The Chess Game of 2027 Power Politics in Nigeria
by apostle | Mar 15, 2025 | Uncategorized | 0 comments
The Chess Game of 2027 Power Politics in Nigeria
By Bolaji O. Akinyemi.
The chess game is played on a board of 8×8 grid of 64 squares; the goal is to checkmate your opponent’s king, put him under attack until he is eventually captured.
The chess game presents a classical analogy of Nigeria’s political landscape and the buildup to 2027 presidential elections. The key players in chess game are king, queen, rooks, knights, bishops and pawns.
Each player represents critical jobbers in Nigeria’s political arena as follows:- the President or Head of State is the king who holds the highest power.
Influential politicians and power brokers who support the President represent the queen. The defense and security forces that maintain law and order to protect the President constitute the rooks. The Bishops are the traditional rulers cum religious leaders who wield significant influence. The Knights are the bureaucrats including intellectuals and professionals who provide strategic guidance. Finally, the electorates and everyday citizens who are often caught in the middle of power struggles are represented by the pawns.
In Nigeria, power has historically rotated between the two blocs of the north and the south upon which Nigeria was created as a single country.
The north and south blocs make initial moves to establish their strongholds and influence. Each side engages in a delicate strategic moves to gain power advantage over the other. This might involve forming alliances, making concessions, or using propaganda to sway public opinion.
The final outcome of the moves by the blocs leads one side to emerge victorious, having successfully checkmated the other side as an opponent.
That was the kind of game spearheaded and advanced in 2015 by the Tinubu-led APC to edge out King Jonathan from power to see Buhari to power; and, in 2023 to push Christian presidential candidates out of political power ascendancy as CEO of Nigeria.
In Nigeria’s context, this might mean one bloc gaining dominance over the other whenever a bloc achieves repeated checkmate in trapping the king of the opponent that could not escape.
In Nigeria’s political landscape, checkmate might represent a situation where one side of the blocs has gained greater dominance, in power ascendancy leaving the other side with fewer chances of ascendancy.
However, just as in chess, checkmate is not always a permanent accomplishment. New opportunities can arise, and the game can start anew. In Nigeria’s case, this might involve a shift in power dynamics leading to a change in the governing administration, or a reevaluation of the country’s political structure.
This is where we are! as the permutations for CEO power ascendancy in 2027 are steered.
The swing of the democratic pendulum of power between the conventional two blocs also represents the swing of balance of Religion, particularly for the two leading religions in the country, being Christianity and Islam. In this regard, the pattern of primordial ethnic factors becomes noticeably relevant. This has always been in favour of the Fulani ethnic group by the expropriation, nay, subjugation of the value of the Hausa resources of population, language, history, religion, marriage, couture and culture.
As a result, the Christian dominant electoral factor in the north gets ignored and is often lost in the power game for lack of a platform of aggregation, cooperation and collaboration with their brethren in the other side of the south bloc, and to some extent, a lackadaisical deployment of tenacity in political engineering. Regrettably, CAN is unable and unsuitable to be the platform for negotiating the interest of Christians resident in the north bloc. The north has always produced Muslim CEO of Nigeria while the Christian CEO often comes from the south bloc. Just like with Christians in the north, the Muslim minority in the south bloc has always been at the disadvantage of power games.
The swing of the power pendulum is often between north and south blocs in a pattern already established at independence.
The north bloc tends to forth a Fulani Muslim to emerge as the CEO of Nigeria; whereas, in the south bloc, a Christian often emerges for the CEO job irrespective of his ethnic group.
In breach of convention, the emergence of a Muslim Tinubu from the south bloc is an aberration of the pattern of the north-south swing of the power pendulum. Worst still, a Tinubu Muslim/Muslim Ticket has deepen the breakdown of the existing convention of power swing pattern to a combustible degree; it shouldn’t be encouraged in 2027 in order to sustain the fragile balance of power between the traditional north-south blocs.
Bear in mind that the Tinubu power incumbency has already created a religious bias against the south bloc and incongruously in favour of the north bloc, being that he’s not Fulani; this has cryptic implications for national interest, political stability and cohesion.
