Ahead of the 2023 Presidential election, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) seem to have been overtaken by desperation and morbid fear of the unknown.
For instance, during the search for the presidential candidate, the main opposition party in the country, PDP, had discarded its zoning principle enshrined in its constitution, choosing instead to throw the ticket open for contest.
The party had argued that competence should trump any other consideration in choosing the next president rather than sticking to an anachronistic gentleman agreement.
Observers had explained that the PDP toed that path for fear of losing the election if it chose someone not astute enough to muster the votes that could lead the party to victory.
Protesting the likelihood of the party not zoning the slot to the Southern part of the country, precisely South East, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, in November 2020, dumped the party.
Less than three days to the PDP presidential primary in May 2022, Peter Obi, who was one of the top contenders for the party’s presidential ticket, also left on account of the party’s inconsistency.
Before the Presidential primary of the umbrella association, many groups and individuals in Nigeria and in the Diaspora had advised the PDP against going against its own constitution. The party however, went ahead to throw the ticket open which favoured a northerner, Atiku Abubakar.
Criticising the PDP leadership over Atiku’s emergence, the Nigeria Equity Group (NEG) had said that power should shift to the South after the two-term tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari from the North.
The group, which described Atiku’s candidacy as unfair to the South, alleged nepotism and that it would be “potentially dangerous for the presidency to remain in the North.”
The NEG stated this in a statement titled, ‘For the Sake of the Unity of Nigeria, Political Inclusion is the Way to Go,’ which was jointly signed by the National Convener, Emeka Nwosu, and National Secretary, Mohammed Mubarak. eath,
The group had said: “We wish to draw attention to the fact that the NEG has campaigned vigorously for equity, fairness and inclusion in our body polity. In our several interventions over the years, we have appealed to the major political parties to be mindful of the complex heterogeneous Nigerian society and to work out a political solution that will be fair, inclusive and equitable to all.
“In this case, we believe what is just and fair is for presidential powers to be zoned to the South, specifically to a southern Christian, after the eight-year rule of President Muhammadu Buhari, a northern Muslim. We consider it to be very inequitable, unfair and potentially dangerous for the presidency to remain in the North after President Buhari’s tenure.”
By the same token, leaders of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF) rejected Atiku’s emergence as the flag-bearer of the PDP for the 2023 general election.
In a communiqué jointly signed by Bassey Ewa-Henshaw (PANDEF/South South), Okey Emuchay (Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide/South East), Jare Ajayi (Afenifere/South West), Isuwa Dogo (Middle Belt Forum), leaders of groups that made up the forum, and Ken Robinson, acting coordinator of SMBLF, faulted the PDP for electing a northern presidential candidate.
Again, in the choice of his running mate, Atiku did not look the way of South East; he chose Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, from Ika North-East Local Government Area of Delta State, South-South geopolitical zone.
This decision has since set off angst in some quarters and many questions are being asked over the justice of the matter.
In an interview with journalists before the party’s presidential convention, Ike Ekweremadu, a former deputy president of the Senate, while explaining why the PDP appeared very scared of zoning the presidency, said it was a result of fear of losing the election and desperation to return to power.
Ekweremadu said: “It is understandable; if you are sick, they would come with all kinds of recommendations on how to recover. That is the situation the PDP has found itself now. The PDP is desperate to return to power and Nigerians also want a change of government. So, the PDP out of desperation is prepared to have anybody from anywhere as long as the person would win the presidency. Sometimes, they are overlooking the justice of the matter.”
Last Sunday, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, presidential candidate of the APC, also shove aside all entreaties against a same-same religion ticket, to pick Kashim Shettima, a former governor of Borno State, North East geopolitical zone.
Tinubu, in picking Shettima said he did not make his decision to please anybody. Observers said that his decision was against the principles of equity, peace and unity of the country. They also said that Tinubu’s choice tried to insinuate that the north was all about the Muslims, whereas there is a large Christian population across the region.
Those who know the former Lagos State governor closely said that the decision was not an easy one for him, only that “he was considering who would give the party maximum return of votes that would lead to its victory in 2023.”
“His decision was borne out of a determination to increase his chances of winning the election, since it is the Muslims that populate the north where massive votes are being expected,” BusinessDay gathered.
It took the APC presidential candidate one month after the party’s presidential primary to announce his running mate. Before the announcement, there had been a groundswell of opposition to the rumoured move to choose a Muslim running mate.
Read also: Rotational presidency as an imperative for 2023 presidential election
Religious bodies in the country, cutting across Christianity, Islam, many secular groups and highly placed individuals in Nigeria had advised political parties to tread softly on same religion as that could endanger the fragile peace in the country.
