Contentious proxy battle has begun in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP over the 2023 Presidential ticket of the Party.
WEEK DAYS REPORT that former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, Former Senate Presidents, Bukola Saraki and Pius Anyim alongside Governors Aminu Tambuwal and Bala Mohammed are all interested in securing in the nation’s top seat.
Others are; ex-Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso; Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa and Ovation magazine publisher Dele Momodu.
First shot fired!
Atiku’s former aide and political associate Segun Sowunmi launched the first attack in his letter to the PDP Governors Forum last week, asking the party to reject “kindergarten president and commander-in-chief.
Sowunmi’s letter was viewed as a veiled reference to younger contenders in the race against 75-year-old Atiku, who he described as “highly experienced”. The letter reads in part: “Everyone wants to be President after Buhari but not everyone can do the work that a post-Buhari President will be called upon to do. Presidential powers and privileges mean nothing if the prerequisite experience is absent. We cannot jump from frying pan to fire.”
Retaliation
The spokesman of a group within the PDP, Dr. Rufus Omeire, defended the young elements jostling for the PDP ticket.
He queried Atiku’s political relevance above other aspirants. Writing under the aegis of the PDP Action 2023, Omeire questioned Sowunmi’s classification of Atiku as an “experienced” politician, stating that the forever vice president only played subordinate roles in public offices he held in the past.
Omeire stated: “With respect to relevant experience for the top job, let us x-ray the candidates. Atiku Abubakar’s public sector experience consists of the Deputy Director of Customs, a subordinate position.
“He never became chief executive of Customs and Excise Department. The buck never for one day stopped on his table in the Customs Service.
“He became vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a highly exalted office, but he was never a chief executive. He only carried out instructions of his boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“He never had the experience of a Chief Executive. The buck never stopped at his table. The President could accept or reject his recommendations.
“He didn’t have relevant direct experience of the top job. So wherein lies the famed experience of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar? He clearly doesn’t have the requisite public sector experience.
“Other aspirants seem to have better public sector experience; some have solid private sector experience as Chief Executives.
“Tambuwal, Saraki, and Anyim headed Houses of the Legislature at the federal level as chief executives. The buck stopped on their tables as Speaker and Presidents of the Senate.
“Tambuwal, Bala Mohammed, Wike, and Saraki have relevant executive experience as governors. They have seen it all from the executive point of view.
“They took decisions at the executive level in their states and have direct and first–hand experience in formulation and execution of government policies.”
Throwing more jabs, Omeire recalled how Atiku’s numerous defections from the PDP to other parties in the past and “abandoned ship mid-sea” after he lost the 2019 election.
“Sowunmi should find other grounds to market Atiku, his boss, rather than flouting his old age and …relevant experience.
“He should further desist from these unnecessary insults on other aspirants whom Alhaji Atiku might have to support after the primaries.”
Grounds shifting already
Already, Atiku Ambassadors, a defunct pro-Atiku Abubakar support group, has pledged its total support for former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, in the 2023 presidential race.
Leader of the group, Mufra Jibrin, disclosed this Tuesday when he led a delegation to the national coordinator of ‘Saraki Is Coming Door To Door’ organisation, Umar Faringado Kazaure, at his residence in Abuja.
Jibrin, a Kafanchan-born businessman, said his former group has now merged with ‘Saraki Is Coming Door To Door’ organisation for the realisation of Dr. Saraki’s presidential ambition in 2023.
In an interview with journalists, Jibrin said his former group did not gain anything from supporting former vice president Atiku Abubakar since 2016 through 2019 general election, adding that despite expending their resources for years, Atiku did not appreciate them for once.
“We have since realised it’s no longer worth it supporting Atiku. Moreover there is time for everything in life. It’s now the turn of a much younger, energetic and experienced candidate in the person of Saraki, to become Nigeria’s next president in 2023.
“Given the current state of the nation, Nigeria needs Saraki to turn things around. His competence and patriotism are never in doubt because we all saw how he presided over the 8th Senate and by extension the National Assembly. He made National Assembly productive and we can see the difference today.
“Therefore, we will start our support by first obtaining nomination forms for Dr. Bukola Saraki to contest the presidential election at our own cost,” Jibrin added.
