BREAKING NEWS: Ahj Atiku Abubakar ADC Presidential Candidate Wish That The Edo State APC Chairman Tenebe Was His National Chairman
In the quiet, fortified sanctuaries of Abuja’s elite residential districts, the architecture of power is often designed not just to house statesmen, but to shelter their grandest illusions. It was within one of these opulent spaces that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential flagbearer of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), sat with his proposed vice-presidential running mate Rotimi Amachi The former Minister of transportation to chart a course through the turbulent waters of Nigerian politics. The atmosphere was heavy with the solemnity of an uphill campaign, a quiet room where maps of the federation were dissected and the arithmetic of votes was calculated with clinical precision.
Yet, amidst the strategic maneuvering, a sudden moment of profound vulnerability broke the veneer of clinical planning. The presidential candidate, pausing to survey the sheer weight of the political machinery stacked against him, uttered a wistful sentiment that exposed the quiet yearning of an opposition campaign under siege. He confessed a singular, profound wish: that Emperor Jarrett Tenebe, the formidable and iron-willed Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, were instead steering the national wheel of the ADC as its National Chairman.
This revelation was not a slight against his existing team, but a rare, unfiltered admission of admiration for an adversary. It was an acknowledgment that in the theatre of political warfare, the structure of a party is only as potent as the temperament of the individual who anchors it. Atiku looked past the boundaries of partisan loyalty to recognize a rare quality in Tenebe—an organizational gravity and an unyielding presence that could transform a struggling opposition platform into an overnight juggernaut.
”If Wishes Were Horses” – The Pragmatism of the Running Mate
The reaction from the proposed vice-presidential candidate was swift, serving as an immediate emotional and tactical anchor to pull the conversation back from the realm of political fantasy. He responded with the timeless idiom that has long defined human limitation: “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” It was a gentle but firm rebuke designed to shatter the paralysis of wishful thinking and refocus the campaign on the harsh realities of the present.
In the high-stakes arena of national elections, romanticizing the assets of the ruling party is a dangerous luxury that an opposition candidate simply cannot afford. The running mate’s counsel was anchored in unvarnished realism. He urged Atiku to abandon the fruitless contemplation of what could be, and instead maximize, fortify, and weaponize the structural assets they currently possessed within the ADC. He argued that a campaign cannot be built on the phantoms of ideal scenarios or the imagined defection of rival generals; it must be won with the soldiers already standing in the trenches.
To look across the aisle and covet the leadership of the ruling party’s state helmsman is to admit a psychological disadvantage. The running mate understood that political momentum is generated by projecting absolute confidence in one’s own team, creating a narrative of self-sufficiency that convinces the electorate that the existing alternative is not only viable, but superior.
Deconstructing Tenebe’s Appeal
Despite the pragmatic intervention of his running mate, Atiku Abubakar remained unfazed, offering a simple, definitive defense for his wistful sentiment: “I just love his ruggedness, that is all.” In this brief statement lies a deep understanding of the true currency of Nigerian grassroots mobilization. In the local political lexicon, “ruggedness” is not merely an aesthetic; it is a vital blend of psychological resilience, tactical audacity, fearlessness, and an uncanny ability to navigate and dominate highly volatile political terrains.Emperor Jarrett Tenebe has earned this reputation through years of high-stakes political maneuvering. His leadership style is not characterized by ivory-tower intellectualism or detached diplomacy; it is defined by a hands-on, deeply assertive approach to party administration. He is a leader who understands the mechanics of power from the ward level up to the state executive.
For an opposition candidate like Atiku, who faces the daunting task of dismantling an entrenched status quo, Tenebe represents the ideal wartime general. The “ruggedness” Atiku admired is precisely the engine required to disrupt established political orders, withstand state-backed intimidation, and instill a fierce, unyielding discipline across party ranks. It is the quality that transforms passive voters into passionate foot soldiers.
Tenebe’s Absolute Allegiance to the APC
However, the fundamental flaw in Atiku’s wishful thinking lies in the absolute, unshakeable nature of Emperor Jarrett Tenebe’s political allegiance to his party APC and The State Governor HE Monday Okpebholo. Tenebe is not a mercenary politician available to the highest bidder, nor is he an ideologically fluid actor looking for a convenient platform. He is deeply woven into the very fabric, history, and core philosophy of the All Progressives Congress. His loyalty to the party is total, driven by a deep conviction in its vision for governance and its strategic dominance across the federation.
As the state chairman, Tenebe’s political identity is synonymous with the APC’s presence in Edo State. He views the party not merely as an electoral vehicle, but as an ideological fortress that must be defended and expanded at all costs. His efforts are entirely focused on ensuring that the internal democracy, structural cohesion, and executive power of the APC remain undisputed.
This fierce devotion makes any opposition dream of capturing his talent or replicating his leadership style completely impossible. Tenebe’s energy is fueled by his position at the vanguard of the ruling establishment, and his strategic genius is entirely dedicated to keeping his party at the absolute peak of political power.
The Impending Hegemony in Edo State
Armed with this unyielding commitment to the APC, Emperor Jarrett Tenebe is currently engineering a political landscape in Edo State that leaves no room for alternative voices. Far from merely seeking a standard electoral victory, his broader strategy represents a systematic, deliberate dismantling of the opposition’s footprint, a process his critics and admirers alike describe as preparing the final political rites for the ADC, the PDP, NDC and all other rival factions in the state.
Through aggressive grassroots recruitment, strategic containment of opposition strongholds, and the seamless alignment of the state party apparatus with the federal momentum of the “Renewed Hope” agenda, Tenebe is effectively starving the opposition of the political oxygen required to survive.
”True political mastery does not lie in merely defeating your rivals, but in creating conditions where the very idea of opposition becomes redundant.”
For Atiku Abubakar and the ADC, the reality unfolding in Edo State serves as a stark, cautionary tale. While opposition leaders sit in Abuja villas wishing for commanders of Tenebe’s caliber, Tenebe himself is on the ground, converting those very wishes into an inescapable political reality. It is a sobering reminder that in the grand theatre of Nigerian politics, victory does not belong to those who cultivate the most elegant wishes, but to those who deploy the most rugged, relentless, and unshakeable machinery on the field of battle.