The All Progressive Congress (APC) can now, with the benefit of hindsight, be regarded as having been constituted and hurriedly formed, as a mere vehicle, only to wrestle power from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), by a coallition of different parties, made up of strange bed fellows. Of course, APC then, had genuine reasons and a fertile ground to easily coalesce and quickly gather enough force, worked assiduously and tactically, to put an end to the sixteen years of PDP gross misrule and massive looting of Nigeria, with their “CHANGE”mantra.

The merger was not only hurriedly consummated, there were also no well defined ideological lineage, nor, were there concrete agreements reached to be executed, on how to solve the numerous socio-political and economic problems bedevilling Nigeria, when eventually they assume power. They only pounced on the cliche, “PROGRESSIVES”, to deceive the highly vulnerable Nigerians, that have been pummeled by poverty, hunger and deprivation, after very many years of misrule by previous military regimes and the PDP.

Prior to 1999, when the military handed over power to the PDP, there had been strident clarmour for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), especially, after the annulment of the results of the June 1993 general election, acclaimed to have been the freest, most peaceful and transparent, won by Late Chief M. K. O Abiola. The obvious backlash of the annulment was the clamour for the convocation of a SNC, which was championed, especially by NADECO, Afenifere, and all progressive elements, especially, from the South – West of Nigeria. The SNC was enunciated as a forum where all the Nationalities in Nigeria could deliberate and decide on how ALL, would agree on terms and conditions of peaceful coexistence. SNC was a major campaign slogan of the AD, the offshoot party of Afenifere, which eventually lost the 1999 General election to the PDP at the Federal level and therefore, the clamor for SNC suffered a setback.

The then PDP President, General Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ), because of his disdain for whatever was championed by AD/Afenifere, brushed off the idea of any SNC. Strangely however, but typical of OBJ, he later became a strong advocate of SNC, after he left office, for obvious selfish reasons, at the expense of the public good.

Till now, all sincere commentators /scholars of the political history of Nigeria, including the eastwhile Secretary – General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, are still strong advocates of SNC or whatever platform, to genuinely deliberate and come up with a people formulated Constitution. This Peoples’ Constitution is expected to conform with the pre-military/first Republic Constitution with true federalism, regional autonomy (devolution of power to regions) , resource control, and a weak center, with all these features now encapsulated and popularly called Restructuring.

The 1999 Constitution as foisted by the Military is generally regarded as fraudulent, faulty and cannot work for a multi- ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-national entity like Nigeria. Without Restructuring, people believe Nigeria cannot progress and that the bane of all the misery confronting Nigeria is due to the current Unitary system, camouflaged as a Federal political structure and the inherently expensive Presidential system of governance. So, the advocates believe Restructuring should be the panacea for most of Nigeria’s maladministration problems.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu ( BAT) is one of the strong promoters and pillars of the building of APC. As a NADECO member, a former governor of AD, later ACN in Lagos State, he is undoubtedly a strong advocate of SNC/Restructuring. He surely must have put this on the negotiation table, at the formation of APC, because Restructuring was conspicuously part of the campaign manifesto of the APC for the 2015 election, won by the party to dislodge PDP from power at the center and for General M. Buhari (GMB) to gain power after three failed attempts. The APC, even at a time, set up a Gov.

Nasir El-Rufai panel to review the issue of Restructuring. The report of the El-Rufai panel was however cleverly made not to see the light of the day by APC. Eventually, the recommendations of the panel was clandestinely jettisoned, and by now should have been shredded into the dustbin. The APC President GMB, later, and even recently too, declared publicly that he does not understand what Restructuring means. This is the hallmark statement that made discerning minds to believe that GMB merely used the APC as just a vehicle to wrestle and take power from the PDP, after his three unsuccessful attempts with his own party. Glaringly, GMB had cunningly used other parties and persons, especially BAT, for his own personal agenda, which the people of Nigeria have now termed to be a Fulanisation Agenda.

BAT glaringly invested and risked so much financial, material, integrity and reputation to found APC. He was intensely involved right from inception, to conception and the eventual birth of the party. He was vigorously involved in the campaigns and other activities of the final onslaught, that lead to the dislodgement of the PDP from Federal power and for the ascendancy of GMB to the Nigerian Presidency. However, the body language of GMB, since BAT officially made his presidential ambition known to him, indicates that the cunning and insincerity of GMB, to BAT and even, all Nigerians, is not yet over. Having declared his interest to contest for the Presidency, the payback time for BAT is expected to be nigh, but what could be seen from the stable of APC and GMB is obviously a big contrast to what is normally expected from whom so much has been given.

When the antecedents of BAT is considered, his contribution to the democratic struggle during the military era, his outstanding performance as a two term governor of Lagos state, his managerial ability to build and mentor people to leadership positions, his economic and management ability to exponentially grow the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of Lagos State and to significantly develop the state, despite being denied the due monthly Federal allocation funds to Local governments by OBJ, and of course, his boldness, bravery and audacity to always go for whatever he wants, BAT, is eminently qualified to aspire to be President of Nigeria. He should under normal circumstances, expected to be accorded his due respect and possibly, an offer of first refusal, by a political party he has invested so much. Alas, the picture we can see is not what a real political party should present, which is an indication of the faulty foundation.

Whatever innuendos about his age, real identity, academic qualification, health or source of his wealth, to me, should be regarded as mere weapons from the arsenal of his political enemies, aimed to shoot down his political jet, from achieving his flight to Nigeria Presidency.

Anyway, I think BAT, belatedly, has realized what a dark alley, slippery, sinister and dangerous, the Nigerian political terrain could be and he has thus vowed never to be intimidated by any individual or corporate force. He has now realized he is “wrestling with pigs and he is ready to get dirty”.

But then, I hope, if he eventually triumphs in this epic and epochal battle in his quest for power, which will surely take very much toll on him, he would not be so weary or worn, as to forget Restructuring, or better still, he will be able to gather enough strength to engineer the birth of a suitable brand new Constitution, that will take Nigeria to greater heights in all ramifications. If he could achieve this goal , he should have felt fulfilled and accomplished. By then, he would have written his name in gold in the annals of the political history of Nigeria, notwithstanding the character warts and all innuendos on his person.

Pharm. OLALEKAN FASHESIN, FPSN
(An Ibadan based Veteran Pharmacist)