By Dirisu Yakubu

A lot has been said about President Muhammadu Buhari’s likely successor at the end of his second tenure in 2023. For the All Progressives Congress, APC, they still believe Nigerians could them to produce the next President in the next general election.

The party is quick to highlight Buhari’s imprints in the infrastructural sector, particularly multiple railway projects as sufficient reason the APC should be voted in spite of how Nigerians rate their performance in economy, security and fight against corruption.

As a result, several names have been linked with the Presidency including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, APC national leader, Bola Tinubu, Senator Rochas Okorocha, Engr. Dave Umahi, Ogbonnaya Onu, Governor Yahaya Bello, among others.

Although, the aforementioned leaders and a host of other highly-placed stalwarts of the APC are close to the Commander-in-Chief; President Buhari kept millions of Nigerians guessing when on January 5th, 2022 in an interview with Channels Television, he failed to disclose the identity of his preferred successor. The safety of his “anointed,” heir is so paramount to him that disclosing his name might culminate in his elimination, Buhari told millions of Nigerians in the said interview.

Penultimate Saturday, some Nigerians said that the proverbial cat was literally let out of the bag when Buhari’s kinsmen gathered in their numbers to witness the turbaning ceremony of Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi as Dan Amanar Daura (the trusted son of Daura).

Before the event, Amaechi who arrived at the Federal University of Transportation, Daura to inspect ongoing works in a convoy of 53 vehicles was forced to make a stopover 400 metres before Daura to acknowledge cheers from the legion of supporters who sang his praises to high heavens.

Although the conferment of the prestigious Dan Amanar title is in honour of a man the Daura emirate believe has justified his appointment as Minister of Transportation in the past few years; a political under undertone was brought to bear as shouts of “Amaechi for President 2023,” rented the air, amidst singing and dancing by the locals. 

 Attired in T-shirts and face caps with an embossed image of Amaechi on those items, women and youths sang “Mun Aminci Amaechi Dan Amanar Daura,” (We agree with the choice of Amaechi as the trusted son of Daura), marching alongside the long convoy to the university premises. 

 An excited young man leading a team of well wishers wasted no time in reminding anyone who cared to listen that in Amaechi, Buhari has seen a worthy successor who would carry on with the developmental projects initiated by APC-led administration. The man who gave his name as Abdullahi had this to say when cornered for a brief chat.

“We are excited with the decision to confer this title on the Minister of Transportation. Our people here in Daura have been following the works of Amaechi since his appointment as Minister in 2015. He is a goal-getter.

You will agree with me that the rail track that passes through Daura as well as the University of Transportation will expose us to the outside world for ever. For this, we are grateful to our President and the Minister.

 “We know that it is the political parties that select Presidential candidates but what we are telling the APC now is that they should give the ticket to Amaechi because he will do well. Tell me the Minister who has done half of what Amaechi has done. Baba Buhari is happy with him and so are the entire people of Daura. If he decides to run which we want him to, our people will rally behind him,” he told our correspondent.

ALSO READ: Rail line project ‘ll extend beyond Daura-Katsina before Buhari leaves office — Amaechi

 Back home in Abuja, speculations that Buhari secretly roots for Amaechi intensified when the First Lady, Hajia Aisha Buhari, accompanied by a few family members visited Amaechi to congratulate him on the honour bestowed on him in far away Daura. In a photograph which went viral last week, particularly on social media, Aisha confirmed the visit as she wrote beneath the image, “I was received by the Hon. Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi and his dear wife, Dame Judith, when I paid them a congratulatory visit for his coronation as the Dan Amanar of Daura by the Daura Emirate Council.”

 A few years ago at the height of her opposition to her husband’s government, Aisha had premised her anger on the fact that Buhari didn’t know most of the people working with him on a personal level. Amaechi was an exception as Aisha singled him out as one who had interacted enough with Buhari before his election in 2015 as President.

“The President does not know 45 out of 50, for example, of the people he appointed and I don’t know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years.

“Some people are sitting down in their homes folding their arms, only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position,” the First Lady had said. Thus, the historic cum congratulatory visit to the Amaechi’s is not lost on those capable of seeing beyond the bridge of their noses.

So far, the Minister has not said a word on his rumoured Presidential aspiration; a strategy pundits say is aimed at keeping everyone guessing of his next move. Having succeeded in running commercial train services in some parts of the country, some Nigerians are of the opinion that Amaechi at 56 would not only implement Buhari’s plan of connecting every part of the country with rail within a period of ten years but would also

stop at nothing at revamping other critical sectors of the nation’s economy if given the opportunity.

Indications are rife that the Minister is bidding his time before declaring his Presidential ambition. Yet, at the Zawacikin, Kano Mega rail station, Kano last week, Amaechi gave an impression of a man committed to the work at hand rather than the one to come. He fielded questions from journalists, saying when completed; the route would boost the economic activities of the people.  

The route will be used to convey both passengers and cargos. The most economic nerve centres in the country are Kano and Lagos. He states why this track is the most economically viable track. 

 “The economic activities that take place in Kano can be conveyed to Lagos viz a viz those who produce in Lagos can have their products conveyed to Kano. This will create jobs and the cost of land here will not be the same,” he noted even as he stressed the importance of intra city rail transportation system in the future.

 “The two states likely to benefit from intra city rail transport are Rivers and Lagos states. The Lagos route terminates in Calabar while the Port Harcourt rail will terminate in Maiduguri because the rail will take part of the city this way and part of the city that way, same way with Rivers state. You see that at a point, Lagos-Calabar will have to meet with Port Harcourt railway and run side by side inside some part of these major cities.”

 The President Buhari government, he assured would stop at nothing at making Nigerians part of the infrastructural revolution going on in the country, saying “The government is encouraging not only the use of local materials but also passing those kind of jobs to Nigerians. It is not good for the Chinese to come here and we borrow 2 billion, they take the whole profit and go to their country. They should also spend part of it in the country.” 

 The ruling party, subject to official affirmation, will zone its Presidential ticket to the South, with President Buhari reportedly insisting that for the sake of justice, fairness and equity, a Northern Presidential candidate won’t make a good sell for the APC in 2023.

Vanguard News Nigeria