On a bloc-wise basis, the incumbency of Tinubu is a marginal plus that is heavily encrusted against diversity, equity and inclusion in a plural polity.; it undermines a tested arrangement that supports the traditional swing that stirs a feeling of unity in the country.
So getting to basics means getting 2027 in the hands of a Christian from the south bloc.
It’s curious how Tinubu cracked into CAN under a south bloc leader to advance his Muslim/Muslim Agenda, and, to ignore north bloc Christians to achieve a resurgence of the 1993 Muslim/Muslim presidential Ticket in the 2023 elections in Nigeria.
Going forward to 2027, the dynamics of a deft game of power has been activated with the resignation of El-Rufai from the ruling APC to join SDP as part of three vital shuffles; the relocation of Buhari to kaduna to provide on-ground proximity to his trusted team that include El-Rufai. The third shuffle is that of Peter Obi who visited a PDP governor Bala Mohamed in Bauchi; either Obi or Mohamed is likely to switch camp for an Obi presidential ticket in 2027.
The Bauchi visit of Obi is a presage of the expectation for a Christian president in 2027 to get back its unbiased reckoning with the south bloc in the power game.
Without any iota of prejudice, the most potent option for the south bloc to produce a Christian president in 2027 is the Goodluck Jonathan candidacy pairing with a suitable north bloc Muslim. On a balance of opinion, the north bloc will trust this arrangement knowing the termination of a four year tenure is inevitable upon which the political power pendulum can seamlessly return to the north bloc.
The Obi/Mohamed game may be a consideration for the enraged relegation of the Fulani from the preeminent position in the power matrix of Nigeria.
As a corollary, the likelihood of Tinubu’s political maturity to embrace one term and field his all time ally in Prof Yemi Osibajo with whom many in the north bloc may find respite if the agreement to be content with one term can be reached.
The permutations of Jonathan, Obi and Osibajo are hinged on the premise that the south bloc Christian base had held the CEO position of Nigeria for a paltry total of 13 years; 8 years of Obasanjo and 5 years of Jonathan. Comparatively, the north bloc occupied the CEO position of Nigeria for a whooping total of 21 years as follows; Balewa in 6 years, Shagari in 4 years, YarAdua in 3 years and Buhari in 8 years.
By the conventional understanding of the game of Nigeria’s political power struggles, we can gain insight from the permutations of the complex dynamics at play and the strategic maneuvering that is needed in the pursuit of power in 2027.
The game changer however may be a Tinubu embrace of constitutional reform based on the 1963 republican constitution before 2027, and by which case, he will conveniently distabilise the argument linked to conventional pattern against his continuation for a second term in office in 2027.
This of course is where we are, and it critically depends on who is at the board playing on behalf of Christians in Nigeria for a win
by apostle | Mar 15, 2025 | Uncategorized | 0 comments
The Chess Game of 2027 Power Politics in Nigeria
By Bolaji O. Akinyemi.
The chess game is played on a board of 8×8 grid of 64 squares; the goal is to checkmate your opponent’s king, put him under attack until he is eventually captured.
The chess game presents a classical analogy of Nigeria’s political landscape and the buildup to 2027 presidential elections. The key players in chess game are king, queen, rooks, knights, bishops and pawns.
Each player represents critical jobbers in Nigeria’s political arena as follows:- the President or Head of State is the king who holds the highest power.
Influential politicians and power brokers who support the President represent the queen. The defense and security forces that maintain law and order to protect the President constitute the rooks. The Bishops are the traditional rulers cum religious leaders who wield significant influence. The Knights are the bureaucrats including intellectuals and professionals who provide strategic guidance. Finally, the electorates and everyday citizens who are often caught in the middle of power struggles are represented by the pawns.
In Nigeria, power has historically rotated between the two blocs of the north and the south upon which Nigeria was created as a single country.
The north and south blocs make initial moves to establish their strongholds and influence. Each side engages in a delicate strategic moves to gain power advantage over the other. This might involve forming alliances, making concessions, or using propaganda to sway public opinion.
The final outcome of the moves by the blocs leads one side to emerge victorious, having successfully checkmated the other side as an opponent.
