By Dr. Ahmed Adamu
For President Buhari to be at the venue of the APC rally in Jos and refuse to speak, is a clear sign that the president is not in total support of Tinubu’s candidacy.
If a sitting president attends his party’s political rally and shies away from speaking, it is a clear message that he does not trust and believe in the candidature of the party’s flag-bearer. There’s no sugar-coating what’s playing out here.
President Buhari enjoyed the overwhelming support of northern Nigeria in his two bids for Aso Rock, and now he fears that his political clout would not add much value to his party’s major ticket.
However, if he still has Tinubu’s best interest at heart, he would have grabbed the microphone in Jos and said a word or two.
Instead, there he sat, glum.
Since the emergence of Tinubu as the APC presidential candidate, President Buhari has not attended or endorsed the candidacy of Tinubu in any of the political rallies.
It took the personal plea of the APC Chairman and Tinubu, for Buhari to even appear at the APC Jos rally for the first time. When Buhari was contesting for President, Tinubu made several endorsement speeches in favour of Buhari at campaign rallies.
Things are becoming worse for Tinubu with his continuous blunders during his political speeches. Tinubu is alleged to have avoided political rallies to prevent such embarrassments. For Tinubu to say God bless PDP instead of APC, is a sign of a possible brain disorder called Aphasia.
“People with Aphasia have trouble with speaking and will have a mixture of problems with writing, reading, and perhaps listening. Symptoms can range widely from getting a few words mixed up to having difficulty with all forms of communication.”
Tinubu also made a similar blunder in the past when he forgot the name of the APC; he said, “as members of the Action….” and then he froze. He had to be reminded that the name of his party was APC. A similar thing happened this week in Jos.
In the Jos rally, the APC presidential candidate had to be helped to walk up the stairs to the podium. Even Former President IBB was sarcastic when he asked Tinubu if the young boys around him were allowing him to rest. IBB was telling Tinubu indirectly that it is time for him to rest.
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In these trying times, this nation does not deserve a physically and mentally weak president. Most people supporting Tinubu know that he is not the right candidate, but they are still forcing themselves to support him for selfish reasons anyway. They are struggling with what is called cognitive dissonance.
“Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort a person feels when their behavior does not align with their values or beliefs. It can also occur when a person holds two contradictory beliefs at the same time. Cognitive dissonance is not a disease or illness. It is a psychological phenomenon.”
It is not too late, and these kinds of people can still change their minds and do what is best for this country.
For Tinubu, I advise him to relax and step down from the race for his own good because the campaign is getting more intense, and he might be unable to handle the increasing mental and physical stress.
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*Dr. Ahmed Adamu, a public affairs analyst, contributed this piece from Abuja. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Quest Times.