Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria leader says Tinubu is too old to be president

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) national leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has suffered another setback in his bid to run for president in 2023 after the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (Macban) said it would not back him because he is too old.

Arguably President Mohammed Buhari's closest confidant, Asiwaju Tinubu is reported to be working towards becoming the APC's presidential candidate in 2023. Back in 2014, it was a merger between President Buhari's Congress for Progressive Change and Asiwaju Tinubu's Action Congress of Nigeria that created the APC and then attracted other parties like the All Nigerian Peoples Party.

It is not clear if the two men reached an agreement that Asiwaju Tinubu would succeed President Buhari but with 2023 fast approaching, politicking has already begun. In response to Asiwaju Tinubu's purported manoeuvring, Alhaji Abdullahi Bodejo, Macban's national president said his contribution to the emergence of President Buhari was exaggerated.

Although Alhaji Bodejo conceded that Asiwaju Tinubu was one of many persons that came together to ensure President Buhari’s victory in 2015, he added that he had much less influence in the 2019 presidential polls. He said that insinuations that Asiwaju Tinubu would replace President Buhari after his second term were therefore not justified.

According to Alhaji Bodejo, Asiwaju Tinubu should forget his ambition of becoming president if he was nursing one. He said Asiwaju Tinubu would never become Nigeria’s president because he is too old and does not enjoy the full support of all the Yorubas.

Officially, Asiwaju Tinubu is 67 but is regarded to be much older than this as those who knew him from his youth claim he is about 80 years old. In addition, the Macban leader added that calls for power to shift to the southern part of Nigeria in 2023 were misplaced.

Alhaji Bodejo said: “I have told you that 2015 is now history, as even me talking to you now, do you know the role I played in 2015? People played all manner of politics in 2015 and Tinubu was not the only person.

“What I know is that Tinubu cannot be the president of Nigeria. He is very old and maybe older than President Buhari and some people see Tinubu like one big masquerade but he is not.

“If Tinubu is recognised by the Yoruba people as their leader, why did Buhari score 50% there? Why did he not ask them to give him like even 60% at least? Tinubu has failed and that is the truth."

However, Henry Ajomale, a former chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the APC, said God has destined Asiwaju Tinubu to be Nigeria’s president and one million Bodejos of this world cannot stop it. he called on the Macban leader to worry more about finding a solution to the alleged killings of innocent Nigerians by herdsmen and leave Asiwaju Tinubu’s ambition out of his mouth.

"Is Bodejo God that he should be making that kind of declaration? Only God knows tomorrow. What Bodejo should realise is that if God has destined it that Tinubu will be the president of Nigeria in 2023, one million Bodejos of this world can’t stop it.

"Who even knows what will happen between now and 2023, it is only God, so Bodejos statement is not only reckless but also very unfortunate. What Bodejo should realize is that it is Tinubu’s constitutional right to aspire for any political office in the country including the presidency and it is now left for Bodejo to vote or not to vote for him," Mr Ajomale added.