By Ibrahim Bakare
The immediate-past Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has named the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as the best man to replace President Muhammadu Buhari when his tenure ends in 2023.
Lawal also said it was not enough for the South East to keep crying over being marginalised, but has to stand up and work for it, if they want to produce a President.
The former SGF further told the Sun that although he believed former Vice President Atiku Abubakar would have done better as Nigeria’s President, his (Atiku) political career is over in Adamawa State.
Lawal, who was sacked as SGF over his alleged involvement in the 2016 N500 million Grass-cutting scandal, said he knows Tinubu very well and not a matter of being a friend, adding that “My knowledge of him is that he will make an excellent president.”
He said that the former Lagos State Governor has demonstrated that he is a good leader.
According to him, Tinubu “was a good governor of Lagos State. That is why all his successors are working on his footprint.
“Even though some of them wanted to claim that they know, they found out that the structure he laid is a solid one.
“People can insult him, but every governor consistently builds on his structure to the extent that Lagos State has consistently produced the best governors in their dispensation starting from Tinubu, Fashola, Akinwunmi and Sanwo-Olu, who is just starting. ”
Lawal noted that another quality that Tinubu has which Nigerians must look at is the power of succession.
”There was a time in the Federal Executive Council of 36, Tinubu had four”.
According to him, “If you look at all other governors, the only one that handed over to his deputy was Zamfara and because he had no choice.”
“I am advocating that the best man should take over from Buhari. And for now that best man is Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is from the Southwest by coincidence,” he added.
Speaking on Atiku, who was the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP presidential candidate in the last general elections, Lawal added, “Atiku Abubakar is not my friend.
“He is too senior in age, position in the society to be my friend. He was the vice president.
“I only managed to become Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) for two years. So, he cannot be my friend.”
However, the ex-SGF said he gets along very well with the former Vice President, adding, “I like the guy. I used to tell people that as an indigene of Adamawa State, and if not because I am committed to other candidates that I feel he will do better, I probably would have worked for him.
“The guy is okay. He relates very well with people. I have seen people he has helped.
“I have seen people he has destroyed. I have seen people he has ignored. There is no particular reason to say because I am from Adamawa, he is my friend. In Adamawa, however, I think his political career has fatigued or it is over.”