 Asiwajubola Ahmed Tinibu has confirmed his intention to contest the office of the President in 2023. Tinibu has also disclosed this that he has informed President Muhammad Abu Hari about his presidential ambition. He disclosed this to State House Correspondents on Monday after meeting with President Muhammad Abu Hari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. According to him, contesting the presidency is his lifelong ambition. I can answer that category, yes, I've informed the President of my intention, but I've not informed the Nigerians yet. I'm still consulting and I have no problem consulting and I've not set a parameter of limitation to the extent of how many people would like to consult. You will soon hear, all you want to hear is a categorical declaration. You've gotten that truth from me that I've informed the Minister President of my ambition and you don't expect more answers than that. First of all, the National Assembly and the President must be encouraged to review and they review again. Whatever they come up with Electoral Amendment is what we must comply with. There's no unlimited electricity in what we face because we have to plan and plan well and be able to manage the time effectively. The great roadmap to success is ability of a leader to do what he must do at the right time that he should be done. So that, to me, the Electoral Amendment point, where we still look at that collectively and it is our country, it's our democracy, we adopted it and we will pursue it rigorously. About the cup of a kingmaker, I've never seen the cup of a kingmaker before. That is the truth and I've never seen where it is written in the rule book anywhere in any country that a kingmaker cannot be a king unless you commit murder. So whatever is your attribute is your own opinion. Me, I want to pursue my ambition without the title of a kingmaker. You can write your literature and your story based upon your own perception. Joining us live is political analyst Björn of Show Me. As we break down this particular story, thank you very much for joining us. Well, this doesn't necessarily come as a surprise to many as speculations have been rife on his ambition to run for the presidency ticket on the platform of the All Progressive Congress. But what are your thoughts? Well, we still don't have a categorical declaration from Ashwajibullah Amethibundu. He has only let us into his thinking that he's busy consulting within the context of the law and what is he actually referring to? My view is that, well, we have an Electoral Act which has its own restrictions on when you can declare that you are a candidate or not. He hinted at that by saying that within the limitations of the law, which is the current Electoral Act, I made a reference to the amendment when passed, then that could be examined to see whether those limitations are new or they're there or what are the new conditionalities in the Electoral Act. So that is on one point why it's limited to declare his candidacy. It could only go to the point or to the extent of saying, look, I am consulting and I am performing Mr. President of my pension. That is not a foundation of the Electoral Act as he stands currently. Then he further went ahead to try and explain his own perception of the issue of king-makers. Quite a lot of political candidates actually pitched their heads that, you know, who will end up becoming another king-maker this time around rather than being bidding for the crown himself. You know, there are so many speculation about who he will end us or not end us. But now we now know that he's not thinking of being a king-maker any longer. And he explained the fact that there is no constitutional inhibition from a king-maker or no king-maker from bidding for the throne, you know, to the crown. So basically what he's saying is that irrespective of the role he has played in the past, there's no inhibition, legally wise, you know, to his future aspiration, you know, which is to be a candidate in the next section for the precedence. So I think it's been very, very clear, you know, people already know his fight. We can understand his psychological construct, his personal construct, his makeup, and where he's going, his direction, is let us into that thinking without bounding the electoral, you know, act assistance today on when I make a ruling. So that's so far what I think he has done. Let's go on to the support that he might be receiving now that he has somewhat hinted that he might be interested in the revered seat of the president. We also know that we had seen Billboards surface in the FCT of the vice president also seemingly looking like he's also throwing his hat into the ring here. Will there be, do you see a split in supports within the party and of course in the Southwest being that these two come from the same extraction? Yeah, well, I think Tinium Bull's announcement or his letting us into his thinking current is with a pitch to put a stop to some of the debt moves being made by supporters or, how would I call it, enablers of different one or two different candidates in the Southwest. Who have been their hope on the fact that maybe Tinium Bull is designed to be a king-maker and therefore open the way for them. And their supporters have been busy campaigning, creating billboards and all that everywhere, both on social media, physically, you know, in the state capital, La Putia. Now, what he has done with that announcement is going to have to call for retrospection. Many, two, at least one or two of those thought leading candidates apart will have to be think whether they can afford to take on Tinium Bull in the Southwest for the popular books. One, and two, whether they can afford to take on the individual party, APC. So, knowing that they will enjoy the support of many of the ACN factions that came into APC and possibly he has considerable and major support also in the North, which the North and the APC couples, yes, which could go in his favor. That Novistan, it does not mean that it doesn't have, people are vast to be central. Yes, they have within the party. Yes, they have within the country. What is determined to contest is being encouraged by the level of support is getting from the consultation. Interesting. You answered almost everything in my next question because I was going to ask how formidable a candidate he would be, not just because you know in the Southwest he seems to be not just a kingmaker, he seems to be the leader of the party, but one would wonder how well he will fare in the South-South and the Southeast and of course the North. So, you have said he might have some fraction of support in the North, but can that be said of him in the Southwest, sorry, in the South-South and the Southeast, knowing that there's an agitation of sorts coming from not just the Southeast, but even the South-South. Yeah, parallel to two years ago, I would have been one of those who would say that there'll be a measure, a considerable measure of rejection or opposition to the continuous candidacy in the South-South and the Southeast. What we have seen so far is that given the political realities currently, the division in the country, even amongst the governments, along the South and North, four lines, we are in a situation where the South is probably going to look at who is best placed to win the election, who is a certain candidate and who is not the best placed. From all those indicating their interests so far, there is no doubt in my mind that you know who has the farthest reach when you talk within the South in terms of crossing the North barrier. Yes, you might not enjoy popular support in the South-South. Why enjoy some support in the South-South? Because you still have the APC as a political party. In those days, the fact of the matter is the South has resolved that a candidate from the South should be the next president. So if Tinumbo wins the APC ticket, it is possible another Southern candidate will win the PDP ticket. It is possible, not impossible. So if that should happen, then you are likely going to have a South-West candidate against maybe a South-South candidate through the PDP. If that happens, the North would amid the wealth to determine what happens in that election. But in the unlikely events, that the PDP offers the ticket to the North and South, which I will understand why if they choose to do that, because it is with a view to create a sharp contradiction and see whether they can get the majority of the votes from the North to back their own candidates, hoping to slice into South-East and South-South. In the event of that happening, there needs to be a straight forward battle between an APC if Tinumbo eventually declares and gets the ticket, between Tinumbo and whoever is the Northern candidate of PDP. So that would be a very interesting comment. I think it promises a lot in terms of campaigning, in terms of the issues of the national question, in terms of how they will handle security. It would be very interesting to listen to them. At least we have a proper debate. This time around and people will understand what the issues are and their policies and the positions of whoever they elect. Well, Piyano Shomami is a political analyst. We thank you so much for speaking with us. My pleasure.