That was the kind of game spearheaded and advanced in 2015 by the Tinubu-led APC to edge out King Jonathan from power to see Buhari to power; and, in 2023 to push Christian presidential candidates out of political power ascendancy as CEO of Nigeria.
In Nigeria’s context, this might mean one bloc gaining dominance over the other whenever a bloc achieves repeated checkmate in trapping the king of the opponent that could not escape.
In Nigeria’s political landscape, checkmate might represent a situation where one side of the blocs has gained greater dominance, in power ascendancy leaving the other side with fewer chances of ascendancy.
However, just as in chess, checkmate is not always a permanent accomplishment. New opportunities can arise, and the game can start anew. In Nigeria’s case, this might involve a shift in power dynamics leading to a change in the governing administration, or a reevaluation of the country’s political structure.
This is where we are! as the permutations for CEO power ascendancy in 2027 are steered.
The swing of the democratic pendulum of power between the conventional two blocs also represents the swing of balance of Religion, particularly for the two leading religions in the country, being Christianity and Islam. In this regard, the pattern of primordial ethnic factors becomes noticeably relevant. This has always been in favour of the Fulani ethnic group by the expropriation, nay, subjugation of the value of the Hausa resources of population, language, history, religion, marriage, couture and culture.
As a result, the Christian dominant electoral factor in the north gets ignored and is often lost in the power game for lack of a platform of aggregation, cooperation and collaboration with their brethren in the other side of the south bloc, and to some extent, a lackadaisical deployment of tenacity in political engineering. Regrettably, CAN is unable and unsuitable to be the platform for negotiating the interest of Christians resident in the north bloc. The north has always produced Muslim CEO of Nigeria while the Christian CEO often comes from the south bloc. Just like with Christians in the north, the Muslim minority in the south bloc has always been at the disadvantage of power games.
The swing of the power pendulum is often between north and south blocs in a pattern already established at independence.
The north bloc tends to forth a Fulani Muslim to emerge as the CEO of Nigeria; whereas, in the south bloc, a Christian often emerges for the CEO job irrespective of his ethnic group.
In breach of convention, the emergence of a Muslim Tinubu from the south bloc is an aberration of the pattern of the north-south swing of the power pendulum. Worst still, a Tinubu Muslim/Muslim Ticket has deepen the breakdown of the existing convention of power swing pattern to a combustible degree; it shouldn’t be encouraged in 2027 in order to sustain the fragile balance of power between the traditional north-south blocs.
Bear in mind that the Tinubu power incumbency has already created a religious bias against the south bloc and incongruously in favour of the north bloc, being that he’s not Fulani; this has cryptic implications for national interest, political stability and cohesion.
On a bloc-wise basis, the incumbency of Tinubu is a marginal plus that is heavily encrusted against diversity, equity and inclusion in a plural polity.; it undermines a tested arrangement that supports the traditional swing that stirs a feeling of unity in the country.
So getting to basics means getting 2027 in the hands of a Christian from the south bloc.
It’s curious how Tinubu cracked into CAN under a south bloc leader to advance his Muslim/Muslim Agenda, and, to ignore north bloc Christians to achieve a resurgence of the 1993 Muslim/Muslim presidential Ticket in the 2023 elections in Nigeria.
Going forward to 2027, the dynamics of a deft game of power has been activated with the resignation of El-Rufai from the ruling APC to join SDP as part of three vital shuffles; the relocation of Buhari to kaduna to provide on-ground proximity to his trusted team that include El-Rufai. The third shuffle is that of Peter Obi who visited a PDP governor Bala Mohamed in Bauchi; either Obi or Mohamed is likely to switch camp for an Obi presidential ticket in 2027.
The Bauchi visit of Obi is a presage of the expectation for a Christian president in 2027 to get back its unbiased reckoning with the south bloc in the power game.
Without any iota of prejudice, the most potent option for the south bloc to produce a Christian president in 2027 is the Goodluck Jonathan candidacy pairing with a suitable north bloc Muslim. On a balance of opinion, the north bloc will trust this arrangement knowing the termination of a four year tenure is inevitable upon which the political power pendulum can seamlessly return to the north bloc.
