By Emmanuel Nduka
On Monday, January 17, 2022, governors elected under the platform of Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), conveyed a high-powered meeting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital. The meeting was hosted by no other than the strong man of Rivers State, Governor Nyesom Wike, and presided over by the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal.
According to the governors, they had converged to review the state of the nation, and chart a way forward, especially with 2023 around the corner. At the end of the meeting, the governors released a nine-point communique which formed their resolutions. But beyond this, the party does not seem ready for 2023, or what may even precede it.
In the meantime, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) led by President Muhammadu Buhari (a northerner) has spent eight years in power. The PDP as a party, is planning to take power back to the North again. This may prompt an already impending mass exodus of PDP members to the APC, being that they feel that the APC will zone Presidential power to the South, which is the right thing to do.
This is a wind that may blow very soon, and it will come as a rude shock to the PDP. More so, it may be the end of the PDP in Nigeria’s political process.
Sources close to the seat of power have reliably informed that secret meetings and consultations are holding concurrently in Lagos and Kano states. But the initiators when reached out to, refused to speak out on the matter. For now, they are holding back, saying that when the time is right, they will speak, and that the party, as well as Nigerians, will see their faces. This may be a tsunami that will wipe out the PDP totally.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently told the political class, most of whom are expecting his blessings and endorsement, that he is no longer playing partisan politics. “I retired 14 years ago, and I remain retired. And I will remain retired by the Grace of God. But if I retire from partisan politics – if politics is the welfare of people – I must not retire from the welfare and well-being of people, whether in my own community, state, country, anywhere in Africa, and indeed anywhere in the world. But bear in mind, I am no longer in partisan politics. And there is nothing that will bring me back to partisan politics. But I will always be interested in what is good for Nigeria. And anybody who wants to have my advice, I will unstintingly give it,” he said.
Meanwhile, sources say Obasanjo is consulting at the backend with actors canvassing for power shift to the South, and has reportedly succumbed. These actors have reportedly met with Obasanjo and former President Ibrahim Babangida behind closed doors after his (Obasanjo) earlier meeting with the PDP.
Also, this may be an end to the political carrier of some south-south governors who are bent on being running mate to a Northern Presidential hopeful from the PDP. Some Southerners are also eyeing the nation’s number one seat.
Zoning the Presidency to the South will rekindle Nigeria’s unity, and promote justice, equity and fairness. Surprisingly, majority of the PDP stakeholders who are pushing for power to go to the South, are Northerners. In this light, prominent Northern elder statesman, Tanko Yakasai, recently re-echoed this, stating that it will be unjust for the North to still take a shot at the Presidency in 2023 despite the agitations for power shift to the South at the expiration of President Buhari’s tenure.
“How can it be that it is always we the Northerners that will rule? There is no justice in this matter, we rule, they (South) rule that is justice. My opinion is, when Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure is over, the North should stop. He (Buhari) is finishing his eight-year tenure, and how can another Northerner contest and also go for another eight years, since each term is four years and it’s allowed to run twice? Honestly, this is not justice,” he said.
Lending his voice to the call, Borno State Governor Babagan Zulum, stated last year that he categorically supports the position of the Southern stakeholders. “I have said it, times without number, that I, Professor Babagana Zulum, I am of the view that the presidency should go to the South in the year 2023 because the unity of our country is very important. Secondly, inclusivity is very important. Thirdly, I am in the APC. Six or seven years ago, APC had zoned the presidency to Northern Nigeria based on the agreement that in the year 2023, the presidency should go to the South,” he opined. Similarly, the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) are also in support of power to shift to the South. In a statement by its President, Comrade Jonathan Asake, SOKAPU affirmed that: “We wish to categorically declare that we align with the position taken by the southern governors for power to shift to the southern part of Nigeria after eight years of President Buhari in 2023. Thereafter, power should then rotate among the North, South, and Middle Belt zones to ensure justice, fairness, and equity.”
