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The race for the 2023 presidential election in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is no longer a conversation about one man’s ambition.
The National leader of the party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has for months been the most talked about presidential aspirant in the party. He announced his lifelong ambition to rule Nigeria in January and since then, he’s been making moves to actualise his dream.
Tinubu’s visits to political and traditional leaders since his declaration have cemented the idea that any politician seeking to lead Nigerians through the APC platform would have to move mountains to outwit Tinubu’s political strategy.
In Nigeria, elections are won with huge funds and Tinubu supposedly swims in a pool of it. This perception of the APC chieftain establishes him firmly as the one and only politician in the party armed with both political and financial resources to win the race to the Aso Rock in 2023.
But while the former governor of Lagos seems to be enjoying the assumption that the 2023 presidential race tilts largely in his favour, Rotimi Amaechi’s presidential declaration tends to have conduced a slight paradigm shift in the public permutations of the race.
Although since Tinubu declared, other presidential aspirants like Governors Yahaya Bello, David Umahi, and former governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha have joined the race, their declarations are considered lightweight and bereft of the kind of following and influence Tinubu’s campaign wields.
But with Amaechi’s declaration on Saturday, April 9, 2022, the political conversation in which Tinubu is viewed as an outstanding aspirant in the race will henceforth consider the Minister of Transportation as a serious contender.
Judging by the massive crowd, the APC members, and political dignitaries that attended Amaechi’s declaration in Rivers State, the transportation minister is ostensibly not a small horse in the race.
The declaration was attended by former National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, a former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume (APC, Borno), former head of Nigeria’s maritime agency, NIMASA, Dakuku Peterside.
Interestingly, Amaechi is the first and most likely the only member of Buhari’s cabinet that would join the race, should the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo refuse to declare.
Amaechi may jolly well be the favourite candidate the President does not want to be eliminated.
The speculation that the former governor of River State is Buhari’s favourite aspirant was attested to by Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s recent interview.
In the interview, El-Rufai hinted that he would run alongside Amaechi as his Vice President if the minister joined the presidential race.
The Governor of Kaduna State said he would join the race only if Buhari directs him to run for president or serve as Amaechi’s running mate.
To an extent, the condition on which El-Rufai predicated his interest in the 2023 presidency clarifies Buhari’s position about his successor and Amaechi is possibly the man he’s been protecting all along. After all, he is the ‘Trusted son of Daura’, a traditional title the minister was recently decorated with at the president’s hometown.
Amaechi is also believed to be in the good books of the APC governors. This may be because, compared to Tinubu, he’s younger and may be perceived to be more amenable by the governors.
Aside from being Buhari’s ‘performing’ minister, Amaechi enjoys a political romance and closeness other ministers do not share with the president. He is a two-time Director-General of Buhari’s presidential campaign, and he is considered to be one of the ministers who are very close and loyal to the president.
Amaechi’s affinity with Buhari would undoubtedly influence his chances in the race if the political romance between the president and the minister remains what political analysts think it is till next month when the party would hold its primaries.
Now that Amaechi has declared and seems to be a darling of many APC big wigs, Tinubu, a renowned political strategist, understands the game like the back of his hand, and he’s ready to get dirty for his lifelong ambition.
If Osinbajo eventually declares, his candidacy would bring a new dimension to the game, but for now, Amaechi is certainly the APC presidential aspirant that would give Tinubu a run for his money in the 2023 presidential race.
*Pulse Editor's Opinion is the viewpoint of an Editor at Pulse. It does not represent the opinion of the Organisation Pulse.