Prominent human rights activist and public speaker Senator Shehu Sani provided insights on the recent Sallah tribute that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and other Northern elites gave to former President Muhammadu Buhari.
In an interview with The Sun, Sani asserts that this visit was a calculated action meant to weaken President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's government and set up a political takeover for 2027, not just a show of goodwill.
It appears that Atiku Abubakar, the PDP's nominee for president in both 2019 and 2023, is mobilizing support to overthrow Tinubu in the upcoming election cycle.
Sani saw the visit, which happened in Daura, Buhari's hometown, as a planned attempt to fabricate a story that would disparage Tinubu.
Sani implied that the purpose of the meeting was more likely to be devising a scheme to undermine Tinubu than it was to uphold fraternal bonds. He thinks Atiku and his supporters are preparing to paint Tinubu as a regionalist and ethnicist who has abandoned his promises to Northern Nigeria.
He claimed that this image is meant to strike a chord with Northern people, igniting their discontent and galvanizing them against Tinubu.
He claimed that the ultimate objective is to take over by persuading the Northern voters that Tinubu's government is not looking out for their interests.
In Shehu Sani's words, What they are trying to do is present Tinubu as a bad case, as an ethnicist, as a regionalist, as a person who betrayed Northern Nigeria."
"They are trying to present Tinubu as a man who was voted by the North, but he is serving his own people and the need for Northerners to wake up and evict him out of power."
"It is their strategy. And they want to do that by making sure that that idea is sold to the Northern masses, and then, from there, they seize power.