FLASHBACK: What Balarabe Musa Said Privately About Tinubu’s Quest For Presidency

Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, who died at the age of 84 on 11 November 2020, was a Nigerian left-wing politician who was a Second Republic governor of Kaduna State. He was in office from October 1979 until he was impeached on 23 June 1981.

Though his stay in public office was short-lived, he never betrayed his patriotism and conviction in a democratic and egalitarian society.

During the Fourth Republic, he was leader of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), a coalition of opposition parties. He was a strong critic of President Muhammad Buhari’s administration.

But before he died, THE WHISTLER had a private conversation with him in his Kaduna residence on the relationship between Buhari and the former governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The late politician explained why Tinubu would be the man to beat whenever he decides to contest for president of Nigeria.

He said, “Tinubu is a political phenomenon in Nigeria because of who he is and what he has done. He has been building his political structure across the country since 1999 after he won the election as governor of Lagos State.

“No politician living in the country today can boast of the influence that Tinubu has across the country. Since 1999, Tinubu has been in touch with all progressive politicians across the country and was supporting their ambitions morally and financially, including many of the APC governors and legislators. I am a beneficiary of his support.

“I can tell you that he’s the most influential politician in Nigeria today. I can tell you the man has a lot of people across the country.”

Tinubu emerged as the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress at the national convention of the party in Abuja on June 8 after he defeated 13 candidates with 1,271. Rotimi Amaechi came second with 316 while Vice President Yemi Osinbajo came third with 235 votes.

While 23 aspirants had set out to contest the APC presidential ticket, nine of them stepped down before the primary election.