The Asokoro home of President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and by extension the Defence House in Maitama, all in Abuja, have expectedly become a Mecca of sort for all manner of persons since last week he returned from his 34-day rest in Paris, France.

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), religious leaders, political party leaders, heads of traditional institutions, government officials, National Assembly leaders and members both serving and newly-elected, national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), captains of industry, clergymen and other professionals now troop to his homes and wait patiently to have audiences with the President-elect.

Heads of the diplomatic community, APC Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), two members of the five dissident Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors known as G-5, clergymen comprising pastors and imams, heads of traditional rulers symbolised by the Emir of Kano, and captains of industries led by no mean a person than the chairman, Dangote Conglomerates, Aliko Dangote, and Bank owners are equally part of the roll call queuing up to meet with the President-elect.

The roll calls of legislators aspiring to clinch the ticket of the leadership of the 10th National Assembly that have visited the President-elect can make a long chain.

From the former governor of Abia State and current Senate Chief Whip, Dr Orji Uzor-Kalu who told newsmen that he had a very successful session with Tinubu, to former APC National Organising Secretary, Osita Izunaso, former governor of Akwa-Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio to the senator representing Kano North Senatorial District, Barau Jibrin, were among many other legislators who were on call.

In most cases, the visitors, coming from every part of the country and even beyond, were usually around to re-strategise and perhaps remind Tinubu of one promise, favour, or the other he gave them and the assurances he gave to them in the build-up to the election.

From all indications, their missions seem to be almost the same. They came to lobby for one appointive or elective position or the other either for themselves or their cronies.

It is not a surprise therefore that almost all through last week, if it were not the legislators, both ranking and fresher, visiting to lobby for the vacant leadership positions in the 10th National Assembly, majorly Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker and Deputy of the House of Representatives, it would be for one government appointive positions or the other.

Again, if the visitors did not go to canvass for lower positions like political aides, it would be for juicy positions like ministerial, Chief of Staff, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), presidential spokesperson, and even insignificant appointive positions like Board members of parastatals and agencies.

Curiously, their missions, deceptively packaged in the form of courtesy and or thank-you visits, are targeted at desperately lobbying, to secure the attention and blessings of the President-elect or the influential persons around him.

According to reports, the intensity of the lobbying during the visits was so high that the visitors even remarkably spent long hours patiently inside their air-conditioned exotic cars not to miss their chance to see him.

Surprisingly, the awareness and publicity of the visits to lobby have generated lots of attention to the point of dominating every other political discourse in the country.

And surprisingly, the magnitude of the interest was so high that for the first time since Tinubu was announced President-elect, issues around him did not compete or share media attention and headlines in the Nigerian political space.

The lobbying visits since Tinubu returned from the controversial trip from France, actually relegated to the background every other incident in the country to the point that little or nothing was heard or seen about Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi and his vociferous Obidient movement.

And even though pundits may stoutly defend that the Obidient movement has not fizzled out, the reality on ground is that the deafening noise around the President-elect since last week has sounded louder than every other activity, political, administrative, and even diplomatic, in the country.

For a very long while since Tinubu’s emergence as President-elect, the LP presidential candidate seems to be cowed and intimidated because not even a loud whispering was heard about his determination, desperation of the Obidient movement and many concerned Nigerians, to pursue and reclaim his mandate.

Obviously, the activities at both Defence House and Asokoro home of the President-elect have actually reinvigorated and activated the much-anticipated relief leaders and members of the ruling party have desperately craved since the controversial conclusion of the 2023 presidential election.

Distracted by one incident or the other, according to observers, this is perhaps the first time they did not share the stage with anybody in enjoying uninterrupted, the hard-earned presidential election victory since March he was pronounced President-elect by the embattled Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Surprisingly, whether by coincidence or design, there was loud silence and quiet moment also from the camp of the main opposition party, the PDP, almost throughout last week.

