PDP Leaders Shop For Southern Aspirant

As PDP Presidential Candidate For 2027 Elections Who will the PDP use as a Southern candidate to battle Pres. Bola Tinubu?

That is the big question many are asking.

This is because the PDP has zoned the Presidency to the South and it is frantically shopping for a candidate of choice.

Former President, Goodluck Jonathan is one name that features on the list of PDP top shots as a possible candidate. Peter Obi is another possible candidate. Former Minister, Rotimi Amaechi is also warming up. So also Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State.

Some PDP topshots want Jonathan. Although, controversy trails his eligibility to run in 2027, following the 2018 constitution amendment that bars anyone that had been sworn-in twice from contesting the presidency, we gathered that Jonathan is gradually becoming the beautiful bride among some top Northern power brokers, who see him as the best candidate to defeat Tinubu in 2027.

Recall that Jonathan was Vice to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. Following the National Assembly’s Doctrine of Necessity, he was sworn-in to complete Yar’Adua’s term in 2010. Thereafter, he contested in 2011, won and was sworn-in again. He sought a second term in 2015 and lost to late President Muhammadu Buhari, who ran on the card of the APC.

Buhari’s victory was the first time an opposition candidate would beat an incumbent president in the history of electioneering in Nigeria.

Those who worked against Jonathan in 2015 argue that he should not have contested to allow power return to the North because after President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Southerner ruled for 8 years, Yar’Adua, a northerner, was in the saddle for two years.

So allowing Jonathan to continue till 2019 would mean power being in the South for 18 years out of 20 years of democratic rule. Besides, they said Jonathan was a signatory to the power rotation agreement in the PDP, which he reneged on.

Right now, Jonathan has emerged as a top contender within PDP, with many leaders declaring their readiness and willingness to give him the party’s ticket.

Those in that group say apart from his performance as a leader, his concession of power to Buhari after the 2015 tight election, instead of dragging the nation through tension-soaked litigation like most presidential candidates had been doing since 1999, earned him a soft-spot in the hearts of many northerners.

This was one of the reasons he had cordial relations with Buhari after leaving power.

Faced with dearth of strong contenders, following the defection of Atiku to the coalition-backed African Democratic Congress, ADC, we gathered that many PDP top shots have signed into the “Bring back Jonathan” project and they are wooing him to accept to run.

PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi agrees with the move to get Jonathan to run.

He says the move is hinged on the growing public nostalgia for Jonathan’s leadership style.

He said many Nigerians, including former critics, now agree that Nigeria had a more stable and democratic era under Jonathan.

He recalled and described Jonathan’s peaceful concession in 2015 as a defining moment of statesmanship.

“When he lost, he could have rigged the result in his favour, but he said no Nigerian’s blood was worth his ambition. That is the leadership Nigerians are yearning for—not just PDP members,” he said. According to Abdullahi, some PDP leaders have met Jonathan to persuade him.

How about Peter Obi of the Labour Party? The argument is that without “structure” as opposed to his opponents, he ran a good race in 2023 and lost to Tinubu and Atiku.

Since the end of the election, Obi has remained visible in the polity, touring all parts of the country and carrying out philanthropic gestures.

Although he is still a member of the factionalised LP, he is one of the leading politicians promoting the ADC coalition. Others with him in the coalition are Atiku, El-Rufai, Tambuwal, and Amaechi, fuelling speculations that their individual presidential ambitions might harm the coalition.

However, they have dismissed such fears as unfounded, saying their goal is to rescue Nigeria from the iron-grip of Tinubu and APC and ensure good governance in the country. They added that they would back any one of them that emerged as ADC’s flagbeaber.

While still on the coalition push, the PDP has initiated moves to have Obi, who left the party in 2022 to return to the party, where he was Vice Presidential candidate to Atiku in 2019. Obi confirmed the move and said he was open to discussions that would protect the interest of the country.

In the 2023 election, Obi won 11 states and the FCT. He won 10 Southern states apart from Rivers. He also won a state in the North-Central zone.

Last week, Professor Jerry Gana said with Obi as PDP presidential candidate, the party would win the North.

There is also Rotimi Amaechi who as Transportation Minister, carried out many projects in the North, including the rail line from Nigeria to Maradi in Niger Republic. He also took a transport university to Daura and was honoured with a chieftancy title,

In the 2023 primaries of the APC, Amaechi came second to Tinubu and got his votes from many Northern delegates. Like Obi, Amaechi has promised to do a term if elected. With the latest push for Jonathan, it is to be seen if the core Northern bloc will back Obi or Amaechi.

Source: CityPeopleOnline | Read Full Story…