The emergence of the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has placed the All Progressives...

The emergence of the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has placed the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the crossroads, making the leaders of the ruling party cautious of their next steps.

The APC leaders are weighing two options on who to put forward for the contest, Daily Trust can report.

This is just as impeccable sources at the leading opposition party said shopping for a running mate for Atiku has commenced. Top shot of the camp of Atiku said they are considering paring a serving governor from the South-South geopolitical zone with him.

After months of hide-and-seek by the two political parties on zoning their presidential tickets, the PDP on Saturday conducted its presidential primary and picked a northerner from Adamawa State.

Twice the ruling party had postponed its presidential primary. The party was blamed for the postponement of the June 3 deadline for the conduct of the parties’ primaries for the 2023 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday.


APC at crossroads, weighs 2 options

Seven days to the new date fixed for the APC presidential primary, Daily Trust reports that activities for the exercise have not commenced.

Party leaders, aspirants, and other stakeholders of the party are at crossroads over choices to make. The screening of the 23 presidential aspirants of the party slated for last Monday was postponed indefinitely.

Daily Trust reports that the National Working Committee (NWC) under the leadership of a former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has neither fixed a new date nor constituted a committee to carry out the exercise.

Out of the 23 aspirants, stakeholders in the party are looking in the direction of National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Senate President Ahmad Lawan and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.

Sources in the ruling party told Daily Trust that two options are being weighed.

“It is either we dare the South and pick our candidate in the North or we throw open the race and risk its outcome,” a source in the party said.

Daily Trust had on May 17 exclusively reported the heightening of the push for the retention of the party’s presidential ticket in the North. The emergence of Atiku has amplified it. But a section of the power brokers in Abuja is said to be still rooting for former President Goodluck Jonathan as a possible flag bearer of the party.

The northerners in the race for the ticket are; Lawan; Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello; Jigawa State Governor, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar and former Zamfara State Governor, Sen. Ahmed Yarima. A former governor said the emergence of the former vice president has completely changed the dynamics.

He said; “Apart from some charlatans in the Villa dropping Buhari’s name and claiming that he has endorsed Amaechi, the emergence of Atiku has completely changed the dynamics.

“Apart from Tinubu, is there anyone who can match Atiku toe-to-toe across the nation and repeat the MKO success story when he defeated the late Bashir Othman Tofa in Kano?”

“Surely, Atiku is banking on northern votes. Kwankwaso will cut off some from North West. So a good running mate from North will square him off. And of course, attacking his home base of northeast is the deal.”

But a former Governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, yesterday said the emergence of Atiku has shut the doors on the southern contestants in the APC.

Kalu, the Chief Whip of the Senate and one of the promoters of Lawan, urged President Buhari to pick his successor.

“For our party the APC, it is no longer feasible to talk about southern candidates except the APC wants to go on political retirement.

The Abia senator also urged the party’s leadership to zone APC presidential ticket to the North East.

“I call on President Buhari to pick a successor from the North East and that will be the equity the South East needs. With the North East, the cycle will be closest to completion of regions producing the president of Nigeria,” he said in a statement.

But the Talban Bauchi, Tahir Ibrahim Tahir, in an article tagged, “APC’s bitter but puissant pill,” said Tinubu is the only aspirant that can match Atiku.

“APC must honour its unwritten agreement of power shift, in the spirit of federal character and rotation. Tinubu as a southerner is the only politician that has exhibited the northern brand of inclusiveness in politics,” he said.


S/West APC chieftains warn against Jonathan’s candidature

A coalition of chieftains of the APC in the South West has urged President Buhari not to breach the trust and agreement he reached with the leaders of the party in the region before his election in 2015.

The group in a statement issued yesterday by its National Convener, Mr Fatai Bola Adekunle, said Buhari was morally bound to support and ensure that a party member from the South West region succeeds him in the office next year.

Adekunle maintained that anything short of the aforementioned demand would amount to betrayal from President Buhari and his supporters to the people of the South West who he said helped him (Buhari) greatly to get into office in 2015.

“We are appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to reciprocate the gesture of the people of the South West to him in 2015 by making sure that one of our sons emerges to succeed him in 2023 as a token of appreciation for the gesture of our people towards him.

“All of us were living witnesses to the roles played by our sons and daughters to ensure the emergence of Buhari as the president of the country. It is no gainsaying the fact that without that alliance between the South West and the North, the Buhari presidency that we have today would not have been possible”, they said.

They further cautioned the party leaders against the rumoured moves to foist former President Goodluck Jonathan as a presidential candidate.

Contacted, an aide of the president said Buhari was not part of a plot to draft Jonathan into APC presidential race.

He said on Sunday that instructions had been given that there shall be no public release of photos of any meetings between the former president and the incumbent at this time.

The president, it was gathered, did not want such images to be used to confer any modicum of support to the plot to get Jonathan into the race.

Daily Trust learnt that the Presidency was worried that the aides of the former president were involved in keeping the “Plot alive in the media by releasing photos of his visits to the APC Chairman and Alhaji Mamman Daura, to insinuate that these two gentlemen are in support of the plot”.


Ex-VP’s camp considers Okowa, Udom, elders make case for Wike

Reliable sources at the PDP told this paper that the shopping for a running mate for Atiku has commenced.

At the 2019 general election, Atiku, who was the candidate of the party picked a former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi as his running mate. They were defeated by President Buhari.

A source close to Atiku said before the primary, they had resolved to pick the running mate from the South-South geopolitical zone.

He said at their inner circle, the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, was being considered for the plum seat given his contribution to the emergence of Atiku.

“Except for last-minute change, we are looking at Governor Okowa for the position. He has consistently supported our camp despite all backlashes. He mobilised resources for us and ensured that all the delegates of his voted for us,” the source, one of the leaders of the campaign team said.

But another source in the party, who confirmed that they have resolved that the running mate be picked from the South-South, said the issue of Okowa has not been sealed.

“There is a division on it, some are saying him but others especially elders of the party, said Wike should be considered because of his performance at the primary,” the party leader said.

He also said that Governor Udom Emmanuel Akwa Ibom, who came fourth with 38 votes at the primary, has begun moves to be considered for the seat.

According to him, the main factor that led to the defection of Peter Obi was the decision of the Atiku’s camp to look elsewhere for the running mate.

Meanwhile, a former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, one of the presidential aspirants of the PDP, has expressed shock that the consideration by delegates during voting was based on the old primordial sentiments rather than on burning national issues and how to resolve them.

Anyim, who said this while reacting to the outcome of the PDP presidential primaries, however, congratulated former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for emerging the flag bearer of the party.

He said he was proud to have gone through the presidential race to the end, assuring that he would continue to stand tall “Until we birth the Nigeria of our collective dreams.”

https://dailytrust.com/2023-presidency-apc-weighs-options-as-atiku-shops-for-running-mate

Lalasticlala

“Except for last-minute change, we are looking at Governor Okowa for the position"


Modified:
Mentions noted.

Okowa as VP would be a connect to the SE. Atiku knows that SE is a PDP strong but with Obi he wud have challenges. Having a man who has affinity with SE wud boost his chances. The election wud be won and lost in the South. Politics is about interest, the same SE everyone thinks will go the way of labour party may end up voting for APC enmass. They may decide to do away with aparty and take the participation to 1999 &2011. Levels. Their participation plummeted due to failure of their subnational leaders to perform. Atiku is not naive to choose a person who can't tied down or attract massive votes to him because he is not sure of say 75% votes down here. Moreover he needs spread. Atiku may well go the way of SE, Shey he said he will stay a tenure

Tinubu can not March atiku in the north,and SE are likely not to vote Tinubu cos of his greedy betrayal while some part of ss will follow se, other parts will vote base on atiku running mate..

So I don't see how Tinubu can defeat atiku,anyway his frog eyes will open after primaries...

As it is, the only sure aspirant in the apc that will beat Atiku in the apc is Osinbajo, reason been that PYO is the only aspirant that is acceptable in all the six geo political zones in the country, you will be amazed that Osinbajo has more support in the middle belt more than any support he enjoys in his region of South West, also the work he has put in for many months have began to manifest, his candidates won in benue, oyo and adamawa for the governorship to the surprise of many, but for the people that follow him were not surprised anyway. As for the primary coming up, Osinbajo is going to win, because the party knows he is the only one that can guarantee victory, let me talk a little bit about other aspirants, and their weaknesses, Asiwaju no doubt is a big politician any day any time, but he miscalculated, he was hoping on southern candidates for both apc and pdp base on the clamour at that time, so he did not bother himself to allign much with the SS and SE also with the Christian communities of the Middle belt, his calculation was that once pdp gives her ticket to either a ss or se person, he will surely have an upper hand in his region of sw and also do very well in the nw and ne, which normally would have guaranteed victory for him but with Atiku as the pdp candidate now, Tinubu wil need new strategy.

Ahmed lawan candidacy wil not fly, because Buhari is about to finish his two term regime under apc, it is impossible for apc to give another northerner her ticket, also Lawan cannot defeat Atiku, one, because they are from the same region of NE and everyone knows Atiku is stronger than him in the NE, Atiku and Kwankwaso will do very well too in the NW, the NC wil be divided among the aspirants, so coming to the south, he will not do well at all no matter whom he picks as his running mate, I trust the south westerners they will not vote for him, the south east has Obi and the south south will be shared depending on whom Atiku picks as his running mate, so lawan will not fly.

