The 2023 general election is still over a year away, but the outcome of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Convention spoke volume on which zone will produce its presidential candidate.
Up until Sunday when delegates at the convention had by consensus affirmed former Senate President Iyorchia Ayu as the party’s new chairman, I was skeptical if he would sail through.
With this outcome, however, I believe that the initial noise made by PDP’s stalwarts from the South that it’s presidential candidate must come from the zone was nothing but a dummy sold to Nigerians and to many of the party’s faithful.
The clue to that was laid out bare about three weeks ago when on October 7, the National Executive Council of the party officially zoned the chairmanship to North (Central), thereby strongly hinting that the PDP presidential candidate could come from any of the remaining five geo-political zones.
It is, however, obvious that the PDP, or at least the strongest section of it, must have come up with this strategy in order to produce presidential candidate from either the Northwest or the Northeast for the purpose of countering APC’s almost “done-deal” zoning of its 2023 presidential ticket to the South West.
Those from the North that clearly indicated interest in hoisting the PDP flag at the highest level are Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, former Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, former Kano State Governor, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwakwaso (all from Nothwest) and former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Waziri Adamawa, from the Northeast.
While Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal may rely on the support of his friend and colleague, the all-powerful South-South Governor, Nyesom Wike, Sule Lamido has former President Olusegun Obasanjo to rely upon in selling his candidature to the party’s bigwigs. Obasanjo appointed him Minister of Foreign Affairs and had served for four years (1999 – 2003). Sule Lamido also reportedly refused to join the newly formed APC in 2014 at the instance of Chief Obasanjo.
It would seem that former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, may be the only potential candidate from the Northwest that will have no Godfather to assist him in his quest to grab the PDP presidential ticket. Another disadvantage for him is that Kano is currently ruled by the APC and, therefore, he may find himself with few loyal delegates at the next convention, should he not withdraw from the contest.
On the other hand, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar stands to grab the ticket almost effortlessly as most of the newly elected national officers of the party are his men, principally among them, the Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, who was his campaign manager in 2007 when the former number two citizen emerged as the Action Congress’ presidential candidate.
Even before then, the two were close political associates to the extent that when President Olusegun Obasanjo fell out with Atiku Abubakar, Senator Ayu was also fired from office as the Minister of Environment. It was also through the influence of Ayu that the Waziri Adamawa was conferred with the traditional title of Zege Mulle of Tiv land by then Tor Tiv, the supreme ruler of the Tiv people, Mr Alfred Torkula.
With this development, the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), now has its hands full. It is obvious that for the party to beat the newly invegorated PDP in 2023 and retain power, it must carefully strategise and look beyond petty politics of religion and ethnicity and go for a winning candidate irrespective of who or where he or she comes from.
- Iyawa is former Nigerian Ambassador to Mexico
