By Ahmed Ghani Hassan
In the fourth republic, Nigeria had four Democratic presidents, which three of them were under the platform of People Democratic Party ( P.D.P) and the incumbent president Muhammad Buhari at helm of affairs being the fourth democratically elected president under the platform of All Progressives Congress (A .P.C).
In 2015, Nigerians strongly craved for the positive change when sterling leadership was in shambles in our political domain, insecurity ravaged the northern part of the country particularly the Boko Haram insurgency, economy stagnation and the menaces of corruption Apportioned to the negligence of the Jonathan’s admistration of the People Democratic Party (P.D.P).
Therefore, All progressives Congress A.P.C came onboard with the cardinal agendas such as: Security, economy and the fight against corruption, but unfortunately all the above mentioned are records with little achievement as Nigerians rate the Government as a failed state today. The cardinal agendas were deteriorated and also failed to fulfil the campaign promises.
Now, All the political parties have already conducted their Primaries, The ruling party nominated Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as party standard bearer for the presidential election, the strong opposition party Atiku Abubakar has been nominated to contest as the PDP candidate in the fourth coming presidential election.
Nigeria never had strong contestants jostle for the Presidency like 2023 Presidential election because both Atiku and Tinubu have the capacity, experience and influence. The election would be very tough for both, since they are fighting their last chance because of their ages. Both Atiku and Tunubu are above 70 years of age.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s emergence as A.P.C flag bearer could be a hindrance to the party to win the Presidential elections, perhaps due to running choice ? In Nigerian politics when a Muslim from North clinches the ticket the simple logic would be to choose a Christian from South as the running mate.
Similarly, if a Southern Christian lays hold of the ticket taking a Northern Muslim as running mate would largely Increase the victory chances. Given this logic fear is apparently seen in, APC because Tinubu chooses a Christian from the north as his Running mate would reduce the Party’S chances of victory because North has large amount of Muslim area.
Worse still, him settling for a Muslim as his running mate would entirely loss the votes of Christian in the country. Moreover what happened in June 12 which lead to the nullification of the election by the then military junta, therefore Tunubu may be the president because of the incumbency and his political influence in the country.
Atiku was a strong opposition who contested the president seat under the platform of P.D.P in the previous elections. He has over 11 millions votes in 2019 presidential election. But this time around the victory may also be tough for Atiku because all the southern Governors agreed that the southern part of the country will produce a president after 8 years of the Northern Leadership.
It’s the only problem that Atiku can face, but he has a chance of winning the election because most of the Northerners would vote for him because he is the strongest candidate from the North, another advantages for Atiku if he picks a running mate Christian from the Southeast or South South, he may have their votes because they had been sidelined by the Government of the A.P.C
Now Nigerians are in miserable situation of hunger and the problem of insecurity whoever wins the election, it would be very difficult for him to make things easy and stable.
Ahmed Ghani Hassan
ahmedghanihassan@gmail.com.
