Opinion
Tinubu And Bianca: The Untold Story
By Emmanuel Aziken
The nomination of Bianca Ojukwu as an enabler in the new Nigeria President Bola Tinubu is building was undoubtedly preceded by some untold give and take
For a man who warned the Igbo that they would only get bread soaked in water if they scorned him, it is a shock that President Bola Tinubu has picked one of the finest, fittest, and fondest of that race into his cabinet.
The nomination of Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu into the Bola Tinubu cabinet came from the Blues.
So also is the seeming shock that the president is changing his strategy of bread soaked in water for Ndigbo.
In fact, the change from bread soaked in water came the same week that the president’s wife, the delectable Senator Remi Tinubu dispatched thousands of bags of rice to Anambra women.
Since his advent on May 29, 2023 President Tinubu had fastidiously kept to his vow in terms of patronage, especially in appointments.
With the majority of appointments scaled towards the Southwest and the Core North, the Igbo intermittently cheered when their stock were appointed into federal positions.
So for the people who are already on the ground, the Igbo claim, they had no fear of a fall with Tinubu. That is the reason the region largely boycotted the August end bad governance campaign.
So, it was something of a shock when Bianca, former Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria Pageant winner was nominated to replace the comedic former minister of women affairs, Uju Kennedy Ohanenye.
Of course, given her status as Igbo First Lady, no one questioned the propriety of the Enugu-born lawyer’s fitness for the slot. After all, her late husband was from Anambra State.
What came as a shock was that the Tinubu camp did not mind the fact that Bianca was an undisguised supporter of Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential election.
A year to the last presidential election as people complained about what they described as the stinginess of Peter Obi, Bianca came out with an unsolicited endorsement of the generosity of the former governor of Anambra State.
She drew emotions when she described her encounter with him during a visit to Dim Ojukwu at their Dallas, United States residence in 2009.
She had prompted him during that visit to buy a Tom Ford suit costing $3980 to attend a state event in the city where he was to be honoured. Obi, however, refused and rather bought a suit of $200 for the event.
Following that on his way back to Nigeria Obi offered her $3,800 saved from not buying the Tom Ford suit. The money was a donation to Bianca’s charity foundation in Anambra State which directly impacted on some women Bianca named.
That story went a long way in humanizing Peter Obi before the 2023 presidential election.
So, given her preference for Peter Obi it was befuddling that the Tinubu Camp would reach out to bring her into the government.
However, the move was not totally shocking for many who believe that Tinubu has not lost his capacity for strategic political maneuver.
For one, the Tinubu camp may have come to the realization that it can no longer rely on the alliance with the core North for political supremacy over the nation.
That alliance has seen the majority of appointments shared between the Southwest and the Core North. Northern minorities, the Southeast and the South-South have taken the short end of the stick from that arrangement.
Despite the appointments and the favours, the favoured sections of the country have not benefited from lower prices of essential requirements or even petrol. It now appears to Tinubu that in a fair game that he would be badly wounded in the Core North and even the Southwest in 2027.
With that unfavourable electoral prospect facing it ahead of 2027, there is no doubt that the Tinubu camp has had to rethink strategy during his United Kingdom vacation. The result is the apparent decision to abandon the bread soaked in water philosophy for the Southeast by deciding to court the Igbo.
The Tinubu camp perhaps now believes that it is possible to win over the Southeast. The camp also believes that the best way to start is through luring one of the finest, fittest and fondest of the tribe, a description that describes Bianca Ojukwu.
Of course, there are some who think that Bianca should have outrightly rejected the proposal. As some Igbo argue, she cannot rationalize her presence in the Tinubu cabinet with the APC administration’s incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu, the only man who has rivaled her late husband in popularity among the Igbo.
Remarkably, Bianca has been a public agitator for Kanu’s release. Just eight days ago, and four days before her nomination, she issued a public demand for Kanu’s release.
Given the way ministerial nominations are made in this country, it is obvious that Bianca was already in discussion with the Tinubu government when she made the call at the conference of American Veterans of Igbo Descent in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States of America.
Your correspondent suspects that Bianca would have made a deal with the Tinubu government for Nnamdi Kanu’s release, and with it, the prospect of even winning over the secessionist leader into their camp.
Afterall, her husband was won over to the National Party of Nigeria, NPN on his return to Nigeria. Just as the NPN used Ojukwu to fight the National Peoples Party, NPP in Igbo land ahead of the 1983, the prospect of the APC using Bianca and Kanu against Peter Obi is plausible. But we all remember that after using Ojukwu, the NPN was said to have behind the scene rigged him out in the 1983 Anambra Senate race.
Whatever, is the emergence of Bianca into the Tinubu government a setback for Obidients wishing for their man to win in 2027?
NEFETITI who fondly competes with Aisha Yesufu for the position of First Lady of the Obidient family thinks that Bianca’s nomination would not in any way impact against Peter Obi’s prospects in the Southeast.
While she like many others believe that Bianca is more than qualified to be a Nigerian minister, she, however, believes that when it comes to choosing between Tinubu and Peter Obi that Bianca would not be a factor.
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