Tinubu’s quiet pursuit of Buhari’s assets, by Emmanuel Aziken

President Bola Tinubu was in Kano yesterday to condole with the family of the late Alhaji Aminu Dantata, who passed away in Abu Dhabi on June 28, 2025. 

Dantata, who was undoubtedly one of Nigeria’s most successful entrepreneurs, died in his good old age. He, poignantly, before his death, chose to be buried in Saudi Arabia, the homeland of the Islamic faith.

At the time of his death, President Tinubu was about to embark on his two-nation trip to Saint Lucia and Brazil. The priority that the president put on the trip over attending the funeral of Dantata is debatable. Saint Lucia, where the president is believed to have spent about six days, has a population that compares with any of the major streets of Mushin, Lagos, or Bompai, Kano.

There were some who thought that, given the diplomatic weight of Saint (Street) Lucia that the president could have either suspended or shifted that trip in favour of mourning with Nigeria over the death of the foremost entrepreneur, whose sterling accomplishment in business is the pride of many Nigerians.

Whatever, the president returned last Sunday. It was the day he returned that President Muhammadu Buhari, his predecessor in office and political collaborator in the unscrambling of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, died. Tinubu must be praised for the state burial given to his predecessor, and it is hoped that his successors will follow suit.

President Buhari’s death was a shock. It came just days after his loyal media assistant, Mallam Garba Shehu, urged dignitaries at the launch of his book to pray for the well-being of President Buhari.

While noting at that time that Buhari had turned the corner and that the worst was over, he nevertheless tasked the attendees of the book launch, both Christians and Muslims, to offer a one-minute prayer for the full recovery of the former president.

Whatever, Buhari still died days later, completely overshadowing the tell-tale stories that many were reading in his book, According To The President: Lessons From A Presidential Spokesman’s Experience.

It was at the book launch that a completely unwarranted controversy erupted over the contribution of President Tinubu to the 2015 victory of Buhari.

Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, had at the book launch disclosed that the leaders of the parties that merged to form the APC had looked towards the 12 million votes Buhari scored in two of the three presidential elections that preceded 2015 to quietly agree on presenting him (Buhari) as the first APC presidential candidate.

In his first outing in 2003 on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, Buhari scored 12,710,022 votes, which was just about half of the 24 million votes credited to President Olusegun Obasanjo, the candidate of the PDP.

In 2007, still on the platform of the ANPP, Buhari polled 6,605,299 votes compared to the about 24 million votes credited to President Umaru Yar`Adua. That election was, until recently, generally regarded as the worst in the history of the nation. Even the winner, Yar`Adua, was so shamefaced to declare that the election was not near satisfactory.

The 2011 election, conducted under a more rational leadership, produced a more believable result. Buhari scored 12,214,883 votes compared to the 22 million votes returned for the PDP candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan.

The 2011 election result was perhaps what made political strategists like Tinubu focus on the now-famous 12 million vote-bank reckoned with Buhari. 

Remarkably, more than 95% of the vote bank was in the North. This vote bank and the fanatical following in the North were perhaps what made Buhari and his close allies believe that he was regularly cheated in the elections he contested. They perhaps underestimated the fact that just as he was loved in the North that he was also hated in almost equal measure in the South. It took the efforts of the alliance leaders from 2014 to deodorise him. They also dressed Buhari in various garbs, making him look presentable to the rest of the country.

Whatever, after two terms in office, the mystique around that 12 million vote bank is now open to debate. It is remarkable that, against our tradition as Africans that after the news of Buhari’s death was released that videos of some northerners rejoicing over the news emerged. It was such an irony!

The rejoicing in some parts of the North underlines the fact that Buhari’s electoral asset in the North has undoubtedly depreciated. However, to what extent it has depreciated is open to debate. Whatever, it is probable that what is left of the asset is enough to tilt a presidential poll.

Remarkably, Buhari left no political heirs given that just before he joined the APC alliance, that he walked away from The Buhari Organisation, TBO, the political machine commandeered by the debonaire Sule Hamma and the pugnacious Buba Galadima that helped build up that 12 million vote bank.

Now Buhari’s electoral asset is open for grabs but it appears that there is no northerner who is in pole position to go for it. It is no surprise that 20 days after Dantata’s death, President Tinubu is visiting to condole with the family. Beyond the visit, it is an opportunity for the president to go for his cut of Buhari’s assets. Had Buhari not died, Tinubu would have been assured that his predecessor, whatever the discontent, would have ploughed for him. With Buhari now buried, his assets are up for grabs and Tinubu, the master strategist will in the days ahead use whatever opportunity to grab the assets for himself, if not, then stop his rivals from grabbing the assets. So, Nigerians should expect more of the gestures from President Tinubu towards the North. 

Out of eight appointments made by Tinubu yesterday, seven went the way of the North and one to the Southwest.

One of the appointees was Mohammed Babangida, scion of the Ibrahim Babangida family as chairman of the Bank of Industry, BOI. Those who know the history between Buhari and Babangida should read between the lines!

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