Ex-President, Olusegun Obasanjo, and former Military Head of State, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, have concluded plans to adopt the
former Governor of Kano State and serving Senator, Rabiu Kwankwaso, as a replacement for President Muhammadu Buhari, ahead of 2019, Post-Nigeria gathered from the News Telegraph report.
Recall, that Kwankwaso came second place in the All Progressives Congress, APC, primaries, in 2015, while former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, came behind him in the 3rd position.
The decision was as a result of the failing health of Buhari, who is currently now out of the country, for a follow-up medical consultation, in faraway United Kingdom, UK.
However, there is palpable tension in the North, who fears that the region might find itself in the same boat as they did, in the lead up to the death of former President, Umaru Yar’Adua, in 2010.
It was gathered from highly placed sources, that it was the 2019 Presidential debate that prompted the meeting between Obasanjo, Babangida, and Abdulsalami Abubakar, in Minna, recently.
A source said that one name that was accepted as the likely successor in 2019, is Kwankwaso.
An APC chieftain said: “They may have settled for Kwankwaso, because of certain factors. Part of the reasons, is that more than any other Politician in the North, Kwankwaso is seen as commanding a large followership in Kano and most States of the North-West.’’
He is also said to be preferred by Obasanjo, who is rumoured to be doing everything he could, to ensure that Atiku Abubakar, his former Vice, does not get the ticket of the Presidency in 2019, in any major political party.
A source close to Atiku, disclosed that the former Vice President did not factor the Osinbajo, Tinubu angle to his calculations, when he started crisscrossing the country, in preparation for 2019.
The source said: “Asiwaju and Atiku were on the same chapter, up till the time Buhari traveled in January. But the way the media was hyping Osinbajo in acting capacity, made Atiku to wonder if Tinubu was preparing Osinbajo up for 2019. I must be frank with you, since that time, Atiku has been viewing them with suspicion.
“There is no open war really, but the trust is not much between them. Atiku feels that his ambition may be truncated by the Osinbajo/Tinubu move.”
