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PDP: Odds favour Atiku
By OBINNA EZUGWU
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s former vice president, baring new developments, could be on his way to securing the presidential ticket of the country’s main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party Party (PDP), ahead of its presidential primary billed to hold from May 29 to May 30.
The party having failed in its quest to zone the ticket to the south, even as an attempt by northern aspirants to achieve a consensus from amongst them collapsed, has, as learned, decided to throw the contest open and have delegates from the 36 states of the federation elect its candidate, a scenario that favours the Adamawa State born politician.
Although the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) is expected to take final decision on zoning, reliable party sources have informed BusinessHallmark to the effect that the ticket would ultimately be thrown open for all those who have scaled through the screening process.
Recall that Atiku, aware of his political clout and financial capacity, had from the get go, insisted on an open contest, rejecting both the idea of zoning and the attempt to achieve consensus from amongst aspirants from the north.
The party has ultimately done his bidding in this respect, and would have 15 out of the 17 aspirants that purchased its form battle it out on May 29, a scenario that plays hugely in his favour. Out of the 17 aspirants who purchased the party’s presidential forms, only five are from the north, while 12 are from the south, including seven aspirants from the Southeast alone.
On the primary election day, delegates from the each of the 36 states and Abuja will vote to elect the flag bearer, and given that the delegates are likely to vote along state and regional lines, the preponderance of aspirants from the south, especially the southeast puts the region at a disadvantage, given that their votes would be split.
“It’s unfortunate and it keeps happening,” remarked Chidi Ezeugo, Abuja based lawyer and political analyst.
“You find out that when it comes to primary like this, especially when there is the belief that it’s the turn of the Igbo to produce president, many people would be sponsored to come out to contest and sabotage the real aspirants. That’s what is happening now. They want to split the votes to pave the way for a northerner, probably Atiku to emerge.”
The former vice president, who had emerged candidate of the party in 2019, despite opposition from the like of Governor Nyeson Wike who had reportedly wanted Tambuwal, is said to have since deployed his financial war chest and is currently lobbying delegates across the north.
Speaking to the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) led by Senator Iyorchia Ayu, its national chairman on Thursday, Atiku who came second with 11 million votes in 2019, asked that he be given the party’s ticket.
He affirmed that he already has 11 million votes in the kitty and therefore requested the PDP to give him the ticket. He described himself as the best candidate, noting that since this is a democracy, all other aspirants should have the right to face the electorate for the ticket.
He had further admonished the NWC to pave the way for the emergence of the best candidate to lead the party to victory in the 2023 general election, affirming that if he becomes the president, he would work for the devolution of powers to the states and unify the country.
He said the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has failed in comparative analysis with the PDPs performance in government This is even as stakeholders from the north have begun fresh push to ensure that power remains in the region in 2023, with the opposition as the viable route to achieving the objective.
On Friday, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), while the PDP was screening candidates for presidency in Abuja, met with the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) in Zaria, Kaduna State, to reaffirm its insistence that the contest for presidential tickets of the party and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) be thrown open.
Prof Ango Abdullahi, leader of the forum who spoke during the meeting, argued that the idea of zoning contradicted the principle of democracy, noting that political parties should allow their members to freely vote for candidates of their choice. He insisted that the power-sharing deal between the northern and southern regions of Nigeria was dead and buried.
“Candidates should be allowed to contest elections on the basis of merit and their competence. Merit should be the yardstick to get the countrys next president, the position should be open to standard norms of the democratic process,”he said.
Abdullahi who was in the middle of the botched attempt to achieve a consensus among northern aspirants, explained that the announcement of Saraki, former Kwara governor and Mohammed, governor of Bauchi, as consensus candidates, was done in his personal capacity and not on behalf of Northern Elders Forum.
