President Alpha Condé of Guinea visited President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, Katsina State, at the weekend to lobby for his friend, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), to clinch the presidential candidacy of the party in 2023, Daily Independent has gathered.
Though Condé’s visit coincided with the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations which he marked with President Buhari in Daura, credible sources said his main mission in Nigeria was to intervene on behalf of his friend, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on the 2023 presidency.
Though Tinubu has been silent on whether he will contest the 2023 presidential election, many of his loyalists in the APC have said he will take a shot at occupying the highest office in the land when the presidency is zoned to the South in 2023.
According to a credible source, Condé may have been worried based on the statements by some power brokers that the North may still retain the power in 2023 after uninterrupted eight years.
He added that another source of concern for the Guinean president was the new ministers unveiled by President Buhari, which many believed did not favour Tinubu.
“Yes, the Guinean president is Daura to celebrate the Eid-el-Kabir festive occasion with President Buhari but it is a strategic visit as he wants to use the occasion to lobby for his friend, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
“He decided to meet President Buhari in Daura when the president is on break because it will afford them to have a heart-to-heart talk compared to the tight schedule at the Villa.
“We all know the role Tinubu played in his reelection, so I think Condé believes that one good turn deserves another and this explains why he has come all the way from Guinea to intervene on Tinubu’s behalf”, the source said.
Tinubu and Condé are close allies. Tinubu also played a significant role in the presidential election held in Guinea in 2015 during which Condé was reelected for a second term.
Tinubu’s role in Condé’s reelection was highlighted by Sunday Dare, a former Chief of Staff to the former Lagos State governor who is one of the ministers-designate expected to be sworn-in by President Buhari on August 21.
In an article titled ‘In Faraway Guinea Conakry, Tinubu’s Political Prowess Holds Sway’, Dare wrote on how Tinubu deployed the prowess he used during the 2015 presidential election in Nigeria which ousted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and President Goodluck Jonathan to secure a fresh five-year term for Condé in Guinea.
“Though the October 11, 2015 presidential election in Guinea Conakry has come and gone, not many would forget in a long time the key role played by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“And just like he did in the Nigerian situation serving as the catalyst, the fulcrum alongside others and perhaps the ‘babalawo’ that brought the opposition to power and chased away the PDP after 16 years in power, Asiwaju Tinubu has helped retain a trusted friend and pan-Africanist in power. Prof. Alpha Condé, the first democratically elected president of Guinea is back for a record second term of five years after a commanding first round victory of 58 percent of total votes cast.
“The victory that came when the final results were announced was reward for handwork and a campaign that was on message. The political campaign of the incumbent president got a bite when Tinubu moved in to help his friend, a brother and a true African leader.” (Daily Independent)
