The outcome of the just-concluded presidential election which threw up General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as president has opened a rank of losers. Curiously, most of those in this category described as the biggest losers did not participate in the last presidential and National Assembly polls as candidates but were power brokers who wielded much political influence or were placed in positions of financial strength to dispense patronage at will. Mostly, the list includes close associates of defeated president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, whose continued relevance in power corridors was tied to the success of President Jonathan in the March 28 presidential election.
Dame Patience Jonathan
She is the first lady, wife of the outgone president. Her influence over the life and position of her husband is inexplicably profound and potent. She was reported to have installed about 10 ministers and had already pencilled down a fresh crop of would be ministers in case her husband scaled through. Her influence within the affairs of the now defeated Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was enormous before now to the extent that members of the party’s NWC never toyed with her preferences.
Edwin Kiagbodo Clark
He is the leader of the Ijaw ethnic nationality to which the outing president belongs. A former senator and onetime Information Minister, Clark often refers to President Jonathan as his son. He has spared no one any verbal attack especially when issues raised are antagonistic to Jonathan. Potential appointees often look forward to his endorsement just as his opposition of same was worthy of a second look. He has been on a low key since President Jonathan lost the election.
Tony Anenih
The Iyalese of Esanland, Edo State was the chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) until his resignation on May 20. He also served as the national adviser to the presidential campaign council of the party. This is the first time Anenih, fondly called Mr. Fix It will be out of political power and influence. What next for him is the big question? But at 83, age is no longer on his side.
King A J Turner
An Ogbia traditional ruler from Bayelsa State, Turner rose to the pinnacle of his civil service career as permanent secretary in Bayelsa State before retirement. President Jonathan, an Ogbia like Turner, relies so much on the traditional ruler who was the brain behind the defunct Green Movement that paved the way for the president when he ran as governor of Bayelsa State. Turner’s influence in the corridors of Aso Rock peaked in 2011 when he, alongside others, bankrolled the Neighbour to Neighbour campaign outfit to usher in Jonathan. Turner, onetime chairman of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and current chairman of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), is the godfather of the Bayelsa State governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, and many other politicians in the state.
Femi Fani-Kayode
This lawyer turned politician is firebrand. Articulate and vibrant, he is a reporter’s delight. At the formative stage of the APC, Fani-Kayode was very active and noticeable. He however defected to the PDP, where to the chagrin of many became the PDP director of media for the presidential campaign organisation. To say that the move was in lieu of a political appointment is merely stating the obvious. Has he not lost all? He is still battling for relevance in the party.
Ifeanyi Uba
The oil mogul is the chairman of Capital Oil and national coordinator of President Jonathan’s most potent campaign body, Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN). He had traversed the six geo political zones as well as all states of the federation. No one sure of the compensation that awaited him but it was a done deal that Uba, who ran for governorship on the platform of Labour Party in the last Anambra governorship election, would have been heavily compensated. He is one of the major losers of Jonathan’s defeat.
Diezani Alison-Madueke
A close ally of the president, she wore the toga of the de facto president owing to her enormous influence and power. With much financial muscle and patronage to dish out, the petroleum minister, an indigene of Bayelsa like Jonathan, was sure of either returning as minister or being installed as the first female governor in 2016 as she has been oiling her political machinery before the big fall.
Bamanga Tukur
He is Adamu Muazu’s predecessor as chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He is a veteran, whose politics dates back to the Second Republic when he became the governor of the old Gongola State on the platform of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN). His forceful exit from the helm of affairs in the PDP last year has occasioned some revulsion from his political adversaries who have forcefully put in measures for his consignment to irrelevance, especially in the politics of Adamawa State. As part of his preparations for retirement, the old war horses’ plans to draft his son into the centre stage of politics as Adamawa Governor met with stiff resistance. Now in the evening of his life, and with no subsisting strong political leadership strings, Jonathan’s defeat may have finally sealed his strides. In a terrain infested by sharks the long wait to rediscover his political path may not be easy. Unwittingly, Tukur may have bid the turf bye for now.
Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu
Iconic business mogul and publisher of Champion Newspapers has since the Second Republic played an influential role in the politics of his home state of Imo. As a member of the BOT of the PDP, he has remained an issue in Imo politics in the last 16 years. In the last four years, his prominence in the political calculations of the state took a back seat, due to the slipping of the affairs of his state into the hands of the APC. His efforts to retrieve the baton has been futile. To add salt to the injury, Jonathan lost in the presidential election, and that may have dealt a crushing blow to his political movement. Now in his 70s, the revered chief may just decide to watch from the sidelines as he attends to his failing health.
