•Bello, Umahi, Ngige, Fayemi, Fashola too •‘How Abba Kyari’s death altered permutations for Geoffrey Onyeama’

Barely twelve months to the 2023 general elections in the country, there is high-level strategic lobbying by ambitious politicians, especially those touted to be close allies of President Muhammadu Buhari and with the strong desire to succeed him as Nigeria’s next President.

The development has led to maneuvering, intrigues, eye service and hero worshiping as those eyeing the presidential seat lobby the high brass and the political cabals and their agents that decide who occupies the coveted number one seat of the land after Buhari.

Of late, the seat of power, otherwise known as the Aso Rock, has become a Mecca of sort as those angling to become the next President have been coming to court Buhari for his blessings if not to be adopted as the anointed candidate.

It was reliably gathered that the death of the immediate past Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari, has thrown the race open.

A source close to the late ‘Power House of the Villa’ had claimed that Kyari’s demise has, in a way, changed the political equation.

The source said that the thinking then was that the race for the presidential seat in 2023 will be arrangement between the North-East and the South-East as they are the two geopolitical zones that have yet to occupy the seat.

Under the arrangement, the former Chief of Staff was being positioned to take over from his principal while the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, a bosom friend of Kyari, was supposed to be the running mate and, after eight years, power will go to the South-East.

However, that arrangement, if at all it existed as claimed, has become a thing of the past.

The question on the lips of many appointees of the President and some of the staff in the State House is, who will ‘Baba’ anoint as his successor?

The question is pertinent against the backdrop of the fact that Buhari should ordinarily be interested in who succeeds him for the sake of continuity of government programmes.

While some of the appointees have been put under suspense on whom to pitch their tent with because the body language of the President has not given any green light on the direction to go, some persons who are close to Buhari have claimed that, going by his nature, he may not anoint anyone as he would prefer that all the aspirants pass through the democratic process in which the people will choose whoever they want.

To support this claim, the people said that the President has told whoever cares to listen to him to carry his cross as he attempted to be elected President for three times without success only to succeed at the fourth time in 2015.

Meanwhile, on January 10, 2022, the All Progressives Congress, APC, National Leader and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, opened the floodgate of consultations as he met with Buhari to inform him of his aspiration to contest for the presidential election slated for February 2023 by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

Some have also said that the visit was to ask for the President’s support even though some power brokers within the Presidency have argued that the APC National Leader should continue to play the role of a kingmaker and not to throw his hat in the ring.

It was rumoured that some elements in the ruling APC are working hard to ensure the enthronement of the Lagos politician as the next President.

He had said that it has been his life abition to be President.