It was a deafening silence that nothing around issues of leadership crisis rocking the party, and even the usual threats by protesters, grumbling to reclaim the mandate of its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubukar, was on the front burner.

Luckily, for the President-elect, the discomforting government policies concerning fuel subsidy removal, the conduct of national population, and housing census have equally helped him to shine and coast alone since his return.

Fortunately for Tinubu and unfortunately for his adversaries and main gladiators, there were no legal fireworks at the Presidential Election Tribunal since last week to share headlines with the President-elect since he made that triumphant entry into the country from France.

The pleasant situation falling in line for the President-elect is understandable. The winning team may have clearly interpreted, understood, and applied the Biblical injunction of instigating crisis in the enemy camp.

Little wonder the escalating leadership crisis rocking both the PDP and LP may have also made it difficult and perhaps impossible to organise themselves and continue distracting the APC family from peacefully celebrating and enjoying their presidential election victory.

However, beyond visitations of last week to Asiwaju, it has become a tradition, even when the loser congratulated the winner, to rally around the President-elect ahead of their inauguration to lobby for one position or the other.

The lobbying trend has always denoted a season for desperate networking and a deceptive period for brisk business for hangers-on around the corridors of power, to feed fat from certain persons seeking one favour or the other.

And naturally, while some succeed in lobbying their way through, others usually become victims of fraudulent manipulations of dupes that fleece them of money running into millions of Naira.

Leading the colony of visitors to the political Mecca was the headship of the ruling party’s administrative organ, the National Working Committee (NWC). Their mission to see the President-elect is understandably very simple. The first was to feel his purse rate on the contentious party’s zoning arrangements for the leadership of both chambers of the 10th National Assembly.

The second was perhaps to seek Tinubu’s intervention over the deteriorating leadership crises currently bedeviling the party over alleged sundry administrative malfeasance by the National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, and the National Secretary, Iyiola Omisore.

Unarguably, the shift of attention from President Muhammadu Buhari, already on his departure lounge, to the President-elect, comes with expectations from many that Asiwaju will provide the administrative solutions to resolve the crises and chart a way forward for an acceptable zoning convention for the ruling party with majority seats at both chambers of the National Assembly.

For the party leaders and members queuing up to meet the President-elect, the benefit of hindsight showed that now is the best time to canvass for one favour or the other, especially appointments like the soon-to-be vacant Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief of Staff to the President, which from the realities on ground may have been conceded to Reps Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, in addition to multiple Presidential Aides positions and essentially ministers.

But, from every indication and feelers from the Tinubu’s camp, what would be the monster they would confront will be the expected crisis from party leaders in most states over who should get the ministerial nomination slot, especially in states where the sitting governors are not members of the ruling party.

Pundits have already predicted an impending imminent clash in states like Enugu, Rivers, Anambra, Edo, Delta, and Oyo among other states where the party has been balkanised over the struggle on who should be its rightful leader in the state.

The battle, according to analysts, will be fiercer in states like Enugu and Rivers where non-party members worked for the President-elect for the success of the party more than the leaders of the party in the state.

In Enugu State for instance, where former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani apparently worked against his party, the PDP, in favour of Tinubu, and where the party has been factionalised among stakeholders, the unanswered question is who will be nominated to fill up the constitutional stipulated ministerial slot. Should it be Chimaroke, or the party’s chairman, Ugo Agballa, or the governorship candidate, Uche Nnaji?

The crisis to pick ministerial nominees in both Delta and Rivers may likely be more dangerous, considering the precarious and delicate situation facing the party in the two state chapters.

In Delta State, for example, two gladiators like the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, and Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, both worked assiduously for Tinubu’s victory, but the crisis rocking the state chapter of the party may make picking anybody as a ministerial nominee in the state very difficult.

Rivers State’s situation seems to be even more delicate with heavyweight political gladiators like the state governor, Nyesom Wike, who did not only admit working for and delivering Tinubu but has also indicated readiness to serve in his government, squaring up against the undisputable leader of the party in the state and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi.

