With the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) zeroing in on President Muhammadu Buhari as its candidate for the 2019 presidential election, all eyes are now on the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to name its candidate.
This is more so as the despondency brought about by the failure of Buhari and his APC to deliver on the change they promised Nigerians in 2015 reaches its peak, amid high level of insecurity and violent killings in many parts of the country.
For several months, the names of some individuals have been making the rounds as contenders for the ticket on the PDP platform. They include Sule Lamido, a former governor of Jigawa State; Ibrahim Shekarau, a former governor of Kano State and former minister of education; Ahmed Makarfi, a former governor of Kaduna State; Attahiru Bafarawa, a former governor of Sokoto State; Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president and Hassan Dankwambo, current governor of Gombe State, among others.
Some political analysts who spoke with BDSUNDAY said that even though other political parties were taking so long to announce their presidential flag-bearers for whatever reasons, the PDP was expected to begin to zero in on a likely candidate, knowing that it is the next best option, at least for now.
They add that everyone, particularly the ruling APC, appeared interested in knowing who emerges as the PDP standard bearer as that would most likely shake things up and give a clue into the colour the campaign would wear.
“I think more than anybody else, the APC is anxiously waiting to see who the PDP would present. But I tell you, the calibre and stature of the individual coming from the PDP will go a long way in determining whether the APC will take the election seriously or not. What I mean is that if the candidate is unknown and does not have a national appeal, the ruling party would easily know that it would not need to invest so much in campaign. But if it is a person that has clout, you will be sure that the APC will be restless,” Okon Uduak, a Calabar-based sociologist, said.
Catherine Onwuegbu, a politician and social worker, said that the more the PDP delays the announcement of its candidate, the more it loses the sympathy of Nigerians.
“I, for one, think that there is no point for the PDP to continue to delay the announcement of its candidate. Nigerians are anxiously waiting to hear the good news. You know the suffering is so much that people are looking forward to a better option. It is said that hope deferred makes the heart sick. The waiting is too much,” Onwuegbu said.
According to her, the new parties hold no hope as Nigerians are yet to see the messiah in those small groups.
“You see, Nigerians have been so bruised that they no longer have confidence in any politician. We see new parties emerging, but who are the brains behind them? If you check very well, they are old and expired politicians who had dealt with and wreaked all this havoc on us all. Let us see who the PDP is coming out with. I am very optimistic that something good is going to happen,” she said.
In a recent exclusive interview with BDSUNDAY, Ebenezer Babatope, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) and former transport minister, had given the assurance that his party would come out with a candidate that would match that of the APC.
“Our party is going to present a candidate that Nigerians will appreciate. There is no more division in the party. We are going into the election as a united force. We have more than the capacity to make Nigerians happy again,” Babatope said.
Recently, Abdullahi MaiBasira, national financial secretary of the PDP, said in an interview that the party’s presidential candidate must be prepared from day one without excuses, adding that only the PDP can truly take the country to the Promised Land.
Intrigues trail selection of candidate
There are, however, indications that some powerful elements in the party are bent on having their way in determining who emerges as the presidential candidate.
Sources told our correspondent that the party may have settled for Dankwambo on the strength that he has no “corruption” baggage on his back.
“A good number of the PDP governors favour Dankwambo. He is not a very known person, particularly in the southern part of the country. But the consideration that favours him is that he is not carrying any corruption tag that may prove an albatross when the chips are down,” a source said.
“We have great names aspiring and seeking the ticket, but we do not want someone that people would not like to vote for because of the individual’s past. Nothing is sacrosanct yet.”
Those rooting for Dankwambo to become the PDP flag bearer describe him as a professional, a perfect technocrat who, being in his prime, represents the call for generational shift in leadership that Nigerians yearn for.
Not long ago, a group known as the Yoruba Solidarity Alliance (YSA) said it was throwing its weight behind Dankwambo’s ambition as the most marketable presidential material for the PDP who would represent the interest of the youth and defeat the APC.
“It is amply evident that long-suffering Nigerians have had enough of gerontocracy while majority of them are prepared to do away with this unworkable idea in 2019. What the nation needs at this time of untold economic hardship and insecurity is a much younger president who is fresh with new ideas and innovative concepts and Dankwambo is the only way out in 2019, especially with his proven achievements,” the group said.
But pundits have said that the alleged influence of some powerful governors in the party may deny the party the best candidate.
Will the odds favour Atiku?
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s presidential ambition is not new. This ambition has seen him moving from PDP to ACN to PDP to APC and back to PDP. In all of these parties, he had always fallen short of clinching the presidential ticket.
Now back to the PDP, the party under whose umbrella he served as vice president of the country for eight years, Atiku officially announced his 2019 presidential ambition in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, in March.
Political observers say Atiku is, perhaps, the strongest threat to the second-term ambition of Buhari so far. They strongly believe that if Atiku secures the ticket to run on the PDP platform, he would give the APC a run for its money.
Many believe Atiku is a political phenomenon who has the means and capacity to prosecute elections, as well as the sagacity and clout to wield influence and garner sufficient support for his cause. Those close to him say he has over the years built bridges across the country’s geopolitical and ethnic divides.
“I have heard that the Gombe State governor, Dankwambo, may have been tipped for the ticket. But my take is that PDP needs a person who can match the APC force-for-force and give them a good run for their money. The person that, for me, fits that bill is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,” said an analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“I know that his brothers in the North may not want him because he would not be a stooge in their hands; they would like someone they can control and dictate to. The truth they have not told themselves is that you must first win the election before talking about who to control. It would be disastrous for PDP to lose this election with all the issues that stack in their favour,” said the analyst.
The only snag for Atiku, however, is that many perceive him to be corrupt, even though there is as yet no evidence to prove this, neither has he been tried or convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction. Analysts say he will need all the luck to erase that perception from the minds of Nigerians and convince them to give him a chance, even after laying out fantastic plans for the economy and the country.
Wike, Fayose, Secondus hold the key
Although the party had pledged to be democratic in choosing its candidate, pundits say that the decision, however, may be under the thumbs of three powerful individuals in the party at the moment.
According to the analysts, Nyesom Wike and Ayo Fayose, governors of Rivers and Ekiti States, respectively, and Uche Secondus, national chairman of the party, essentially determine whatever happens in the PDP at the moment.
Wike and Fayose took the driver’s seat in PDP when they single-handedly installed Ali Modu Sheriff as the leader of the party in 2015 after the party lost the 2015 presidential election and the subsequent forced exit of Adamu Mu’azu as the national chairman of the party.
The two governors were to make a U-turn when the crisis lingered. It was also by their dogged efforts that the matter was laid to rest with the eventual sack of Sheriff.
They became ardent supporters of Ahmed Makarfi and at the convention Wike hosted in Port Harcourt after Sheriff’s ouster, Wike pledged his support for Makarfi and the National Caretaker Committee (NCC).
With his political and financial influence, Wike may have successfully won Secondus to his side. It was also said that it was Wike’s influence and financial war chest that got Secondus his current position.
It is being insinuated that the trio of Wike, Fayose and Secondus will determine who flies the party’s flag as the presidential candidate.
By and large, pundits say the sooner the PDP announces its presidential flag-bearer, the better for the polity.
