*Tinubu will be his choice of candidate
*Because he’s the best on offer
By Yakubu Ahmed-BK
It is on record that immediate past Governor of Borno state, Senator Kashim Shettima’s choice of Professor Babagana Umara Zulum to succeed him as Governor of the state in 2015 was Nigeria’s most selfless and most strategic anointing ever.
The fact that the Professor, a University teacher and administrator just like Kashim Shettima himself has delivered beyond everyones expectations and has thus become Nigeria’s poster boy of political rectitude, points to how succession should be planned, to achieve sustainable development.
Just like today that Buhari is confronted with multitude of aspirants, all of them qualified and fitting for the job alright, Kashim Shettima too, was faced similar challenges of who, amongst the motley of over twenty aspirants to chose from.
Against all expectations by even his closest associates that he may end up anointing from among a number that were either his childhood friends and even blood relatives, in order to still call the shots even after leaving office, he settled on Professor Zulum who had served him as the Rector of the state Polytechnic and later as a Commissioner. He told everyone then that Borno was, after years of battle with a mindless insurgency, in dire need of a man that was more educated and far better than him, to serve the state and extricate it from the destruction it was primed for. As tempting as the desire to anoint a lackey was, Kashim Shettima correctly noted then, that history will be unkind and unsparing to him if he prevaricate between what was glaring good and what was clearly ill. The rest is now history.
It needs not to repeated that the job of President Muhammadu Buhari, quite similar with the one that confronted Kashim Shettima some four years ago, is as simple as it has turned out for the Senator. Simple because every right thinking Nigerian is aware that Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the best aspirant. His popularity with the people all over the country, his pedigree as a consummate achiever, a politician, an administrator, a philanthropist and a businessman have resonated well with majority of Nigerians who trust him to deliver the country out of the challenges that have arrayed against her.
History will forgive the President if he copies Kashim Shettima and supports Tinubu, not because the others are not good, but because under the circumstance, the Asiwaju is the best for the nation. The truth about it is that even if the primary election is held, Tinubu has shown quite early in the race, that he is the man to beat.
Of course, it takes courage and nationalism to do that, and I want to be believe that the President has never been found wanting in these fine attributes.
