JONATHAN IS PREPARING AL-MUSTAPHA TO SUCCEED HIM IN 2019 - BUHARI

Aides of the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the
defeated Presidential candidate of CPC in 2011, Maj General Muhammad Buhari (rtd), yesterday said the confidence exuded by Bamanga Tukur that Jonathan will rule the country till 2019 when a young turk of northern extraction will take over from, is ploy to secure the votes of the...
region.
According to them, Maj Gen Buhari, who is being tipped to fly the flag
of the APC, discovered before Tukur made his statement that the PDP
and the presidency are working secretly to woo the former Chief
Security Officer (CSO) to the late General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza
Al-Mustapha, to succeed Jonathan in 2019.
This belief by the Buhari camp is an indication that they see 2015 a
already going to Jonathan and betrays the defeatist tendency within
their camp.
The game plan, one of the sources closed to Buhari, who pleaded
anonymity, is to galvanise al-Mustapha to continue to mobilise the
people of the North for the PDP.
"At payback time," another source explained, " the former CSO would
first of all be made the runningmate of Jonathan or his next National
Security Adviser (NSA), preparatory to succeeding his principal."
Some opinions in the North show that some political stalwarts believe
that al-Mustapha's release was engineered by Jonathan for political
reasons.
The ex-CSO was accused of complicity in the murder of Kudirat Abiola,
the wife of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential
election, which was annulled by the military administration then in
power.
Since his release, al-Mustapha, has been working closely with ex-Niger
Delta militant leader, Mujahid Abubakar Asari Dokubo, to unite
Nigerians and mobilise the youths for a yet-to-be stated purpose.
The litmus test of his political popularity was when he staged a rally
in Kaduna, the political base of the incumbent Vice-President, Namadi
Sambo, despite the latter's behind-the-scene effort to frustrate the
gathering.
"We have information on what prompted Tukur to make the statement he
made, and we are waiting to see how the deception will play out,"
One source said: "The political strength of Buhari in the North
remains strong. I want you to know that much of the deliberations and
planning for the registration of members of the APC is being done in
his house here in Kaduna."
Equally, it was learnt that in a show of their political immaturity,
the Buhari camp believe that the additional five PDP governors that
would shift base to the new PDP, in addition to the current G7, would
join the APC. Although all these calculations are no more relevant as
the Rebel PDP are in a confused state.