Hot Race for PDP’s Presidential Ticket

Chuks Okocha examines the strengths and weaknesses of the presidential aspirants jostling to secure the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party at the party’s presidential convention fixed for May 28 and 29 

Seventeen presidential aspirants paid the N40 million Expression of Interest (EoI) and nomination forms of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Fifteen were cleared, while two were disqualified.

Atiku Abubakar  

He was a former vice president from 1999 to 2007 and later defected to other parties, but in 2019 emerged as the PDP’s presidential candidate.  He was a former top shot in the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).  His political career dates back to the two-party system of the military era. Atiku is a scion of the Yar’Adua political dynasty, which founded the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), which fused into the PDP in 1998. Atiku had left PDP to contest the 2007 presidential election under the AC. He later returned to the PDP only to join the APC later to contest in its presidential primary in 2015. He lost to President Muhammadu Buhari. In 2017, he reunited with PDP and became the party’s presidential candidate in the 2019 election. He lost to President Buhari.

He has structures and contacts all over the country. He also has the financial capacity to prosecute presidential campaign without seeking sponsorship. But he is accused of abandoning any party he joins when he is needed most. He was one of the founding fathers of PDP but he has the party twice and attempted to destroy it.  The popular clamour for power shift to the South does not favour his ambition. Atiku is also a serial presidential aspirant since 1992 and age is not on his side.  

Peter Obi 

He is a former governor of Anambra State for eight years. He was a running mate to  Atiku in the 2019 general election on the ticket of PDP. He was governor between March 17, 2006 and November 2, 2006, when he was removed. He regained his mandate and served as governor from February 9, 2007 to May 29,  2007 following a judgment of the court restoring his mandate to complete his term, in spite of a fresh election conducted on April  29, 2007. Obi won the February 6, 2010 governorship election to secure a second term in office. The popular clamour for power shift to the South-east favours his presidential aspiration.

Obi is a popular candidate with ideas on how to fix the economy.  His excellent record as a former governor of Anambra State also speaks for itself. But his prudent management of public funds is believed to be a sign of stinginess. He is also not a known moneybag who can successfully fund presidential campaign.

Mohammed Hayatu-deen

 He is an investment banker and economist of note. He is from Borno State.  Though the North-east where he hails from has produced the President, many have strongly argued that the late Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa wielded the executive power while Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was a mere ceremonial president. He is a former Managing Director of FSB Bank. He built his reputation as the chief executive of the New Nigeria Development Company. He served three past presidents of Nigeria as adviser on economic issues. He has the financial strength to actualize his ambition but he has no structures and the agitation for the North to concede the presidency to the South works against his ambition.

 Aminu Tambuwal  

Tambuwal is a lawyer and a former Speaker of the House of Representatives. He later became governor of Sokoto State in 2015 and was re-elected in 2019. He served as Personal Assistant on Legislative Affairs to Senator Abdullahi Wali, the then Senate Leader before he decided to contest for a seat in the House in 2003. He was elected to represent the Kebbe/Tambuwal Federal Constituency on the platform of the then All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). He later moved to the defunct Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) in the build-up to the 2007 general election together with a former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa. He was also among PDP leaders that once defected to the APC but later returned to the main opposition PDP. He is young and vibrant with ideas. But he is from the North-west, where the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari hails from.  North-west is also the home of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.  He also championed power zoning to the North in 2015 and defected from the PDP only to return to the party and reject zoning power to the South after the North had ruled for eight years under Buhari. He championed the arrangement for a northern consensus candidate but when it did not favour him, he kicked against the process.   

Udom Emmanuel 

Before he became governor, Emmanuel, in July 2013, was the Secretary to the Akwa Ibom State Government. In 2014, he defeated 22 other aspirants to emerge the candidate of the PDP and went ahead to win the governorship poll in April 2015. He got re-elected in 2019. He has the financial capacity but lacks structures and contacts nationwide. He is also from South-south where former President Jonathan hails from.