Amaechi is another candidate that might do well if given the ticket but his problem is that he has no political base at home and his region, but if he has the support of the president he might be able to put up some fight, but that does not guarantee a victory against Atiku.

With due respect to all other aspirants that I did not mention their names, even if Buhari endorses them and they pick up the ticket for the apc, they will not be able to defeat Atiku.

Osinbajo is the only candidate, that will win very well in SW, and also likely win the SS and not do badly in the SE, he will win in the North Central, he will not do badly in the North East because of some Christian population there, he will not do badly in the North West because apc controls most states there and also because of Buhari, so in all, Osinbajo will likely win 4 regions, either will like it or not, religion and ethinicty still play a big part in our politics in nigeria, and I guess these are going to be of advantage to Osinbajo, no wonder he is a movement in the christain dominated states of plateau, benue, Taraba etc.

I thought Tinubu was the greatest man in apc so why are they still weighing?

Na weight lift?

Obituary are you ready
Go fill up your position you have been craving for ever since.

If you wanna be unfortunate in life very soon, quote this comment to say rubbish.

Realists:


The Pandora accused person lied to Atikulooter in 2019 that Efcc, blocked his account, when asked to pay for his Vp seat campaign funds. He was forced to decamped because no reasonable excuse for him to give now.

That's true o

Nigeria politics....

Yoruba man will win next year. That is the consensus.

Please they should allow them to share dollars. They created this dollars scarcity by buying up dollars to use buy delegates, they should be allowed to share it peacefully like PDP.

If them no share the dollars , naira will suffer.

E go clear for tinubu eyes.

Next time, don't put the cart before the horse.

Hahaha we have the most foolish heee sorry let me put it mildly the worst kind of dumb political class, so APC is too blind to see that by producing Atiku that PDP is not serious to win election next year ,an opposition party brought a well known thief as flag bearer, they have their best for APC to continue in power if only they will be smart to bring a young politician from the south like osibanjo or Amaechi and then convince thier northern people that it is morally right for south to take thier turn of 8years and then power returns to the north thereafter..with pragmatic electioneering campaigns in the North, they can get the numbers needed to win the election..Atiku has no character yesterday in APC today PDP such a person is not fit in my humble option to be given presidential powers..he is more dangerous than tinubu

slivertongue:


“Except for last-minute change, we are looking at Governor Okowa for the position"

Okowa Ke God forbid that man ascends that Seat, What does he know Economically Nigeria would be like Sri Lanka if that happens.

*************************

Lawan is the man who can give APC Victory, with Meffy as his VP.

No south east should accept VP but rather support Peter Obi

APC should just allow the primary to run its course without any manipulation to avoid a divided house against Atiku.

Tinubu is not going anywhere

Obaseki or Anyim Pius

Udom Emmanuel is a good choice as well as Ihedioha. Gentle, well spoken men. We could try woman though. Like Mama Peace.....




Where Is Patience Jonathan?- By Lasisi Olagunju

https://dopereporters.com/where-is-patience-jonathan-by-lasisi-olagunju/

post=113304714:
Obituary are you ready
Go fill up your position you have been craving for ever since.

If you wanna be unfortunate, quote this comment to say rubbish.
I'm a stupid vulture griller

guy something is wrong with you.

post=113304714:
Obituary are you ready
Go fill up your position you have been craving for ever since.

If you wanna be unfortunate in life very soon, quote this comment to say rubbish.

I thought you have sense

Calling someone's father obituary shows that....

Atiku is Cummin;IPOB people

trifted404:
guy something is wrong with you.

dis one don buy market

How many SE PDP delegates voted for Ayim during the primary.. APC is a goner if they refuse to give Tinubu the ticket..

Those shouting Oshinbajo, I don't know their reason but one thing will surely affect him up North, Pastoral tag, he's out of consideration.

We've been saying this repeatedly, Can anyone among APC aspirant match Atiku WITH EVERYTHING needed for the race other than Tinubu? No, not even Lawan.
I know APC wouldn't want to commit political harakiri

“He said; “Apart from some charlatans in the Villa dropping Buhari’s name and claiming that he has endorsed Amaechi, the emergence of Atiku has completely changed the dynamics.

“Apart from Tinubu, is there anyone who can match Atiku toe-to-toe across the nation and repeat the MKO success story when he defeated the late Bashir Othman Tofa in Kano?”

“Surely, Atiku is banking on northern votes. Kwankwaso will cut off some from North West. So a good running mate from North will square him off. And of course, attacking his home base of northeast is the deal.” ”

Ok