The Obi/Mohamed game may be a consideration for the enraged relegation of the Fulani from the preeminent position in the power matrix of Nigeria.
As a corollary, the likelihood of Tinubu’s political maturity to embrace one term and field his all time ally in Prof Yemi Osibajo with whom many in the north bloc may find respite if the agreement to be content with one term can be reached.
The permutations of Jonathan, Obi and Osibajo are hinged on the premise that the south bloc Christian base had held the CEO position of Nigeria for a paltry total of 13 years; 8 years of Obasanjo and 5 years of Jonathan. Comparatively, the north bloc occupied the CEO position of Nigeria for a whooping total of 21 years as follows; Balewa in 6 years, Shagari in 4 years, YarAdua in 3 years and Buhari in 8 years.
By the conventional understanding of the game of Nigeria’s political power struggles, we can gain insight from the permutations of the complex dynamics at play and the strategic maneuvering that is needed in the pursuit of power in 2027.
The game changer however may be a Tinubu embrace of constitutional reform based on the 1963 republican constitution before 2027, and by which case, he will conveniently distabilise the argument linked to conventional pattern against his continuation for a second term in office in 2027.
This of course is where we are, and it critically depends on who is at the board playing on behalf of Christians in Nigeria for a win
The Chess Game of 2027 Power Politics in Nigeria
by apostle | Mar 15, 2025 | Uncategorized | 0 comments
The Chess Game of 2027 Power Politics in Nigeria
By Bolaji O. Akinyemi.
The chess game is played on a board of 8×8 grid of 64 squares; the goal is to checkmate your opponent’s king, put him under attack until he is eventually captured.
The chess game presents a classical analogy of Nigeria’s political landscape and the buildup to 2027 presidential elections. The key players in chess game are king, queen, rooks, knights, bishops and pawns.
Each player represents critical jobbers in Nigeria’s political arena as follows:- the President or Head of State is the king who holds the highest power.
Influential politicians and power brokers who support the President represent the queen. The defense and security forces that maintain law and order to protect the President constitute the rooks. The Bishops are the traditional rulers cum religious leaders who wield significant influence. The Knights are the bureaucrats including intellectuals and professionals who provide strategic guidance. Finally, the electorates and everyday citizens who are often caught in the middle of power struggles are represented by the pawns.
In Nigeria, power has historically rotated between the two blocs of the north and the south upon which Nigeria was created as a single country.
The north and south blocs make initial moves to establish their strongholds and influence. Each side engages in a delicate strategic moves to gain power advantage over the other. This might involve forming alliances, making concessions, or using propaganda to sway public opinion.
The final outcome of the moves by the blocs leads one side to emerge victorious, having successfully checkmated the other side as an opponent.
That was the kind of game spearheaded and advanced in 2015 by the Tinubu-led APC to edge out King Jonathan from power to see Buhari to power; and, in 2023 to push Christian presidential candidates out of political power ascendancy as CEO of Nigeria.
In Nigeria’s context, this might mean one bloc gaining dominance over the other whenever a bloc achieves repeated checkmate in trapping the king of the opponent that could not escape.
In Nigeria’s political landscape, checkmate might represent a situation where one side of the blocs has gained greater dominance, in power ascendancy leaving the other side with fewer chances of ascendancy.
However, just as in chess, checkmate is not always a permanent accomplishment. New opportunities can arise, and the game can start anew. In Nigeria’s case, this might involve a shift in power dynamics leading to a change in the governing administration, or a reevaluation of the country’s political structure.
This is where we are! as the permutations for CEO power ascendancy in 2027 are steered.
The swing of the democratic pendulum of power between the conventional two blocs also represents the swing of balance of Religion, particularly for the two leading religions in the country, being Christianity and Islam. In this regard, the pattern of primordial ethnic factors becomes noticeably relevant. This has always been in favour of the Fulani ethnic group by the expropriation, nay, subjugation of the value of the Hausa resources of population, language, history, religion, marriage, couture and culture.