Nyesom   Wike 

He is the sixth civilian governor of Rivers State. His political career include two-term chairmanship of Obio-Akpor Local Government Area (1999 to 2007); he was Chief of Staff to Rotimi Amaechi as governor of Rivers State; Minister of State for Education from July 14, 2011 and later, Acting Minister of Education. He resigned before finishing his term to campaign for governorship of Rivers State.  He was elected governor in 2015 and re-elected 2019 on the platform of PDP.  He has a very large war chest to execute presidential campaign. But he is accused of being brash and dictatorial. Wike is also accused of disrespecting everyone around him, including his traditional rulers. He is also accused of meddling in the internal affairs of PDP in other states and creating crises in those states. Wike is also accused of sponsoring the crisis that forced Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State to leave the party. Wike is equally accused of lacking respect for his party leadership and his colleague-governors. Governors Ayade, Godwin Obaseki of Edo State and Dave Umahi are some of his colleagues that he is accused of insulting publicly. He had once described the leaders of PDP as tax collectors. Another odd against him is that he is from the South-south, the region of former President Goodluck Jonathan  

 Anyim Pius Anyim 

Anyim was the President of the Senate and later Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) in the Jonathan’s administration. He was elected into the Senate on the platform of the PDP in 1999 at the age of 37 and became the Senate President at the age of 39.  He represented the Ebonyi South senatorial district.

He has the financial strength and is from the South-east, which has not produced president. He lacks national structures and some governors  are mobilising against him. 

Bala Mohammed

The governor of Bauchi State was the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from 2010 to 2015. He won the Bauchi South senatorial district election in 2007 on the platform of the defunct ANPP. He later joined the PDP. He was the chairman of the committee that recommended that the PDP should throw open its presidential ticket for the 2023 elections. The recommendation triggered anger across board in the party, with stakeholders insisting that the PDP must adhere to the provision on zoning and power rotation as enshrined in its constitution in the interest of justice, equity and fairness. He has the financial capacity but he is allegedly contesting to be president as well as governor of his state at the same time. He also lacks structures. His statement that Fulani herdsmen carry AK-47 rifles to protect themselves and that the forests do not belong to anyone diminished his popularity in the southern Nigeria. The clamour for power shift to the south does not favour him.

Bukola Saraki

 Saraki was president of the Senate between 2015 and 2019. Before then, he had served as a two-term governor of Kwara State (2003-2011). He was elected under PDP in 2011 to represent the Kwara Central senatorial district, and then re-elected in the 2015 general election on the ticket of APC. He became the president of the Senate, despite stiff opposition from the establishment. After his sojourn in the APC, he went back to the PDP, where he sought presidential ticket in the 2019 election. The ticket went to Atiku, and Saraki became the Director General of the Atiku presidential campaign organisation for the election. He has structures, financial capacity and age is on his side. But the agitation for power shift to the South does not favour him. He was also one of those that left PDP because they wanted power to be zoned to the North only to return to the PDP to kick against power rotation to the South after the North has ruled for eight years under Buhari.

  Sam Ohuabunwa 

He is a pharmacist with a wealth of experience gathered from the corporate world.  He believes that, “No single Nigerian deserves to die. What Nigerians need is security,” and that “what we must understand is that we are already in a war situation.” He is also running on the backshop of his belief that he can translate his success in the boardroom.”

He has the ideas and his records speak for him. He lacks the financial strength and structures.  

 Dele Momodu 

The publisher of Ovation International is a celebrated columnist and strong advocate of a paradigm shift in leadership in the country. He vied for the presidency in 2011 on the platform of NCP. He has the ideas but lacks the structures and the financial powers.  

Terila Oliver Diana  

She is only female aspirant in the race. Oliver Tareila Diana purchased her presidential nomination form in person last Wednesday, making her the 13th aspirant. She is from Imo State. She is seen as a pretender with  no structures. She is financially capable but is unknown.   

Ayodele Fayose 

Fayose is a two-term governor of Ekiti State. He defeated  the incumbent Governor Niyi Adebayo in 2003. Fayose could not complete his tenure as a result of an impeachment on October 16, 2006.

During the 2014 Ekiti State gubernatorial election, Fayose was again the PDP nominee and was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

 He has no structures except in Ekiti State.

Chikwendu Kalu

Kalu was the Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly. Little is known about him except that he was a former speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly.