Tinubu rattled by prospects of imminent defeat, Atiku’s soaring popularity – Calculate
• Says North will retrieve 80% votes it gave president Tinubu in 2027
In this interview with newsmen, Adamawa politician, Umar Bello Jada also known as Calculate disclosed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was rattled by the prospects of imminent defeat awaiting him in 2027. He also said the president is seriously disturbed by the soaring political capital of Atiku Abubakar which is a consequence of the bad leadership style of his presidency.
He noted that the North which gave president Tinubu 80% votes has been sidelined and out-schemed in all facets of appointments and development at the expense of the South which contributed a paltry 20% to the success of the president. He noted that as a result of the glaring injustice, the north has vowed to retire the president come 2027.
Related news
Mega party tsunami: Impending doom awaits PDP, APC in 2027 – Calculate
Breaking: Ribadu, Danburam, Nyako, four others appointed as Fintiri announces new chiefs, emirs
Lamido Adamawa Commends FCE Yola Management for Transformational Leadership
He added that as a result of poor leadership at the center, Nigerians from all walks of life are forming a consensus around the former vice president Atiku Abubakar culminating into his meetings with various stakeholders across all political divides recently.
Excerpts.
You’re one of the politicians who aggressively worked against the presidential ambition of former vice president Atiku Abubakar, at that time you described Atiku in very unpalatable language. It beggars belief that today you’re hailing and hero worshipping him. Don’t you think people will accuse you of being a politician of easy virtue?
I think we need to situate things in their proper context. No human being is 100 percent perfect, Atiku Abubakar inclusive. But despite those human attributes and imperfections, we have come to understand that Atiku is 1,000 percent better than the incumbent president and that is why our position shifted. People have the right to ascribe meanings to our actions and to even insult us on that. In the build up to the 2023 presidential election, the media especially the southern media has packaged president Tinubu as the best thing for Nigeria considering his track record of successes, his transformation of Lagos State, his political struggles, and his wide political network portraying him as a bridge builder and a melting pot of consensus.
Not only me, many progressive minded politicians who have the interest of Nigeria at heart were misled into believing that Tinubu will make the best president if elected. Based on that notion, we decided to rally round him in the interest of Nigeria’s development. It was that singular interest that made me particularly to forsake Atiku in preference to Tinubu. But let me tell you, all those people who invested time and energy have backed out now because they were highly disappointed. With the exception of the few fat cats benefitting from the system, Nigerians have lost confidence in the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Another reason for our support to Tinubu is based on the unwritten principle of power rotation and the dismal performance of Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari. We thought it will be unjust to support a northerner to succeed another northerner especially looking at the contributions Tinubu made towards the election of Buhari and the very dismal performance of Buhari. You may recall, before that history was made, Buhari has made three futile attempts at the presidency. So these factors made us to sideline Atiku in preference to Tinubu.
But some of the achievements recorded by the Tinubu government in the North especially Adamawa are intangible. One of them is the success of the administration in containing incidences of banditry and kidnapping for ransom. Don’t you see these achievements as praise worthy?
Incidences of social insecurity still persist across Nigeria. Kidnapping is still an existential security challenge which our people grapple with quite often. So the social insecurity challenges president Tinubu met are still around. But one thing that has become very glaring with the Tinubu led federal government is its consistent failure to implement programs that will ensure the empowerment of the North and its people.
One of them is that despite contributing 80 percent to the electoral success of the president, the region was obviously sidelined in terms of government patronage and critical appointments. For instance, most of the juicy and important appointments made by Tinubu favour his tribe, the Yoruba and even at that Lagos Yoruba are more favoured. In a nutshell, one can say Tinubu gave most of his appointments to Yoruba from Lagos State despite the fact that he lost Lagos to Peter Obi. Is this not a huge disservice?
Come to the issue of contract award, as a journalist can you tell me the federal government contracts awarded in Adamawa State since the coming of Tinubu? Let me say here with all sense of responsibility that since he came on board, the president has not awarded a contract worth one dime in Adamawa. In fact, all the ongoing contracts in the state have stopped as a result of dearth of funding. Most of the ongoing contracts of the federal government in Modibbo Adama Teaching Hospital (MAUTH) have stopped over funding issues. In sharp contrast, the southern part of the country is receiving a lot of attention, despite the fact that Tinubu has stopped the all important road contract from Abuja to Kaduna, the president has awarded the most expensive contract in history that will involve nine southern states at a whooping cost of N15trn. This is the fate of the 19 states of the North. It is as a result of this neglect that the North deemed it fit to re-strategize and work behind a sole interest and sole candidate, and that interest and candidate is Atiku Abubakar who has taken the gauntlet by meeting with various stakeholders across the length and breadth of Nigeria. One in series of such meetings was his meeting with Adamawa stakeholders including former governor Murtala Nyako and lately Senator Aisha Dahiru Ahmed Binani. At the national scene, Atiku has also lately met with former president Obasanjo, El-Rufai and a host of stakeholders who are pissed off with the state of the nation and want drastic change. Even the president is currently agitated by the soaring popularity of Atiku in the North and the anti-Tinubu groundswell of opposition currently building in the North. It is a tempest that will sweep away the president inshAlllah. To counter the building storm, Tinubu has directed all his minister’s in the North to leave their offices to their respective states to build fortresses of support. But that is where Tinubu’s problems really start because it will amount to magic for anyone to convince people who are both hungry, angry and are in a state of serious neglect to support their tormentors.
You said the North contributed 80 percent of the electoral success of Tinubu, how do you come about this figure?
Let me use this opportunity to clear one misnomer about the contribution of Tinubu to the electoral success of Buhari. Some people erroneously believed that after three unsuccessful bid, president Tinubu was the one who helped Buhari to become the president in 2015. No doubt the coalition that coalesced into APC between different political parties has helped Buhari’s success but if you quantify the contribution of Tinubu, you will find out that it was very minimal because in previous elections, Buhari has consistently secured 12 million votes. But as a result of the romance, Buhari’s votes shot from 12m to 15m. That means Tinubu and other parties only contributed 3 million votes to the electoral success of Buhari yet the southern media propaganda machinery mirrors Tinubu as the hero of that spectacle.
In the last presidential election in which APC got 8 million votes, Tinubu’s contributions are in the region of 2 million votes since he has lost even his state while the North contributed 6 million votes which approximates to 80 percent of the votes.
It means out of the total votes cast in 2023 presidential election, Tinubu lost about 16 million votes scored by the dou of Peter Obi and Atiku. This means if the North rejects Tinubu and handed over it’s six million votes to Atiku, the former vice president will have around 13 million votes. So it is going to be a walk over for the president.
In Adamawa State, Atiku has started talking to all those personalities with massive followership like Nyako and Binani and he will continue the mission until he secures the state from the hand of bigots and their accomplices who have desecrated and threw away respect for internal party mechanisms to the dogs.
