President Muhammadu Buhari, last Friday, signed the amended Electoral Bill into law, a development that set the tone for the hope of credible elections in 2023. This was after he had twice turned down the same bill on two different grounds, to which corrections were eventually effected.
A few days after, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), also released the notice of elections and schedule of activities, which equally might have sculpted the stage for what shape the campaigns would assume as well as preparations by individuals and the political parties ahead of 2023 polls.
Thus, from the political parties to the individuals itching to run for different offices, events have begun to pick up – slow and steady – with everyone recalibrating their current settings to suit expectations, even though the INEC, through its schedule of activities, would not officially declare the space open for campaigns until September 2022.
Therefore, lying before the political parties now are either zonal congresses, national conventions or primary elections to elect candidates for the forthcoming elections and they are already beginning to live up to the challenge.
These, nonetheless, personal activities of some individuals have continued unhindered and they are captured below as some of the events that dotted the political environment in the week that just ended.
Atiku and His Presidential Ticket Debate
Since it appears visiting top monarchs and former presidents is now part of the campaign process, a former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, was not to be left out as he visited former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Otta home last week. However, it was not the visit that has generated headline news but what the perennial presidential contender said, when accosted by reporters after the meeting.
When asked if he was sure of picking the presidential ticket of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku had this to say:
“Have I ever failed to win the ticket? I’m confident of picking it.” He was not done. When reminded that age might not be on his side again (he will be 76 in November) and that he should leave the stage for younger Nigerians to try their luck with the presidency, he said: “Let the youth compete now. It is democracy. Let them compete for it.”
If Atiku thought his words would just go like that, he was mistaken. Governor of Rivers State and one of the major pillars of the party, Nyesom Wike, pointedly accused Atiku of taking the party’s delegates for granted.
Speaking through his Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri, Wike said: “I didn’t expect him, frankly speaking, to say that he will always take the ticket of the party. That is going too far and taking the delegates for granted. People should watch, there will be a shock as far as PDP convention is concerned. People should watch what is going to happen. People like to underrate so many persons and it is not good in politics.”
If Wike was playing politics as he too is never a neutral in the power game within the PDP, Atiku also came under fire from his former aide, Kassim Afegbua, who served as his campaign spokesman the last time he tried his luck at the ballot. Afegbua said his former boss should not be trusted with the PDP presidential ticket for the 2023 general election.
Afegbua seemed to be still bitter with the way the former vice-president allegedly abandoned his foot soldiers after the 2019 elections and went to Dubai. He (Afegbua) said the party could not afford the same mistake again.
Beyond this, however, is the fact that Atiku might have made the statement out of sheer arrogance or selective amnesia, the reason being that only once had he succeeded in picking the PDP ticket in about four trials. In 2007, he was frozen out of the party by same Obasanjo in whose house he made the slip. He had to contest on the platform of the then Action Congress, AC.
In 2011, he lost the ticket to former President Goodluck Jonathan who went ahead to win the election. In 2015, when he sensed he could not pick the ticket, he moved the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), and still lost the ticket to President Mohammadu Buhari. The only time Atiku has ever picked the PDP ticket was 2019.
Therefore, if he said he had always picked the ticket, perhaps, he might have forgotten his own political history.
How Far can Kwankwaso and his New Travelers Go?
A former Kano State governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, recently launched a new political movement. Some are saying he was actually launching a new political party. Even if this was not the case, the game is becoming interesting.
The event, which held last Tuesday at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, added another object of conversation to the 2023 debate by launching The Third Force. He was joined by his political associates as well as former political adversaries. And there were also those he described as “progressives” and that the aim of the exercise was to send the ruling APC packing in 2023.
The roll call at the event said so much and it further fueled the rumour that Kwankwaso might be up to something more than launching any movement. The Third Force was actually an off-shoot of The National Movement, which was set up by Kwankwaso to realise his presidential ambition. Before this, perhaps, to let people know that he was done with the two dominant parties – APC and PDP – he had declared that the two parties had nothing to offer Nigerians again.
With the slogan, ‘Save Nigeria, Rescue the Nation’, Kwankwaso seemed to be bidding goodbye to his current party, PDP, but it might be coming a bit too late to make any impact and truly shake both the APC and the PDP. Can he upstage the APC? Can he rattle the PDP? Perhaps, he can since he has already ‘poached’ from both the APC and the PDP to attend the inauguration of the Third Force. But that seems to be as far as he could go.
A political analyst told THISDAY shortly after the Abuja event that if Kwankwaso was planning a new party, it was late in time to make any meaningful impact against 2023.
“I thing he might be trying to float a new party but if that was his intention, then, it is late already to have any strong effect on 2023 permutations. You have to get the party registered and then start mobilisation for new members. Whatever are his plans, I doubt if he has 2023 in mind.”
Though he promised a ‘Marshall Plan’ to tackle corruption and rescue Nigeria from its socio-economic challenges, he seemed to be running same rhetoric common with politicians. It remains to be seen how far he can go with the new political adventure.
El-Rufai’s Consistent ‘Zero Ambition’ Tale
The Governor of Kaduna State and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has surely learnt the political ropes since he joined the fray and contested for the governorship of his home state. Initially, when he first served under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, he portrayed himself as an apolitical public official, who was only interested in the success of the administration he was serving under.
But he made the headlines in 2003, when he said senators, who were to screen him after his ministerial nomination actually asked for bribe if he was to have a smooth ride during the screening. It generated a lot of heat then and fast-forward to 19 years later, El-Rufai seems to be calmer and more calculative. It is debatable if the 2003 ministerial nomination were to happen today, he would make the allegations he made then.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents recently in Abuja and was asked about 2023, El-Rufai said he had no ambition whatsoever
“I have zero ambition. I just want to finish this job, get on with my private life, write another book and make tonnes of money. The largest amount of money I ever got in my life was from writing the book, ‘Accidental Public Servant’. I have no ambition; I’ve never had any ambition. And if I die today, I am quite accomplished and happy, because I never in my life, based on my humble background, ever thought I would even enter this building.”
Not done, he added: “God has been very kind to me. And my outings in the public service have all been satisfactory? Why push my luck and go for a job with a 90 per cent chance of failure? So, I’m not an ambitious person. I’m just a person that gets things done when given the opportunity.
“I’ve never desired to run even for this governorship. It was President Buhari, who literally forced me to run. He insisted that some of us run for governorship just in case he did not get elected again. He felt that we needed some ‘strong governance’. Those were the words he used. So, I have no aspirations.”
But reliable sources told THISDAY that, perhaps, El-Rufai was giving out less than he hadin mind. While the debate is going on as to whether the ruling APC had zoned its presidential ticket to the South, it would be no brainer if the former minister accepted to either become the candidate of the party (if the north retained it) or running mate to any southern candidate.