As a result, the Christian dominant electoral factor in the north gets ignored and is often lost in the power game for lack of a platform of aggregation, cooperation and collaboration with their brethren in the other side of the south bloc, and to some extent, a lackadaisical deployment of tenacity in political engineering. Regrettably, CAN is unable and unsuitable to be the platform for negotiating the interest of Christians resident in the north bloc. The north has always produced Muslim CEO of Nigeria while the Christian CEO often comes from the south bloc. Just like with Christians in the north, the Muslim minority in the south bloc has always been at the disadvantage of power games.
The swing of the power pendulum is often between north and south blocs in a pattern already established at independence.
The north bloc tends to forth a Fulani Muslim to emerge as the CEO of Nigeria; whereas, in the south bloc, a Christian often emerges for the CEO job irrespective of his ethnic group.
In breach of convention, the emergence of a Muslim Tinubu from the south bloc is an aberration of the pattern of the north-south swing of the power pendulum. Worst still, a Tinubu Muslim/Muslim Ticket has deepen the breakdown of the existing convention of power swing pattern to a combustible degree; it shouldn’t be encouraged in 2027 in order to sustain the fragile balance of power between the traditional north-south blocs.
Bear in mind that the Tinubu power incumbency has already created a religious bias against the south bloc and incongruously in favour of the north bloc, being that he’s not Fulani; this has cryptic implications for national interest, political stability and cohesion.
On a bloc-wise basis, the incumbency of Tinubu is a marginal plus that is heavily encrusted against diversity, equity and inclusion in a plural polity.; it undermines a tested arrangement that supports the traditional swing that stirs a feeling of unity in the country.
So getting to basics means getting 2027 in the hands of a Christian from the south bloc.
It’s curious how Tinubu cracked into CAN under a south bloc leader to advance his Muslim/Muslim Agenda, and, to ignore north bloc Christians to achieve a resurgence of the 1993 Muslim/Muslim presidential Ticket in the 2023 elections in Nigeria.
Going forward to 2027, the dynamics of a deft game of power has been activated with the resignation of El-Rufai from the ruling APC to join SDP as part of three vital shuffles; the relocation of Buhari to kaduna to provide on-ground proximity to his trusted team that include El-Rufai. The third shuffle is that of Peter Obi who visited a PDP governor Bala Mohamed in Bauchi; either Obi or Mohamed is likely to switch camp for an Obi presidential ticket in 2027.
The Bauchi visit of Obi is a presage of the expectation for a Christian president in 2027 to get back its unbiased reckoning with the south bloc in the power game.
Without any iota of prejudice, the most potent option for the south bloc to produce a Christian president in 2027 is the Goodluck Jonathan candidacy pairing with a suitable north bloc Muslim. On a balance of opinion, the north bloc will trust this arrangement knowing the termination of a four year tenure is inevitable upon which the political power pendulum can seamlessly return to the north bloc.
The Obi/Mohamed game may be a consideration for the enraged relegation of the Fulani from the preeminent position in the power matrix of Nigeria.
As a corollary, the likelihood of Tinubu’s political maturity to embrace one term and field his all time ally in Prof Yemi Osibajo with whom many in the north bloc may find respite if the agreement to be content with one term can be reached.
The permutations of Jonathan, Obi and Osibajo are hinged on the premise that the south bloc Christian base had held the CEO position of Nigeria for a paltry total of 13 years; 8 years of Obasanjo and 5 years of Jonathan. Comparatively, the north bloc occupied the CEO position of Nigeria for a whooping total of 21 years as follows; Balewa in 6 years, Shagari in 4 years, YarAdua in 3 years and Buhari in 8 years.
By the conventional understanding of the game of Nigeria’s political power struggles, we can gain insight from the permutations of the complex dynamics at play and the strategic maneuvering that is needed in the pursuit of power in 2027.
The game changer however may be a Tinubu embrace of constitutional reform based on the 1963 republican constitution before 2027, and by which case, he will conveniently distabilise the argument linked to conventional pattern against his continuation for a second term in office in 2027.
This of course is where we are, and it critically depends on who is at the board playing on behalf of Christians in Nigeria for a win
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