It was a masterclass rigging in the Lilly livered Bokohari. Thiefnubu wipped bokohari in line when he was trying to do strong head. A stronger person would have rebuffed thiefnubu

I hope you are right. There is a limit to what rubbish in the name of government performance that people can put up with. Enough of the roguery.

In retrospect, would you say with a straight face that BAT did a favour to the nation by almost unilaterally buying off delegates to consolidate Southern support for Buhari against his more competent Northern opponents? BAT could have recruited a better person to achieve his aim, but misused his political influence and foisted a destructive person in Aso Rock. When some of you credit him with political wizardry without factoring in the negative effects on the nation, you grossly miss the point. Name the benefits of Buhari's presidency to the nation. BAT is as guilty, if not more, than Buhari for making more mess of the challenges in Nigeria when APC took over – because he knew better. If he was more patriotic than selfish, he would have thrown his support behind a better Northerner.

BAT did not win fair and square in 2023, and baring a radical reinvention of his approach to governance now, voters will reject him again in 2027.

There is a levels of notoriety, lack of credibility & disrepute for which even rigging cannot be sufficient. And Tinubu is in that position now. Even almighty America do not always have their way & sometimes bow to pressure! As powerful as they are, much of their strength still derives from allies & coalitions. Forget about buying the presidency & not owing his position to any cabal. The criminal couldn't have been president in 2023 without El Rufai leading northern governors into power shift. They did so in order to avoid united southern opposition, hence, in enlightened self-interest. In doing that, the Fulani also decided to spite the Igbo because of Biafra (& under pressure by the Y0roba). It coincided with El Rufai's power ambition to support a southern presidency, with a hope of succeeding Tinubu.

Now, (1) In 2027 there won't be (fear of a) united southern opposition! Even if the north decides to take the presidency there will be no consequences! Igbos will not be prepared to join in fighting the north! If Tinubu trusts in his rigging capacity why is he sponsoring southern governors forum as a counter force? If he trusts in INEC & DSS alone why was he panic stricken about coup during the #EndHunger Protest?

(2) Having shown his hand early in a lot of ways the same north won't "willingly" support him in 2027. So, he can ONLY rig! The issues are as follows: moving parastatals & agencies from Abuja to Lagos, retiring 100 military generals, running an Oduduwanistan government, dangling the card of regionalism, his Samoa Agreement containing LGBTQ advocacy, etc. If he could do all these in his first term (when he needs re-election) what will he do in his second?

(3) Now, as you said, the masses neither in the north nor in the east nor even the southwest will vote the criminal! For rigging to be successful a minimum level of vote credibility is necessary. I give you example: 2019 presidential election was rigged for Buhari in the southeast, but because of the abysmal paltry of votes, a few "thousand" votes could only be concocted here & there. It was not possible to allocate him "millions" of votes! In 2023 also, Peter Obi's lead in Lagos over the criminal was so big that in spite of deducting millions of Obi's votes, Tinubu still lost to him! YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE: Because schools went on one year strike in Anambra state, it became so morally unpardonable for Chinwoke Mbadinuju to get a second term that, although OBJ decided to pardon all his enemy governors as a compromise (with the governors) to get a second term, Mbadinuju was was still excluded. If the gap (of votes or moral credibility) is so big, it becomes impossible to allocate certain figures! In 2027 Tinubu will not get up to a 50,000 votes in any state in nigeria! It will not be possible to so brazenly rig without consequences!

So, tell me how he could possibly rig himself in in 2027?

The power of incumbency, granted, but mainly as it concerns coercive opportunity rather than performance. He still has 3 years to perform, though. He will stay in power if he wishes, regardless of performance or election outcome. All the opposition can unite as was the case in 2015. If Jonathan had Buhari's or BAT's backbone, he would have forced Jega to return him to power. Opposition noise would have subsided over time and Western powers would have succumbed rather than deal with Sub-Saharan instability.

Not quite.

We have to give credit where credit is due. Like him or not. PBT is one of the most, if not the most, effective Nigerian politician of our lifetime

Without PBT's support, GEJ would not have won the 2011 election. And without PBT's support, PMB would not have won the 2015/ 2019 elections. Not to talk about Lagos politics

So, PBT is likely to win the 2027 Presidential election fair and square.