The PDP had on Friday, screened the 17 aspirants who had successfully submitted their presidential nomination forms, including Atiku, who was candidate of the party in the 2019 presidential election; Mr. Peter Obi, former Anambra State governor who was his running mate in 2019, and Bukola Saraki, former president of the senate and two-term governor of Kwara State.
Other aspirants who beat the submission deadline and participated in the screening exercise were former president of the senate, Anyim Pius Anyim; ormer Speaker, House of Representatives, and Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal; former Minister of Federal Capital Territory and Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed; former Minister of State for Education and Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike; Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel; former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose; United States-based medical doctor, Nwachukwu Anakwenze; and media mogul, Dele Momodu.
Also successful were Investment banker and economist, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen; a pharmacist, Sam Ohuabunwa; former Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Cosmos Ndukwe; Charles Ugwu; as well as the only female aspirant in the race, Tareila Diana.
The party had realised N640 million from the 16 male presidential aspirants and N6 million from the only female presidential aspirant, Diana, making the revenue generated N646 million.
At the end of the screening exercise on Friday, however, two aspirants were disqualified from the contest for not meeting the requirements as announced by David Mark, former senate president who chaired the presidential screening committee. Mark had, however, declined a request by journalists to reveal the identities of the affected aspirants.
Anyim, Obi boxed in
Anyim, former secretary to the government of the federation and Mr. Obi, former Anambra governor, who the front line aspirants from the southeast, were positioned to benefit hugely if the party had opted to zone the ticket to the south.
The southeast, which remains the only southern zone yet to taste power had been primed to get the slot in the south with zoning, with the duo tipped as the aspirants to beat. But the party’s decision to throw the contest open means that their fate hangs in the balance, even as Wike’s entrance into the contest has put southeast quest for president in more jeopardy.
“I am disappointed with Governor Wike for playing the spoiler,” said Evangelist Elliot Uko, founder of Igbo Youth Movement. “I am greatly embarrassed by the greed for power, and self entered thoughtlessness of ex President Jonathan, who is willing to crush the Southeast dream after all we did for him.”
Both Obi and Anyim would need the absolute loyalty of southeast delegates to mount a good challenge, but while Anyim who is clearly the leader of the PDP in his home state of Ebonyi, can count on the state’s delegates, and Obi can count on Anambra, the decision of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Okezie Ikpeazu, the governors of Enugu and Abia, the two PDP governors in the zone, to back Wike, means that their chances have become even slimmer.
Governors have tremendous influence on delegates and their choice of candidate is almost guaranteed the votes of the states’ delegates, Wike in this respect. Recall that it had emerged on Sunday March, 27, that the two governors endorsed Wike at an Enugu state special PDP stakeholders meeting organised by Ugwuanyi on the day.
The meeting, at the prompting of the Enugu-Onitsha governor, had adopted a resolution to endorse Wike as their candidate, a decision that has been widely condemned by other stakeholders of the zone, notably Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the south-east mandate, a body tasked with actualising the Igbo presidency project.
“It is particularly insulting to the sensitivities of the south-east, that Wike has serially denied any sociocultural affiliations with the Igbos, but the two PDP governors in the zone have been bought over by the legendary generosity of the Rivers state governor who by our account, spontaneously made N50 million available to the meeting at Enugu, for kolanuts, in exchange for his jaundiced, inconsequential endorsement,” a source from the mandate had lamented.
Indeed, Ikpeazu had recently during a meeting between Wike and the National Working Committee of the PDP, openly appealed to the party’s leadership to consider the Rivers governor for the presidential ticket.
He had argued that the two main requirements for the PDP to wrestle power from the ruling APC in 2023 are competence and acceptability, opining that Governor Wike has met those requirements and has also demonstrated loyalty to the party and should be allowed to fly the partys flag.
“The governors had openly antagonised Obi when he became Atiku’s running mate in 2019,” said Ezeugo. “Now that Obi wants to be candidate, they can’t even pretend to support him, they have openly rejected him and are now supporting Wike, it’s very unfortunate. History will judge everyone.”
