As the 2023 presidential election draws near, some powerful elements within the Northern political establishment are back to the drawing board, ostensibly with a view to upsetting the settled political apple-cart in respect of the new political norm which prescribes rotational presidency as a panacea to the unhealthy political rivalry between the North and South regions.
Recall that it was this gentleman kind of agreement that brought the Late Umaru Musa Yar’adua in 2007, and the same went for Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, (APC).
The understanding is that in 2023, the South will produce the president, but this convenient arrangement that has brought some stability to the system is about to suffer some setbacks which consequence no one can fathom.
Competence sources in the North confided to newsmen that some powerful politicians are not comfortable with power returning to the South again, and are strategising on how to perfect their subterfuge and ensure the North retains power.
The sources said the North is working on propping up the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the political battle ahead. Already, secret meetings have allegedly been held by Northern politicians across political divides on how to use the PDP to maintain their stranglehold on power.
An indication of this emerged last week, when the Chairman of All Progressive Congress, (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, after a meeting with President Buhari declared that the party has not zoned the presidency to any part of the country, which seems completely contrary to the perceived existing protocol given the multiplicity of legacy parties that formed the APC, and the fact that the Chairman is from the North, as is also the case in the PDP.
Early on, political heavyweights like Abubakar Atiku, Bukola Saraki, Ibrahim Tambuwal, Sule Lamido, and Bala Mohammed, all top Northern politicians have indicated an interest in contesting for president in 2023. They have consistently made mincemeat of the rotation rhetoric, saying what Nigeria needs now is competence in order to rescue the country from the abyss the ruling APC has taken the country.
Lending credence to the resolve of the North to hold on to power in a daring move to spite the South, the former Vice-Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, and an influential chair of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Professor Ango Abdullahi, said the North has pencilled down two names as consensus candidates, these are Bukola Saraki, former Senate President; and Bala Mohammed; current governor of Bauchi State.
This announcement seemed to have sparked infighting in their fold, as other politicians from the region interested in contesting for president have reacted furiously to Abdullahi’s announcement, adding that the consensus affairs was a sham.
Leaders of the PDP in the 19 northern States and the FCT have denied endorsing any aspirant as the party’s preferred candidate for the 2023 presidential election. The leaders said this in an issued communiqué, read by former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, at the end of their meeting in Abuja last Monday.
It was learnt that secretly the two parties are plotting to ensure support for whoever emerges as presidential candidate from the North to defeat whoever emerges from the South as the presidential candidate of the APC.
It was further gathered that the plotters, who insist power must stay in the North at all cost are also considering different scenarios, one of which is to draft a pliable Southern who will be a puppet with the North pulling string behind the scenes.
The South seems prepared for this subterfuge, as Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, has made it clear that it is the turn of the South to produce the president; and to drive home his point that he means business he has been touring the Northern States, where he has made it clear that the South would resist the temptations to shift the goalpost midway into the game.
Already, the pan Yoruba group, Afenifere, under the leadership of Ayo Adebanjo, has said for the sake of equity the South-East should be allowed to produce the next president.
Even the Middle-Belt Youth Council Worldwide has reiterated that the next president of the country must come from the South. It also warned the major political parties in the country, not to field a presidential candidate from the North, saying that such a flag-bearer would lose the 2023 general election because he would not enjoy the support of the youths in the Federal Capital Territory and the 14 States that make up the Middle-Belt region.
As it stands, elements in the North pushing for the region’s retention of power will have an uphill task, as pundits have pointed out that the idea may hit a brick wall given the opposition to it, saying this time around only time will tell who carries the day.
