By Bayo Davids
More than four months in the saddle as President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has turned his back against eminent politicians who played prominent roles in his phony victory at the poll. Like a cunny power merchant desirous of championing a personal cause, the President has left his foot soldiers in the dark.
Former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, ex-Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade, erstwhile Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode are some of the few leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) left by Tinubu to lick the wounds.
Also on this ignoble list are Kashim Imam, Andy Uba, Maryam Shetty and a college of Islamic Umah procured to seek the face of Allah in the course of the electioneering campaigns.
Of the lot, the biggest loser is El-Rufai. Before President Tinubu transmitted the first batch of ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening, the word in town was that the former FCT Minister had been penciled down to man the power portfolio. Hate or love him, El-Rufai has a penchant for getting the job done and is famed for having his way in official matters.
He was made to appear before the Senate for screening. To cut an image of one ready for a new challenge, the First Class Quantity Surveyor appeared in a pair of blue suit with black shoes to match but rather than get a clearance, he was flagged off as a security threat; a development not unconnected with his past utterances.
Thoroughly humiliated, El-Rufai took solace in the songs of the late legendary reggae artist, Bob Marley particularly “Man to Man is so unjust.”
Ayade, famous for his love for high sounding words is another fellow who got less than he expected. While his colleagues ex-Governors Nyseom Wike, Bello Matawalle, Abubakar Badaru and Gboyega Oyetola were appointed Ministers, the Professor is left alone staring at the streets of Calabar, the Cross River State capital. He is another man who walked the whole distance with Tinubu only to be rewarded with nothingness.
Islamic clerics who went against the counsel of the Muslim Ummah are now left to reckon with their conscience after Tinubu chose to reward many who played no role in helping him or the APC to power.
It appears the President is a good student of Mao Tse Tung political school of thought which sees politics as war without bloodshed.
Whether they admit or not, these APC leaders are now cursing the day they pitched their tent with the former Lagos State Governor. They invested their emotions and goodwill only to be left empty-handed when glory came the way of Tinubu.
But Tinubu seems to be carrying on from where his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari left off. It would be recalled that Aisha Buhari, wife of President Buhari once told a shocked nation that her husband knew less than five percent of the people he appointed to work with him.