Within the next few days the choice of who becomes the running mate to the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, will be the main preoccupation of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party is expected to meet Monday, June 6, to fine tune plans on the matter.
Atiku, who beat 10 other aspirants in the recent PDP presidential primary to emerge as the party’s standard bearer, is expected to pick his running mate from the southern part of the country which comprises three geopolitical zones: South West, South East and South South.
The party said that the Monday meeting was called for the BoT to also make its input and guide the former vice president to make an informed decision because of the “sensitivity” and “delicate” nature of the issue so as not to provoke another round of discontent in the party.
Already, the emergence of Atiku, a Northerner, as the party’s candidate amid pressure and calls on the party’s leadership to zone the ticket to the South, is causing bad blood within its hierarchy.
Many groups and individuals with links to the South have called for the sack of the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, for his “role” in the emergence of a northern candidate.
Elder statesman, Edwin Clark, was particularly pissed by what he described as Ayu’s “undignified and parochial conduct to please his northern principals”.
He said Ayu’s support for the northern cause was not only a disgrace to the office of the national chairman of the party, but also “a sad display of lewd subservience to the political subjugation of one ethnic group in a diverse country like Nigeria,” while calling him to step down from his position for his partiality.
The party said the outcome of the Monday meeting will be strategic and critical to dousing the post-primary tension, especially in the South East and the South South, with the emergence of a unifying figure as Atiku’s running mate.
Likely options
Among the names being bandied as possible running mate to Atiku in the race for the presidency include Akwa Ibom State Governor and one of the party’s presidential aspirants in the just-concluded primary, Emmanuel Udom; Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa; Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike – who came second during the primary; and a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha.
Wike, Udom and Okowa are from the South South, while Ihedioha is from the South East. However, in an interview with 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE, a party stalwart mentioned the possibility of Atiku considering his ally and friend, Senator Ben Obi, if the calculation is zeroed to the South East eventually.
Weighing the options
Governor Nyesom Wike
He is the most-favoured, going by his influence and standing within the party’s hierarchy. He came second in the race and has the finances to help prosecute the campaign. Pundits say coming from Rivers, a state with the highest voting population in the South South, also gives him advantage over others.
“He is also Igbo-speaking and so acceptable to the South East,” Dr Tanimu Adamu of the Centre for Democratic Initiative (CDI), posited.
However, an influential party insider and a former minister expressed doubt on whether Wike is on the cards for many reasons.
He said, “He is too brash, his manner of speaking is ‘unpresidential’ and he takes too many unnecessary battles. We saw what happened between him and lhedioha, Governor Godwin Obaseki, the National Executive Committee (NEC), among others.”
He further said Wike believed in money power and used same in some northern states like Kogi, Nasarawa, Katsina, Plateau, Benue, Kano and others and ended up annoying stakeholders of the party in the affected states, noting that he lost Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and some South East votes during the primary because of his attitude.
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa
His name came up shortly after Atiku emerged. Like Wike, one of his selling points is the Igbo background – even though he being from the South South – a characteristic which analysts say will play a dual role in the sale of Atiku’s presidency to the electorate from the two geopolitical zones. But more fundamental is Okowa’s liberal disposition and closeness to the former vice president. He is one of the governors who was said to have delivered his state to enhance the aspiration of the Wazirin Adamawa and so may get the nod in appreciation of the favour if the cards fall to the South South. Like Rivers, Delta is also an oil-rich state with enough resources to assist in prosecuting the campaign.
Governor Udom Emmanuel
He was one of the aspirants for the PDP ticket. He came fourth in the race, scoring 38 votes. Those pushing for his candidature believe he has the comportment and glamour of the country’s vice presidency. But pundits say he has limited influence outside his state and the South South to influence votes for the party’s success in 2023.
Ex-Governor Emeka Ihedioha
The former Governor of Imo State and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives is the leading favourite for the position from the South East. Iheodia is Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal’s key ally. Analysts say with the role played by Tambuwal in the emergence of Atiku by his last-minute withdrawal and directive to his supporters to back the former vice president, the odds may favour him. They also argue that the need to appease the South East following the growing outcry from the zone over maginalisation of political leadership may tilt the equation towards him. His chances, analysts believe, are made brighter by the exit of the former Governor of Anambra State from the PDP to the Labour Party (LP). In 2019, PDP zoned its presidential ticket to the South East. But Atiku and Peter Obi couldn’t make it to the presidency as they lost to President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. The party, it was learnt, may again give the zone another chance.
Senator Ben Obi
Although the name of Senator Ben Obi has turned up in the calculation, party insiders say the party may look the way of the former Special Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan on Inter-Party Affairs. Obi is also an ally of the vice president who he almost picked as running mate in 2018 before zonal stakeholders came up with the name of Peter Obi. Despite Peter Obi’s exit from the party, Anambra, where Ben Obi hails from, was said to have also delivered during the primary. Party insiders say Senator Obi could be the unifier that the party desperately seeks, the more so that Atiku’s campaign mantra is “The Unifier”.
A source said if Obi was picked, he could appeal to the Ohanaze, explaining that. “The Igbo as a block are not happy, and Senator Ben Obi belongs to the core Ohanaze. So I believe he can reunite them with the PDP.”
Slippery terrain
However, in taking the ultimate decision of the choice of his running mate, Professor Yusuf Zoaka of the Department of Political Science, University of Abuja, advised the former vice president to tread carefully.
He said, “When we look at the stepping down for Atiku by Tambuwal and the good fight put up by Wike who came second, certainly the Atiku candidature will need to study the terrain carefully before launching his VP. Clearly there is a clamour for a southern presidency by a section of the South. However, politics is a game of numbers.
“Even though the PDP is consulting widely to get a VP for the flag bearer of the party, in my opinion the VP slot could be given based on merit or geopolitical zone. If they decide to give it based on merit, then the search should be narrowed to the second runner up, Wike. If they decide to settle on geopolitical zone, they can give a South Easterner, Pius Anyim. However, if they want to be strategic and weaken APC, then they can pick from the South West.
“Whatever choice they make will largely depend on the outcome of the APC convention. So they can decide to wait and see what the APC will do.”