The President-elect will also face similar battles of choice in Anambra, Edo, and Oyo states, where opposition parties are in power and where leaders of the ruling party and other political gladiators are still at daggers-drawn with each other at the state chapter.

Regardless of the intensity of the lobbying currently going on from certain persons, what is also obvious is that the nomination for ministerial slots may equally run into stormy weather in some northern states like Zamfara, Sokoto, Adamawa, Bauchi among other states where the party has been factionalised by selfish interests without anybody clearly in charge.

However, judging by the promise from the President-elect, to look beyond those mundane issues and constitute his cabinet based on government of national unity and national competence, there may, already, be in place, an antidote to the fears expressed in many quarters.

According to him; “as your incoming president, I accept the task before me. There has been talk of a government of national unity. My aim is higher than that. I seek a government of national competence. In selecting my government, I shall not be weighed down by considerations extraneous to ability and performance.

“The day for political gamesmanship is long gone. I shall assemble competent men and women and young people from across Nigeria to build a safer, more prosperous, and just Nigeria. There shall be young people. Women shall be prominent. Whether your faith leads you to pray in a church or mosque will not determine your place in government. Character and competence will.

“To secure our nation and to make it prosperous must be our top priorities. We cannot sacrifice these goals for political expediencies. The whims of politics must take a backseat to the imperatives of governance.

“We have bridges and roads to build not just for commerce and travel but to connect people of different faiths, parties, and different outlooks in harmonious dialogue and common purpose. We have families to feed not just to eliminate hunger but to nurture enlightenment, civic responsibility, and compassion,” he promised.

However, even with Tinubu’s roadmap and the shape his government will take, a chieftain of the party described it as a utopic idea easier said than done.

“This kind of promise has become a singsong in Nigeria’s political landscape by almost all the President-elect over the years. They would roll out lofty ideas but will end up as rhetorics during implementation when they usually cave in to the pressures from politicians, party leadership, election sponsors, and one benefactor or the other.

“I knew that it is going to be easier said than done hearing Tinubu announcing that the era of political gamesmanship is long gone. And that he will assemble competent men, women, and young people from across Nigeria. How can that be possible with the kind of people he gave one promise or the other during the campaign and various town hall consultative meetings?

“His action in excluding South East geopolitical zone in his transition committee recently did not show that he will live up to that promise. His action clearly negates his claim to assemble ‘competent persons across the country’. I can stake my neck that Tinubu will continue his hostility against the Igbo even as President of Nigeria. Only the future can vindicate all of us,” the APC chieftain quipped.

From all indications, the reality on ground shows that beyond pontificating, the former governor of Lagos State may not spring any surprise in the appointments he will make in no distant time. He may not depart from prioritising political capacity, contributions, and party loyalty ahead of his much-touted competence.

The good news, however, is that it may not take longer than necessary for him to constitute his government judging by the promise by his topmost aide, Dele Alake, who told Nigerians to expect the composition within weeks after his inauguration.

According to Alake; “I believe Nigerians already know his pedigree. When he was governor, it took less than three weeks to form his cabinet. The first term was in 1999 and his second term was 2003. In both, it took him less than three weeks to do it and I was also there in the cabinet, so I should know.”

And looking beyond the composition of his cabinet, Alake said: “However, I can tell you that in the next 100 days, we will reduce whatever tension is occasioned by the current challenges facing the country. Tinubu will usher in an era of peace, tranquility, economic progress, prosperity, security and all those challenges that Nigerians are experiencing now will be resolved. The most important thing is the visionary leadership, knowledge and courage that Tinubu is noted for, which he will bring on board.

“These are critical attributes of progressive leadership. None of the other contestants has it. We all know Tinubu has the courage; he will push through hard policies and break all institutional and corporate barriers to achieve his goal for the greatest good,” he assured. (Text, excluding headline: Daily Sun)

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