The 2023 Presidential election has come and gone with the winner announced by the electoral umpire, The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which is the only competent establishment empowered by law to do so.
However, the shocking defeat of other frontrunners in the contest especially Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who was the candidate of the major opposition people Democratic Party (PDP) still remains a puzzle to analysts considering his Northern Fulani background where the bulk of the votes comes from. Pundits have it that some critical stakeholders who the candidates of the PDP had ignored or given little attention made Bola Tinubu's victory a free ride!
Strategically speaking, APC PCC took cognisance of these stakeholders hence it established what it called "Stakeholders Relations Directorate " headed by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu the pioneer EFCC chairman and its offshoot unit "Religious Leaders unit" headed by Abdullahi Mukhtar Mohammed, a Former Hajj Commission Boss which laid much emphasis on prominent Islamic Scholars with a view to sell the idea of Tinubu's Muslim-Muslim ticket to those scholars and how it would benefit the Muslim Community in the Country.
Being a former Chairman of Hajj Commission gives one advantage in reaching out to any Islamic scholar in Nigeria due to the fact that Hajj activities are conducted in conjunction with scholars which also give them both financial and spiritual benefits. This is why the Tinubu campaign team strategically made Abdullahi Mukhtar the National Coordinator of the unit through which he brought his wealth of experience to bare.
By the time all candidates were crisscrossing the country in campaign rallies, this unit was busy holding meetings and interactive sessions with the scholars across the country especially in the north. Some of these meetings were held in Kano, Bauchi, Yola, Gombe and Abuja which had the attendance of popular clerics with large followership in both social media and congregations. These engagements became an avenue for convincing the scholars to help reach out to their large followers that the long held beliefs that Tinubu is anti-North is not true and M-M ticket is their ticket which must not be allowed to fail as that would spell doom for the entire Muslim community. This is where the victory of Asiwaju began and that's what changed the game against Atiku especially who is seen by scholars as no friend of theirs.
These scholars were very smart as they didn't go about it the way their Christian counterparts were doing by just declaring Obi as the only candidate their followers should vote for, however they tried to give historical background of how there was ever Christian-Christian presidential tickets during Gowan, Awolowo 1979, Ironsi etc. This led the foundation for massive acceptance of the M-M ticket as the scholars frowned at the stance of the major Christian leaders who threatened fire and brimstone if Tinubu went ahead with the ticket which scholars considered as afront to the numerical strength of the Muslims in the country. Hence why the North has to abandon their own in favour of Asiwaju whom they saw as a listening politician. The campaign unit also brought to the notice of the scholars an audio clip purportedly released by a Christian congregation where the speaker threatened to prove to Muslims that Christians are the majority in the country ! This made the scholars see the clip as a potential source of threat to emasculate Islam and Muslims as done in the Republic of Cameroon about four decades ago.
This should be a lesson for any subsequent candidates that while they are engaging in rallies, they should not lose sight of Islamic scholars in north because they're major opinion mulders that are responsible for the influence traditional rulers possess today.

The truth be told. This is a pure case of electoral rape and manipulation. 'The process that produces an excellency must be excellent'.
Mr Peter Obi

And after all these what happened.Apc still involved in all manner of election rigging.

Hmmmm. Zeeee, at the end of the day ,both the arrow heads apply the doctrine of " religious war" as expoused by the candidate Mr Obi in the currently circulating viral tape.

Thenceforth, No saints in the field.

And someone said election is religion war.

That man Badaru , my prayer now is to have someone trusted like him as a friend. That man was almost everywhere with Tinubu.

What a loyal ally