Daniel Bwala, an aide to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is notorious for making predictions. Bwala recently predicted that his party, the PDP, will win all the states in the North because no state in the North-west is happy with APC. Of course, Bwala’s prediction came to naught. He has again predicted and like his previous guess, this prediction on who will make the cabinet of President-elect Bola Tinubu will fail.
Bwala is not Nostradamus, but his recent quip, especially in the media, affords Nigerians the opportunity to actually ponder on who will make the incoming cabinet of Tinubu.
Certainly, there will be those who will want to gate crash in their effort to be among those who will make the incoming cabinet. This is rather typical of our politics where competition for political office is not only intense but also demanding.
Predictions about who makes the cabinet of the incoming president are all part of the game, except that Tinubu has since declared that competence and character would be the determinants while constituting his cabinet. Thus, for Tinubu, predictions such as propounded by Bwala, who incidentally is even a member of the opposition, holds no water.
In a statement entitled, “Nigeria : At the Cusp of Renewed Hope,” Tinubu had declared that it was time for politics to take backstage for governance and noted that only those who share his vision of good governance would make his blueprint for the nation attainable.
He said: “As your incoming president, I accept the task before me. There has been talk of a government of national unity. My aim is higher than that. I seek a government of national competence. In selecting my government, I shall not be weighed down by considerations extraneous to ability and performance.
“The day for political gamesmanship is long gone. I shall assemble competent men and women and young people from across Nigeria to build a safer, more prosperous and just Nigeria. There shall be young people. Women shall be prominent. Whether your faith leads you to pray in a church or mosque will not determine your place in government. Character and competence will”.
Indeed, the names Bwala mentioned in his tweet fit in with the benchmark set by the president-elect as most of them possess qualities required to make the cabinet of the incoming administration. But so also political a juggernaut like Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura.
Al-makura readily fits in with the calibre of Nigerians needed to make the president-elect’s cabinet list. The two-term governor of Nasarawa state is not only competent but also has the required character to make Tinubu’s cabinet list.
Not only that, Senator Al-Makura is a long term ally and confidant of the incoming president, with Tinubu publicly acknowledging the former’s consistency and honesty since the period leading to the merger that brought the APC into existence. Addressing APC delegates from Nasarawa state in Lafia seeking support for his presidential aspiration, Tinubu has this to say about Al-Makura:
“I cannot forget one person, he was a lone ranger in one party called CPC. it was then I noticed the consistency, reliability and honesty of Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, the former governor of Nasarawa state.
“It is showing now that Al-Makura has something in common with me, hunting the talent, producing the talent and standing by that talent and that is why you have Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa state today.
“I must say, you people are extremely lucky, you are following the man who knows the way and that is my motto, follow me, I’m the only one who knows the way.”
Bwala and his likes must be made to remember that without Al-Makura, there would’nt have probably been any merger to form the ruling APC. Al-Makura being the only state governor under the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), provided the platform for the entire North to go into a political alliance with the South-west led by Tinubu.
Al-Makura allegedly lost his bid to become national chairman of the APC due to his perceived closeness to Tinubu. It was alleged that certain powerful individuals felt with Al-Makura as chairman of the party, Tinubu will have an easy ride to clinch the party’s presidential ticket.
Al-Makura was at the forefront of the support base for the emergence of Tinubu as first APC presidential candidate as president-elect. Al-Makura was head of Directorate of Support Groups at the Tinubu/Shettima Independent Campaign Council, where he mobilised and harnessed grassroots support for the presidential candidate of the APC.
A modest politician, Al-Makura is neither presumptuous nor harbours any sense of self-entitlement but he has paid his dues in the current political dispensation. Even his recent loss of another term at the senate is seen by many as a blessing in disguise. He is better suited to serve the incoming administration directly, where his visionary leadership, administrative competence and unparalleled passion fopr the common good will come to bear as Tinubu unfolds his vision for the country.
Of course, Al-Makura remains a bastion of hope and inspiration to many and his towering political profile cannot be sullied by the assumptions of someone like Bwala, whose penchant for delusionary predictions is legendary and who has only remained consistent in chasing shadows as he embarks on a frivolous voyage of relevance seeking.
Abare, a public affairs commentator, writes from Lafia, Nasarawa state.
