There are prominent and highly placed Nigerians who decide
who gets what and why as far as Nigeria is concerned.
They are men of power, means, influence and authority. They
understand the landscape; the intricacies, uses and gains of wielding and
dispensing from their vast and rich tanks and they include the following:
1. President Muhammadu Buhari
Whether in or out of power, he has remained a major
force in the country and an opinion moulder. Though particularly not popular in
the Southern part of the country, he is like a movement in the northern part of
the country where he comes from. Since 1984 when he first emerged as the Head
of State during the military era, his image continued to loom large until last
year when he defeated his predecessor, President Goodluck Jonathan of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the platform of the All Progressives Congress
(APC), which was then the main opposition party.
2. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
You will be toying with your political career and destiny,
if you ignore him in the game of political gerrymandering in this country. With
Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former military head of state (1976-1979) and, later,
civilian President (1999 – 2007), the more you look, the less you see. People
say he is selfish, mean and mischievous. The truth of it depends on who is
assessing him. But love him or hate him, even at 79, you cannot ignore OBJ as
an inimitable power broker in today’s Nigeria. It was for nothing that he was
bestowed with that all-encompassing title: Grand Commander of the Federal
Republic (GCFR).
3. General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd)
For anybody who has followed the course of events in Nigeria
since the emergence of General Abdulsalam Abubakar as the nation’s eighth
military Head of State, there is no gainsaying that the Niger State born
retired army officer has been a major factor in the country. On June 9, 1998,
Abubakar became Nigeria’s military Head of State after being persuaded to
accept the position when General Sani Abacha died. Despite his taciturn disposition,
he is one of those who, since the death of Abacha, have determined the fate of
the nation. He became one of the leading statesmen in Nigeria since May 29,
1999 when he transfered power to the civilian government in keeping with an
early promise he made when he took over power.
4. General Theophilus Danjuma (rtd)
That General Theophilus Danjuma is a power broker in Nigeria
is not contestable and it is for obvious reasons. He is a successful career
military officer, strategist, consummate industrialist and one of the leading
investors in the nation’s oil industry. There is no doubt that in the nation’s
chequered political history, he is one man that could be said to have seen it
all. Many are sure to agree that it would be impossible to take any major
political decision on the future of Nigeria without the contribution of the
retired Taraba State-born army officer. He has participated in virtually every
political era in the last five decades. Since the 1966 counter coup, which
changed the nation’s power equation and history, Danjuma has remained very
prominent in the affairs of the country.
5. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd)
Many years after IBB left power, power has refused to
leave IBB. Hence, the overarching influence he wields from Minna, Niger state,
his hometown, on Nigeria’s reins of power. Recall, for instance, the noble role
he played in the installation of Obasanjo, as Nigeria’s civilian President,
from 1999 to 2007. At 75, and 23 years after leaving power, he still remains a
kingmaker, in fact, unarguably, Nigeria’s topmost political landlord. Unlike
the military governments before and after him, he brought a kind of
consultative aura to governance by subjecting issues to public debate, after
which he took the final decision.
6. General Aliyu Gusau (rtd)
He is a man who has served his country in various military
capacities as one-time Chief of Army Staff, National Security Adviser to two
different presidents, Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy, and most
recently, Minister of Defence. As a security intelligence chief and political
bridge-builder, Gusau definitely knows Nigeria well.
He re-organised the security and intelligence apparatuses,
by breaking up the NSO into three organisations: State Security Services (SSS,
now Department of State Security, DSS), National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and
the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI). In the rush for political power
in Nigeria, you can only underrate him to your own detriment!
7. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu
Tinubu has emerged as one of the finest political
strategists in the land. He had been in the trenches since the days of the
National Democratic Coalition [NADECO], one of the platforms that put pressure
on Abacha. Tinubu rode on the crest of his role in that era, into Lagos government
house. He has since emerged, perhaps, the strongest political force in the
South West. His political influence has exceeded Lagos, where he literally
lifted his successor, Babatunde Fashola, from the booth strap and made him
governor. Against all odds , Tinubu has again made another protege, Akinwumi
Ambode, the governor, after Fashola. But his greatest political feat is the
ascendancy of the Buhari regime. He was the arrowhead of the coalition of four
political parties that coalesced into All Progressives Congress [APC] and
brought the Buhari government to power in May, 2015.
8. Alhaji Aliko Dangote
Alhaji Aliko Dangote [GCON] grew a small trading firm he
began in 1977 into one of the largest conglomerates in the African
continent. Dangote’s influence is not limited to the business arena, where
Forbes Magazine, has ranked him as the 30th richest man in the world. He is a
silent but influential player in the political arena. He funds many
presidential candidates and has the ears of political leaders. He influences
policies and thus ranks high in the league of those who decide policy and
political direction. Dangote is in the class of people who shape and determine
policy, business and politicaldirection of Nigeria. He is in the league of
those who control Nigeria.
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