Segun Showunmi, former spokesperson for the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Organisation, commented on the political maneuvers ahead of the 2027 Nigerian presidential election.
Showunmi stated that any northern politicians hoping to engage former President Muhammadu Buhari in a plot to unseat current President Bola Tinubu might find themselves disappointed.
Speaking with Punch, Showunmi emphasized Buhari’s straightforward nature, asserting that the former president would not engage in conspiracies.
Showunmi highlighted the political loyalty between Buhari and Tinubu, noting that Tinubu stood by Buhari during the 2019 elections even when Buhari faced health challenges and political pressures.
According to Showunmi, this loyalty might influence Buhari’s stance in the upcoming election.
He said, “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.
“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.”
