Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria’s main opposition party is locked in a dangerous backstage tussle about the political bloc its 2023 presidential candidate will come from. The party is not finding it easy to make a pronouncement on the hot issue.
While Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is busy flexing muscles on aspirants PDP will not give its presidential ticket, some pro-North groups within the party are kicking against any overt or covert plan to zone the presidential ticket to the South.
For instance, Northern Advocates for Good Governance (NAFGG), a pressure group of the 19 Northern states has been vociferous in agitating for the zoning of the 2023 presidential ticket to the North.
Their argument is that from 1999 to 2023, the South would have ruled Nigeria for 14 years, and the North, for 10 years. “Why should we then prioritize the South to take over when the North has a shortfall?’’
While Wike is mobilizing against the emergence of a presidential candidate who will serve the interest of the wealthy few only in Nigeria, PDP weakly said it is working hard to put things right, particularly the zoning of its presidential ticket.
PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, spoke while receiving members of the pro-North pressure group on behalf of the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, noting that the party has learned sufficient lessons in time past over zoning of presidential tickets, saying it will handle the issue better this time.
“PDP has learned sufficient lessons in the time past and we are trying to do something in different form. PDP believes firmly in the principle of equity and fairness’’, Abdullahi said while presenting the group’s letter to the representative of the national chairman.
National Coordinator of the group, Mahmoud Katun, said they will kick against “the illogical pressure being mounted by some interest groups and self-serving politicians, who are insisting that the Presidency of Nigeria in 2023 must be zoned to the Southern part of the country.”
Adding, the group said, “for the avoidance of doubt, nobody has the right to exclude any segment of this country from aspiring for the highest office in the land, especially segments of the North that have never had the opportunity of occupying the prime position.
‘’Giving priority to zones in the North that haven’t had the opportunity should be done to guarantee equity, fairness and justice. But even more importantly, it is our considered position that political parties should prioritize experience, competence and capacity in choosing or zoning their presidential tickets.’’
Before now, former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has been arguing against the call for zoning PDP’s 2023 presidential ticket to the Southern part of Nigeria. He publicly made his position known in an interview with Channels Television on Sunday night where he also spoke about several political concerns ahead of the coming general elections.
Kwankwaso condemned the insistence of the Southern Governors Forum last July that the next president of the country must come from their region rather than what is best. He considered the call by the governors and other leaders as an attempt to intimidate the northern region into relinquishing its right to contest the seat.
The two-time governor of Kano said the decision to contest should be based on strategy rather than mere clamour or sentiments. With reference to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, Kwankwaso, who is eyeing PDP’s 2023 presidential ticket, said the party has produced more Southern presidents than the North.
“You see many people are mixing what ordinarily shouldn’t come together at all. We have PDP, we have APC, we have APGA and we have many other parties today in this country. And the issue of where a party put his presidency or vice presidency is a matter of strategy.
“If you look at it from 1999, to date, or even after 2023, we have 16 years for PDP, eight years for APC. Now, in the 16 years of PDP, we had a situation where the presidency has been in the south for 14 years and only in the north for two years during the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua of blessed memory.
“Now we see some people, maybe because they don’t understand politics or they want to be mischievous, they keep on mixing the two issues of two political parties together. This PDP and APC are contestants in this game’’, he said.
Wike however, said some desperate politicians are already scheming for a candidate who will not serve the interest of the many, rather the interest of just those of the wealthy few.
he made the assertion at a grand reception organised in his honour by the people of Kalabari ethnic nationality at the Abalama School field in Asari Toru Local Government Area on Saturday. He was conferred a traditional title of Se- Ibidokibo of Kalabari land (He who does good things for Kalabari people) and was performed by the Amayanabo of Abonnema, King Gboko Desreal Bob-manuel.
“No amount of gang up can make PDP to give somebody who will want to run election for the interest of some big men, and not for all Nigerians. Anybody who wants to be candidate of PDP must be candidate for the interest of Nigerians’’, Wike said.
While expressing concerns over the fact that some companies in the country continue to post annual financial profits regularly in a downing national economy to the detriment of the poor, Wike opined that such profits, invariably, shared only by the rich, make them to get richer, while the majority of the population of the country, who are poor, gets poorer.
He reiterated that the stakeholders in Southern will soon make a declarative statement concerning 2023 presidential election, adding, “the day the South will speak, Nigeria will shake. We believe in the unity of this country, but nobody can threaten us. Nobody should threaten us. We believe in the unity of Nigeria and unity of Nigeria must continue.”
The governor lampooned Rivers politicians serving in President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for their gross inability to attract federal government projects to the state, and concerning the next governorship of Rivers, Wike said everybody is entitled to aspire to be the next governor, but such person must show capacity for that office and be well disposed to protect the interest of the state.
He told the Kalabari people, specifically, that they’ve have not done well in terms of loving themselves and working in unity, pointing out that it is only a united people who can speak with one voice that can stand up to make demands. He therefore, urged them to put their house in order.
The governor announced the extension of dateline of completion of the Trans Kalabari road phase one project by two months owing to the loss period when workmen were kidnapped on site, and disclosed that if the finances of the state improves, his administration may award the phase two of the Trans Kalabari road before he leaves office next year.
While cancelling the contract for the reconstruction of Kalabari National College due to foreseen politics, the governor announced the release of more fund for the Maryhood Girls Secondary school in the area to speed up its completion.
Chairman of the state Elders Forum, Ferdinand Anabraba, explains that the grand reception is significant for two reasons; of its critical importance to them as a people and also because of the unity of purpose engendered among them under the Wike’s administration.
He said it is that kind of reception organised for prominent sons and friends who have impacted the Kalabari people, noting that Governor Wike has systematically fulfilled all promises made to them including those of development projects and appointment of Kalabari people into his administration.
He listed some of the projects completed or ongoing to include the phase 1 of Trans -Kalabari Road project other administration promises but failed to execute for over 17 years, the rehabilitation and equipping of zonal and general hospitals, secondary schools, Abonnema Ring road, sandfilling in Obonoma, Abonnema, Bakana and Oboama, Abalama communities.
Speaking also, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Nimi Briggs, said Kalabari people have enthusiastically and with relentless vigor, contributed to the growth and development of Rivers and Nigeria.
It follows therefore, according to him, that it is appropriate, and should be considered right thing for the Kalabari people to expect return for the dues that they had paid. On his part, Dumo Lulu-Briggs said the Kalabari people are expecting Governor Wike to also ensure that Kalabari people are brought out from the political wilderness in 2023.
A human rights activist, Annkio Briggs noted that Rivers, though a complex place to govern does not mean that the people do not love each other. She however, harped on greater unity among the people while urging Governor Wike not to relent in what he is doing for the Kalabari people, the State and the region.