Ahmadu Ali
Ali was the Director-General, PDP Presidential Campaign Council for the March 28 presidential election. He has been an active player in the Nigerian politics from pre-independence era. His involvement in politics dates back to the mid-50s when he was National Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Students (NUNS). He came into national limelight when he was appointed as the Federal Commissioner of Education. His tenure is still remembered in history for the infamous ‘Ali Must Go’ protests which led to the tragic death of many students. The protest was against the introduction of fees in the nation’s tertiary institutions, leading to the call for his removal as a minister. After his retirement as the Chief Consulting Officer at the Military Hospital, Kaduna in 1979, he contested and won a seat to the Nigerian Senate where he was chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum and Energy. Since 1999, he has been a member of the PDP. In 2002, he was a campaign coordinator, North Central for the Obasanjo/Atiku re-election campaign. In 2005, he emerged the National Chairman of the party as a replacement of Audu Ogbeh. While in office as Chairman, Ali earned himself an appellation of Garrison Commander because of his no-nonsense disposition. As Director-General of the Jonathan Campaign Organisation, he described Buhari, the Presidential candidate of the APC, as an old plane parked for too long. He predicted that Jonathan would stay in power till 2019. His words: “We will be here in 2019 to celebrate the successes of President Jonathan when he must have completed his work. With the course I did on Aviation, we were told that a 10-year plane which has been working is far better than a brand new one you buy today. Buhari is an old plane that has been parked for long; we have a plane that has been flying. If you have a plane that has been flying for 10 years, it is better and trusted than a new one.” By the turn of the next general election, Ali will be 83. With the defeat of the PDP as well as the renewed attempt by the National Working Committee (NWC) to reposition the party, Ali may no longer be relevant in the scheme of things in the years ahead.
Richard Akinjide
Akinjide is one of the privileged few who have dominated the political space since independence and still remain relevant. He entered the parliament on December 12, 1959 at the age of 27. In the First Republic, he served as Education Minister in the government of Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa. He was made the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in the Second Republic by the administration of President Shehu Shagari. He is one of the ardent supporters of President Jonathan. Akinjide was at the 2005 National Political Reform Conference (NPRC) where he served in the Committee on Models and Structure of Government. He joined the National Party of Nigeria in 1978. Many Yoruba hold it against him that he worked against the presidential ambition of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo with his mathematical-cum-legal theory of 12 2/3 of 19 states in the Second Republic. Based on the theory, the Supreme Court dismissed Awolowo’s suit against the victory of President Shagari. In his recent interview in the run-up to the presidential election, Akinjide had dismissed the merger alliance that culminated in the formation of APC as a waste of time, describing the party as mere paper tiger. “If you know the history of this country, we used to have the NCNC, the NPC, the AG, which are very powerful political parties. None of the present political parties is as powerful as those political parties of those years which were in the opposition too. I can assure you that the coming election is going to be free and fair and PDP is going to win overwhelmingly. I have reason to believe that PDP will win not less than 24 or 25 states,” he said. With the crushing defeat of the PDP, it goes without saying that political relevance of the octogenarian politician has run its full circle.
Bode George
George emerged in the political space when he served as military governor of old Ondo State. At the inception of the present political dispensation, he became the first PDP National Vice-Chairman (South-West), and then Deputy National Chairman (South), and later Deputy National Chairman for the whole country. He was the Chairman, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). One of the low points of his political career was his 30-month jail sentence for contracts splitting and inflation. As a leader of the PDP in Lagos State, George remains a rallying point. And he alone has been call-ing the shots. But many stakeholders hold reservation for his style of leadership, linking the persistent failure of the party to make appreciable showing in the previous governorship elections to his organisational capacity. In the run-up to the last general election, he declared that he would go on self-exile, if the opposition APC won the presidential race. He said: “If Bola Tinubu finds his way into national government, I will go on exile. He doesn’t have the temerity and the calmness of mind. They don’t even know what to do in power. Because the vice-president is his boy, he will just order that Bode George should be picked up.” People are looking forward to seeing him make good his words. Already, he is out of the country. With Jonathan’s defeat and the declining fortune of the PDP at national and state level, George may soon fade into political oblivion. His relevance in the next political dispensation is very much in doubt, especially considering the age factor. A new crop of leaders is likely to emerge from the renewed effort of the National Working Committee (NWC), seeking to reposition the party as a formidable opposition.
Tanko Yakasai
Yakasai is a prominent leader of thought in the North. The Kanoborn politician was the National Publicity Secretary of the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) in the First Republic and later as a presidential assistant during the Second Republic. He deliberately formed Northern Elders Council (NEC) to support re-election of President Jonathan. The group broke away from the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) based on political differences. In an apparent effort to counter the leadership of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and NEF, Yakasai stated in a communiqué issued to defend his group’s position: “Northern Elders Council commends and fully supports the visionary and transformational policies of President Jonathan and acknowledges the socio-economic strides of the administration in all sectors. The Council pledges its full support and commitment to work for the success of President Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo.” Other than his activities as NEC leader, Yakasai has no political structure to sustain his relevance in the politics of Kano State. The rest is for the younger folks.
Ebenezer Babatope
Babatope came to national limelight as Director of Organisation of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in the Second Republic. He remains an unrepentant Awoist till date. However, his role as Minister of Transport in the military administration of General Sani Abacha still remains an issue among some Yoruba. As a member of BOT of the PDP, Babatope stood as one of the foot soldiers of President Jonathan during his campaign for re-election. Uncomfortable with open criticism of the present administration, Babatope threatened to take on former President Obasanjo, saying “open your mouth again and I will take you on.” While Jonathan’s campaign lasted, Babatope demonstrated his disdain for Buhari, saying he would not live to see his victory. With the emerging scenario, he has no option than to leave the stage to be a sideline spectator.
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