Tambuwal’s foray into the presidential fray

Ahead of the 2019 elections and a resolve to contribute towards improving the lives of Nigerians and expanding opportunities for youths, Aminu Tambuwal, the incumbent Governor of Sokoto state, has picked the presidential nomination form of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In attempting to harness a national leverage for capturing the apex leadership, Tambuwal, who defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the PDP some few weeks back, stormed the Wadata Plaza headquarters of the opposition party in Abuja with his supporters to declare his interest.
He told reporters that he was confident that the party leaders would conduct credible primaries if the aspirants did not agree on a consensus candidate saying he believed that PDP of today is capable of organising free, fair, credible and transparent primaries.
Tambuwal said going by his antecedents he had the capability to confront the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its likely candidate.
Aminu Waziri Tambuwal was elected speaker of the House of Representatives under the platform of PDP but defected to APC in 2014. He won the governorship ticket of the APC and defeated the PDP candidate in the 2015 election.
On his presidential chances, he said “I am not discouraged by whatever that may come up as a challenge from the administration. I believe you need to check back my political antecedents. I have always confronted with this kind of hostile environment. You remember how I emerged as speaker of House of Representatives and how I remained there as Speaker of House of Representatives”.
During his tenure as Speaker, Tambuwal managed to maintain a credible image for himself, in comparison to his predecessors. He steered the House amidst a lot of scandals, and managed to avoid any stain. Through his tenure, he received high profile endorsements. Many that thirst for a real generational change in national leadership, especially from the North, are now looking in his direction.
Throughout his four year tenure as Speaker, Tambuwal wielded a calm and calculating effectiveness that remains a reference icon in Nigeria’s political history. Simultaneously, he serially evaded and avoided all “banana peels” and improvised booby traps ostensibly to cut his presidential ambition down with “party supremacy” till he confidently completed his tenure and dumped the party as the undisputed reigning political new generation flag-bearer poised for the 2019 elections.
The meteoric ascendance of this unassuming but outstanding example of the legendary political prowess of the northern political class is not surprising to many political pundits.
Tambuwal has reiterated his yearning to ensure a transition of power that Nigerians hoped would herald a new order of true democracy under an atmosphere of justice, peace, equity and the rule of law.
He said as the Speaker of the House of Representatives then, “I left my comfort zone to be involved in the struggle for the enthronement of purposeful leadership for the citizens of our dear country. Now, almost four years into what ought to be a new order as desired and elected by Nigerians, the nation is unfortunately going through the most difficult and precarious times, since the civil war; with ethno, religious and regional distrust at its highest ebb”.
After painstakingly consulting far and wide, Tambuwal said he remained convinced that no nation can thrive while there is inequity and bad governance and said he is saddened by the fact that lethargy, incompetence and sustained denial of obvious leadership missteps have become the major raw materials with which the Nigerian State is being run today.
The Governor said he is unwilling to be part of frightful conspiracy against the cohesion of the Nigerian state, Nigerian youths and peoples; because he is not at ease in the face of a progressively divided nation and is totally unable to reconcile himself to a national leadership that offers no redeeming moral beacons.
Good governance, he has always maintained viz-a-viz economic wellbeing of our people, and remains the major reason for his action, and has said it is unacceptable that majority of Nigerians should have nothing good to show for their struggles.
Thus, only Tambuwal’s interest in equity, wellbeing of Nigerians and a befitting future for our teeming youths, national unity and economic prosperity must have spurred him into the Presidential fray. He had always maintained that our political parties should progressively align political contests in Nigeria along clear ideological lines such that sooner rather than later the aspirations and the will of the people will be the only determinant of election outcomes.
Therefore to promote excellence, competence, good governance and enthronement of genuine democracy to save Nigeria, Tambuwal had received the blessings of Gen. Babangida and several governors across the country including PDP stakeholders. He also held consultations with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in connection with his aspiration.
Leadership, according to him, “is a collective decision and I have never asked to be made a leader at any time in my life. So, my aspiration will be determined by my people. Someone recently referred to me as “a boy”, which is really a compliment that puts me on the side of the youths, who are the strength of our nation”.
Youths, according to him, are the leaders of tomorrow and that the future for a greater Nigeria lies with the younger generation and assured them of his commitment to their welfare and empowerment.
Governor Tambuwal has a nationwide support base and the face many believe of a young and dynamic northern politician that can confront Buhari.
According to the projections Tambuwal’s entry into the fray would deny Buhari the estimated one million votes from Sokoto. Even more, is the fact that a Tambuwal candidacy could rally the Northern feudal establishment around a youthful candidate viz-a-viz a gerontocratic leader like President Muhammadu Buhari.
It is now apparent that Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has earned all the personal and political credentials required to seek and secure resounding nationwide endorsement as the President Nigeria deserves and Nigerians earnestly yearn for.
Though the stakes are high, with his declaration, Tambuwal could now confidently assume or attain a profile in national acceptability across the land. Without question Tambuwal’s recent political maneuvers have put a serious spotlight on him. By extension, such a strategy would also have vicarious consequences on the ultimate fortunes or misfortunes of the ruling party and the entire political landscape in Nigeria come 2019.
Gombe wrote this piece from Kaduna