Aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the north, led by the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, have endorsed the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, for the 2023 general election.
Dogara and the northern Christian leaders had distanced themselves from Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the APC, after he picked Kashim Shettima, a fellow Muslim, as his running mate.
After several months of political consultations, Atiku was adopted as its candidate following the resolution of the northern Christian leaders to work with their Muslim counterparts to adopt one of the presidential candidates in a bid to defeat the same-faith presidential ticket of the APC.
The Northern Leaders Consultative Forum comprising Christians and Muslims, adopted the PDP’s candidate, in a voice vote, after the report of its technical committee was presented to its members at a public forum on Friday in Abuja.
The report signed by the chairman of the Northern Leaders Technical Criteria Committee, Hon. Mohammed Kumaila and Secretary, Nunghe Kele, was presented by former Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Simon Achuba.
Achuba, while reading the report of the technical criteria committee set up by the leaders, said after evaluation of all the presidential candidates, Atiku is “the best”
He said the candidates evaluated were Atiku, Tinubu, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, and the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
He said the leaders took consideration of existing structure of the PDP, capacity of the candidates, evidence of national penetration, religious and ethnic balance, among others to arrive at the decision.
He said it was observed that the APC and PDP are almost at par in terms of political structure, but the compounding albatross on the neck of APC is the “unfortunate self-inflicted divisive same-faith-ticket which cannot guarantee the desired peace, unity and cohesion in Nigeria, a decision that has been kicked against by a huge population of Nigerians.”
Achuba said that while Obi and Kwankwaso may emerge as strong contenders in the political arena in the future, from all indications, the PDP appeared to be the best option to adopt and support.
He said,
“The seven and a half years of the APC government has engendered wide spread national perception of its inability to tackle security challenges and turn around the national economy.
“A further compounding albatross on its neck is the unfortunate self-inflicted divisive same-faith-ticket which cannot guarantee the desired peace, unity and cohesion in Nigeria, a decision that has been kicked against by a huge population of Nigerians.
“The perception that the APC Presidential candidate has some health challenges makes people very uncomfortable. There is the fear that it may precipitate a situation where unelected surrogates will be running the government while the president left attending to his health.
“On account of 1 – 4 above, the party is likely to face a backlash or may not escape a backlash that will lead to its defeat at the polls in 2023.
“From the existing structure of the Labour Party and even from the records of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as it stands for 2023 elections, even if all their candidates win in the 2023 elections, can the party still produce the President? Very unlikely indeed.
“Assuming without conceding that they even produce t+ President, can they (LP) run the government? Not likely. The results of 5 and 6 above will be to form a minority Government with devastating effect on National political stability further impelling the fragile health of our Country.
“Furthermore, there is no way a keen political observer will not see that there is a major disconnect between Peter Obi as a candidate and Labour,which is indicative of the fact that he is not running a collegial political structure in a diverse Country like Nigeria.
“It is, however, respectively observed that LP is a party to be watched in the future only if it sustains the tempo and maintains the mass movement while at the same time building up its structures towards subsequent elections.
“The NNPP on the other hand has similar characteristics with the LP and there is no need repeating same except that ~ NNPP appears to be building a party for the future with – little or no impact in the 2023 elections.”
The leaders, therefore, said the PDP, from all indications, seemed to be above board in every criteria as postulated.
