No qualified heir to Buhari’s 12 million vote-bank – Osita Okechukwu

A founding member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Osita Okechukwu, on Sunday declared that none of the prominent politicians positioning themselves to inherit late former President Muhammadu Buhari’s 12 million “vote-bank” possesses the credentials to be his heir.

Okechukwu disclosed this while addressing journalists during an interdenominational church service in honour of Buhari in Abuja.

The former Director General of the Voice of Nigeria, VON, noted that Buhari appealed to the North because he was an honest man.

He said: “With the greatest respect to prominent politicians who expectedly want to inherit late President Buhari’s much celebrated 12 million vote-bank, one wishes to submit that the Buhari’s shoe is too big and his uncommon humanity, integrity, transparency quotient and moral compass are antithetical and herculean task to their aspirations.

“None of them throughout their public service has either the moral compass nor ever waged anti-graft war against primitive accumulation. They have no character strength like Buhari for emulation and never campaigned for election without the forbidden and unlawful baggage of vote-buying.

“We must appreciate that the mass appeal rating of Buhari as Mai Gaskiya (Honest Man) and their support for him was predicated on careful scrutiny of his transparency and truthfulness spanning a period of over 50 years of public service.

“The masses are aware that some of these characters are those who allegedly stripped our state owned enterprises like NEPA, Aluminum Smelter Company, Ajaokuta Steel et al, in the name of privatization without commensurate result.”

Okechukwu recalled that between 1975 and 2025, Buhari served as governor of the defunct North-East, Federal Commissioner of Petroleum Resources, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of three Divisions, Military Head of State, Chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) and civilian President, without blemish.

The former VON DG said he is at a loss on the obsession of key aspirants of “our sister political party, ADC who wittingly or unwittingly belief they can ride on Buhari’s 12 million vote-bank with northern card emblem; as if they are unaware that the northern electorates are one of the most sophisticated and altruistic”.

He added: “Flying northern card is a mirage because northern electorates are one of the most sophisticated, demonstrated by their patriotism in voting more for Abiola in 1993 and obliging Tinubu in 2023 more votes than the southern electorates.

“Those who crave access to the famed Buhari’s 12 million vote-bank are consciously pitching the North against the South in a bid to truncate the two terms convention for each region.

“They should have a rethink, because equity, justice and fairness constitute the bedrock of our democracy.

“At any rate we have nothing to fear as none of them has either Buhari’s moral compass or discipline and most importantly they never subscribed to Malam Aminu Kano’s Talakawa (proletarian) tradition to qualify for northern cult followership.

“Luckily their Kangaroo bid to railroad majority members of Buhari’s defunct Congress of Progressive Change (CPC) to ADC failed woefully courtesy of ex-governors Tanko Almakura and Aminu Masari.”

He warned that they should thread softly so as not to scuttle the rotation convention of the Presidency, which has become one of the guardrails of Nigeria’s 4th Republic Democracy and binding chord of the unity of the country.

No qualified heir to Buhari’s 12 million vote-bank – Osita Okechukwu