As the much talked about 2023 general election draws closer, political pundits have become very curious with regards to the dimensions the country may likely take in its never ending journey for political evolution.
If the quest to entrench justice, equity and peace in the country is used as the yardstick, then all major political parties including the ruling party, All Progressives Congress APC and the main opposition party People’s Democratic Party PDP should pick their presidential candidates from the South Eastern part of the country.
This is so with a view to use the Igbo Presidency as a measure to assuage the bitter feelings among the people of that zone who have consistently cried out as being marginalized in the nation’s political landscape.
This reality seems farfetched going by the scheming and utterances of chieftains of the parties on the likelihood of a president of South East extraction come 2023. This is because happenings in the parties are not pointing in that direction.
What is however certain in the buildup is that the final decision on this by the ruling APC would greatly determine where the opposition PDP would focus the search for its candidate in with a view to staging a comeback to power in 2023.
Taking into cognizance the prevailing situation in the country, the main opposition PDP have a bright chance of regaining power owing to the massive failure of the ruling APC at the centre as well as in the Northern States. This largely depends on how they handle the process regarding who will fly the party’s ticket.
Currently series of crises is brewing in the APC since the sack of Comrade Adams Oshiomohle led national executive council and the subsequent appointment of the Mai Mala Buni led national interim caretaker committee. This is because tongues are already waging that it was targeted at a particular intending presidential candidate from the South West.
The quest by the PDP to regain its power is strategically anchor on two planks, one the personality and the second the region based on the existing reality in the country especially the woefully performance of the APC that has created so much disillusion in the entire country especially the heart of the party, the North.
On personality, the PDP should focus on individual that can garner over 10 million at a blast of the whistle from a single region. And in searching for this the former governor of Kano State Sen. Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso readily comes to mind.
It’s going to be herculean task for any individual to defeat Sen. Kwankwaso in a presidential contest in the Northern parts of the country. His platform which is known locally as the Kwankwassiya Movement has over 15 million registered members in the region.
Many see him as a performer and achiever combined, that can be trusted with power without regrets unlike the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari who has considerably lost that confidence of the people from the region, a situation that may hugely impact negatively on the fortune APC in the region as well as voters apathy.
Many believe that APC doesn’t have a personality that can win the presidential election for the party in 2023 arising from its failures, and which will be an advantage to Kwankwaso and by extension, the PDP who is expected to cash in on it as a result of his past sterling records in the past. Judging by the current reality, it’s safer for PDP to pick its candidate from the North if the party wants to beat APC to its game.
Kaduna state governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufa’i has repeatedly stated that APC would pick its candidate from South West and if that happens, who are the likely individuals that might benefit from such power shift?
The beneficiary might be any of these party members, the current Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbanjo, National Leader, Senator Bola Tinubu, the Minister for Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola as well as the current Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.
In a well contested election, it’s clear that none of these men can defeat Kwankwaso in the Northern States, except in Kwara owing to its proximity to the South West. On the reverse side, should the APC dump the South West in its quest to retain power, there is no personality in APC today that can win the presidential election in the region or at best defeat Kwankwaso in the North.
And should the PDP pick another candidate outside Kwankwaso, the situation may lead to voter apathy in the region, as already many are not going to vote in 2023 which would greatly affect the fortunes of the party in the region where it needs to win squarely.
Mal. Abdulmalik Suleiman