of rebuilding this nation is one to which I am fully committed. There can be no other President, leader or commander that can lead that common sense revolution Nigeria urgently needs than General Buhari…I will work with him and the party to restore hope and confidence in millions of our youths and provide comfort and security for millions of Nigerians.”
This then should be the departure point for any serious analyst of the ticket, not speculation on who should have been paired with Buhari. There is absolutely no way everyone will be agreed on the merit of selecting Professor Osinbajo to the APC presidential ticket. However, majority of the party men as well as a wide cross section of Nigerians believe that apart from sidetracking the religious minefield plotted all over by our bigoted ruling cabal, the high moral standards Osinbajo brings to the ticket reinforce its appeal. It is, therefore,  absolutely anti-intellectual, as Jideofor Adibe sought to do, to abandon the choice of Professor Osinbajo as Buhari’s running mate and what informs it, and then concentrate on the merit or lack of it of the selection of Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his place.
Having already hinted at “the scandal surrounding his (Tinubu’s) alleged forgery of the academic certificates he presented to INEC in 1999)”, does Adibe still want Tinubu to place himself on the ticket and give PDP and other bigots reason to rubbish the APC and thwart its chance of defeating the ruling cabal in the 2015 presidential election?
The APC has less to explain with Osinbajo on its presidential ticket than if it placed Tinubu there! Tinubu isn’t complaining about being left out of the ticket; he has offered himself as the sacrificial lamb required by the party for its unity. Contrary to the feeling of “being snubbed”, Tinubu has disclosed that he had turned down Buhari’s offer to him to serve as his running mate in the interest of the party. To further remove any lingering doubt about his loyalty to APC, Tinubu said: “I sincerely commit myself to the rescue agenda of General Buhari and Professor Osinbajo…….I declare to you, I will work and dedicate myself so that our ticket succeeds and wins 2015 election.” What more can be asked of Jagaba? Where have the likes of Jideofor Adibe sourced their fear that Tinubu will not enthusiastically “work for APC’s victory in the south west as he would have done if he had got the ticket?”
Our analysts should have settled down and examined the advertised qualities and character of Professor Osinbajo instead of seeking to saddle APC with another candidate based on assumption that only he could guarantee the votes for the opposition in the South West. If they’d said Osinbajo was a fake Professor or had raped a member of his flock, or been convicted for theft, that would have effectively taken the winds out of the sail of APC’s cruising ship.  The APC, continuously branded an Islamic political party by Olisah Metuh and Femi Fani-Kayode, cannot afford to wear that resembling costume.  With barely seven or eight weeks left to a possible election victory, the APC cannot afford to be distracted by charges that it is a party for some special interest. APC was never given the chance to live this long. First, they said the merger was impossible; then they suggested it would disband at the point of choosing a presidential flag bearer or selecting a running mate. It’s only when the ruling cabal is swept off in 2015 that Nigerians will wake up to the new reality of our democracy.
I find it superfluous and a worthless gamble Adibe’s suggestion that APC should have dispelled the notion of being an Islamic party by unveiling a “shadow cabinet” complete with the religious and ethnic identities of its members. This is expecting too much for an opposition party seeking consolidation; besides, once its ticket is Muslim-Muslim, no amount of balancing acts in a cabinet can convince “ethnic and religious entrepreneurs” that APC is not an Islamic/Northern party out to Islamise the country. This is the same country where a President who promised “to hit the ground running” took several months to form a cabinet after receiving a “pan-Nigerian” mandate in the 2011 elections. It’s absolutely preposterous as Adibe seems to suggest, that APC walks straight into another needless controversy called cabinet selection ahead of election. Surely, this will precipitate defections and instability; those who nurse hopes of becoming ministers will jump ship once they realise other people have been chosen to serve. Worse still, the party would have been accused of over confidence and obsession with power and a whole new round of name calling will start. Besides, Adibe would have been the first to accuse the APC of mistaking Presidentialism for West Minster democracy! By ignoring the qualities and reasons advanced for enlisting Osinbajo on that promising ticket and conjuring up an unrealistic and laborious Tinubu candidacy, Adibe has ignored reality and settled for PDP-induced gossip.