In fact, both GEJ and PMB will likely support, and vote for, PBT in 2027

The power of incumbency and a divided opposition.

On what basis, in your opinion, will BAT win hands down in 2027?

Voters will not reelect Tiinubu, but he will retain power because INEC is not independent. Buhari was not reelected but he still retained power in 2019. Because Buhari allowed Tinubu to control INEC in 2023, the latter snatched power and ran with it as he promised. He will be more powerful in 2027. Not even a Mandela can wrest power from him if INEC continues to be vulnerable to his manipulation. The only remedy is massive people's opposition after a wrong result is announced, but there will be no such strong, popular and sustained opposition.

PBT will likely win the Presidential election, hands down, in 2027. So, the permutations should be about who Nigerians should elect, as President, in 2031, after PBT completes his eight (8) years in office.

In 2031, all the major political parties, in Nigeria, should zone their Presidential ticket to Igbo. Because, Nigeria really stands on a tripod. Hausa/Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba. And Igbo is the only major tribe that has not been President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

No one can accuse Igbo of being mediocre. No one can accuse them of being unpatriotic. So, what is the problem? Our last President (PMB) was a Northern Muslim. His deputy was from the Southwest. Our current President (PBT) is a Southwestern Muslim, and his deputy is a Northern Muslim. Nevertheless, Igbo (98% Christian) have not complained

To clarify. Igbo are not begging for the Presidency. But, it is in Nigeria's best interest to elect an Igbo President in 2031

Would Simon claim not to know that in a presidential democracy, political parties take on the ideas of their candidates? So, in 2023, Atiku’s PDP and Obi’s LP were for private sector-led economy, while Tinubu’s and Buhari’s (2015 and 2019) APC were big-government platforms.

The economic crisis, which was triggered by lower crude prices, started in 2014- yet, the exchange rate only moved to N200/$1 on the street from N100/$1 in all the 15 years of PDP, despite the global financial crisis of 2007-2009 coming in-between. In just over 9 years of APC, the naira has crashed to N1,600/$1 now as a result of illegal printing of the local currency (N23trn) for their FGN, thier CBN intervention funds (N10trn), and criminal tapping of crude pipelines which has cut down crude production to 1.4m barrels per day now from close to 2m bpd before they came in. And we only had to contend with Islamic jihadists under Jonathan, but now we also have Fulani bandits and widespread kidnappings.

To sum up, in the PDP years, our people abroad call home to ask which business they can venture into if they come back, because the local economy was growing faster than than the population. Since APC came, it’s been “japa” or emigration of our best and brightest to saner climes due to stagnant growth amidst very high prices.

Certain things are better experienced than taught. In this unholy alliance, the North is obviously holding the short end of the stick, which is an uncomfortable situation.

Giving a thirsty monkey a cup of water is the noblest of things to do. Like helping someone in need. However, getting the monkey to return the cup is a difficult proposition entirely because the monkey having satisfied his thirst sees the cup as a trophy to be cherished.

It is even harder retrieving the cup from the monkey, especially, when it was a return favour, a payment for services rendered in the past. Ever been involved in monkey business??

Sorry, I digressed! Simply put, Tinubu last time out, told whoever cares that he bought the president with his "hard earned dollars", and that he had no cabals or godfathers. And what makes anyone think that the man who in now in a position to "earn more hard dollars" will not buy the president a second time?

However, the North continues to insist they made Tinubu's president possible. Whichever, the reality is that Tinubu holds the president trophy and knowing how he covets the lifelong desired trophy it will be a battle akin to Armageddon to retrieve this possession from him.

Who will fall by his sword this time? We wait!

Caveat: Tinubu is not Jonathan!

It appears Nigerians are still in denial because of their shallow thinking, they threw away the baby with the bath water by refusing to critically think and ask what Buhari was bringing over Jonathan at the time.

This is the reason Jonathan continues to enjoy his status as our HERO while Buhari and Tinubu, the oppoite

P.S:
People surely imagine the impossible. But be sure that all the imagined worst case scenarios that have never happened will take only one day to happen! There is always a last time, just as there is always a first time!