Will Atiku Swim against the Tide in 2023?

After his two previous attempts to pick the presidential tickets of the Social Democratic Party in 1992 and the Peoples Democratic Party in 2011 against the popular clamour for southern presidency, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar seems to be determined again to swim against the tide and contest the PDP ticket for 2023 general election, Ejiofor Alike writes

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is known to have contested the presidential primary election on two occasions when the mood of the nation favoured power shift to the southern part of the country.

In 1992, he contested for the ticket of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and came third after Chief Moshood Abiola and Ambassador Babagana Kingibe.

He repeated the same gamble in 2011 when he contested the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with former President Goodluck Jonathan and lost.

Armed with the ticket of the Action Congress (AC) in 2007, Atiku had contested the presidential election with the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (PDP) and the then Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) of the All Nigeria’s Peoples Party (ANPP).

He came third with 2.8 million votes after the late President and Buhari.

In 2019 he secured the PDP ticket but lost to President Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

However, in both 2007 and 2019 when Atiku contested the presidential elections, it was actually the turn of the North to the produce the president in line with the unwritten agreement on zoning.

But with his current body language, the Waziri Adamawa may attempt to clinch the PDP ticket in 2023 against the popular clamour for the two major parties – the APC and the PDP, to produce southern presidential candidates in the 2023 general election.

Strong indications that he would not abide by the zoning principle had emerged when a socio-political group, Atiku Support Organisation, rejected the recommendation of the Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi-led PDP’s zoning committee, which zoned the party’s national chairmanship position to the North.

In a swift reaction, the pro-Atiku group, in a press statement signed by the group’s National Publicity Secretary, Dr. El Mo Victor, and made available to journalists, in Warri, stated that the recommendation, “negates in all fairness the entrenched principle of equity, fairness, and justice in the party as captured in article 7, Section 7.2C of the PDP’s constitution.”

Without providing enough justification for its claims, the group simply stated that the PDP presidential ticket should be zoned to the North, “in the interest of equity and fairness”.

Atiku has also re-echoed the position of his support group that power should not shift to the South when he recently urged the PDP to be guided by the spirit of fairness and equity in determining its Presidential candidate in 2023 rather than zoning the ticket along ethnic consideration.

When the PDP came up with the idea of zoning, the spirit behind it was to ensure that power rotates between the North and the South every eight years.

Since another political party, the APC has challenged the supremacy of the PDP and retained power in the North for eight years, fairness and equity simply imply that power should shift to the South, irrespective of the political party.

The argument by the pro-Atiku group that the PDP should zone the presidency to the North, therefore negates the principle of fairness and justice.

Atiku made his position known at the 94th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja where he argued that what Nigerians are out for, is a President that will stand for the South and North of the Nigerian divide.

He practically dismissed the debate on zoning of the party’s presidential ticket as the solution to Nigeria’s leadership crisis.

The former vice president further argued that the zoning of the 2023 presidential ticket has never been the cause of the country’s problem nor will it be the solution.

“The PDP has the right to determine its rules on how its party should be governed. The people of Nigeria also have the right to determine who governs them.

“Where the president comes from has never been the problem of Nigeria neither will it be the solution. There is no such thing as the president from Southern Nigeria or president from Northern Nigeria. There is only one president from Nigeria, by Nigeria and for Nigeria,” he told the NEC members in attendance.

Atiku further stated that the decision of the NEC on zoning would “either see the PDP into the Villa in 2023 or not.”

There is no doubt that with the zoning of the PDP chairmanship ticket to the North by the Governor Ugwuanyi- led committee, the party’s presidential ticket, going by tradition, should go to the South.

All the 17 southern governors had resolved that power should shift to the South.

Prominent northern leaders, including Governors Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State; Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State; Babagana Zulum of Borno State; Darius Ishaku of Taraba State; Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State; Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State; Samuel Ortom of Benue State, among others, have individually endorsed the aspiration of southerners to produce President Muhamadu Buhari’s successor in 2023 .

This development will hurt Atiku’s 2023 ambition and he appears to be determined to swim against the tide, going by his body language.

The Waziri of Adamawa is an astute politician of repute, and a detribalised Nigerian.

The former vice president is one of the two or three northerners with contacts across the length and breadth of the country. He is also a very liberal, widely trusted and tested politician with no history of religious bigotry.

Above all, his deep pocket can oil any presidential political project to a successful completion.

But since all eyes seem to be on the southern Nigeria to produce the presidential candidates of both the APC and the PDP to ensure justice, fairness and equity, only the events of the coming months will determine Atiku’s capacity to successfully swim against the tide and withstand the storm.