Tinubu’s decision, as expected has ignited sparks across the country, leading to resignation of a number of party’s chieftains, who felt hard-done by, by the Asiwaju’s decision.
Announcing his resignation on his twitter handle
(@BwalaDaniel) Sunday night, Bwala said: “Tonight I officially resigned my membership of @OfficialAPCNg on principles and conviction that I hold so dear. At this time of our national existence, our efforts and energy should gravitate towards uniting our people.”
Daniel Bwala, who was a special adviser to the deputy Senate president on legal matters, has resigned his membership of the APC.
Bwala said his decision is based on “principles and conviction”, adding that his resignation is effective Sunday, July 10.
He also said it has shown the types of decisions Tinubu would be making in office if voted into office.
Bwala, who also spoke on a monitored Channels Television Sunrise Daily morning programme on Monday, said that the decision showed that the APC was insensitive to the plight and yearning of Nigerians.
“There is so much division; so much fear and the faultiness are widening. There is yearning for change. It is an insult on Nigerians. Is Tinubu saying that it is only the Muslims that vote in the North? Picking a Christian vice presidential candidate would have meant that they are sensitive to issues of unity, peace of this country,” he said.
Some other members of the party have also resigned following the development.
In his resignation letter Tuesday, Tonye Princewill, an ally of former minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, described the choice of Shettima as a form of injustice to Christians, saying that he cannot in all honesty defend the decision of the APC’s candidate.
He recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari resisted the same temptation in 2015 and chose a not-so popular running mate but still won the election.
He is worried that Bola Tinubu cannot see any suitable Christian from the North as his would-be deputy.
According to him, “It sets a very wrong precedent; it is totally insensitive and even if you win, will prove bad for good governance. Under these dire circumstances, I find no justification to still remain, in good conscience, a member of a
political party that subordinates electoral victory, OVER the safety of lives and the peace of mind of its citizens.
“The men and women of our party here in Rivers are the most loyal and faithful supporters I have met. They know right and they know wrong. And they know me. I enjoyed working with them and I’m so sad to leave.
“But an APC party that totally disregards the basics of the same equity we preach is alien to me. Buhari resisted the same temptation and chose a little known Osinbajo and won. By doing this, Tinubu is saying that a Northern Christian has no electoral value. My staying means I agree.”
Muazu Magaji, a former member of the APC presidential campaign council, now a member of the PDP, described Tinubu’s choice as a dangerous development.
“APC must be in a serious problem right now. The party has caused more division than unity in Nigeria in the last seven years. Nigerians must punish the APC for its monumental failure since 2015,” Magaji said.
Mark Adebayo, spokesman of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), said that Tinubu took the decision because of political expediency, which he thinks would work for him.
Adebayo said that the decision was however, unpopular, especially in the South.
“He wants to be pragmatic not considering the opinion of Nigerians. When Nigerian politicians are after power they would do all they can to get it, not minding who is affected. Some people think that if he picks a Christian he would lose. But history would determine if he took the right decision,” Adebayo said.
Christian Okeke, a political science lecturer at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, who spoke with BusinessDay on the development, said it was most unfortunate.
Okeke said that the Muslim-Muslim ticket presented by the APC was an injustice taken to a dangerous level after the party and the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) failed to micro-zone their presidential tickets to South East.
“The Christian community feels so strangled, sidelined and wounded. The mood of the people is so low and this cannot help the country move real forward. It is, indeed, a sad day,” he said.
Also expressing his anger over the development, Ishaku Abbo, an APC senator from Adamawa North, dumped the Tinubu Support Organisation.
Abbo in a statement said that with the Muslim- Muslim ticket that has been adopted by his party, his conscience would not allow him to campaign for the APC Presidential Candidate and his Running Mate, just as he described the ruling party’s choice of Muslim-Muslim ticket as “irresponsible, insensitive and ignorant of the country’s political system.”
The senator was also reported to have said: “It is very irresponsible of Tinubu to take his political survival over the stability and peace of Nigeria.
“For Tinubu now to be given the ticket and turn around to do what he couldn’t achieve in 2015 despite opposition from Catholics and other Christian leaders is extremely irresponsible.
“We cannot work for such a man. I will oppose (a) Christian-Christian ticket because I am invested in the stability of this country. A Christian-Christian ticket will be insensitive to Muslims of this country. The country is evenly divided among Muslims and Christians. So any government that is Muslim-Muslim will be illegitimate and will never gain the respect of Christians.”
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