2023: NORTH DISUNITED OVER BUHARI’S SUCCESSOR, AS MANY WANTS POWER TO REMAIN IN THE NORTH.

Of the 7,747 delegates expected at the APC presidential primaries, 4,414 are from the North, while 3,333 are from the South. The zonal breakdown is as follows: North West-1, 924 delegates; South West-1,568; North Central – 1,278; North-East – 1, 212; South-East-838; and South-South 927 delegates.

There seems to be a division in the North over who would succeed Buhari, some Nothern leaders seems to be in support of the south producing the next President while others insist that power should remain in the North

Vanguard reports that a top politician who spoke to reporters over the weekend says, as it is, the North may produce the presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress, APC; Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; and some of the top parties, a development that may hurt the chance of the South producing Buhari’s successor.

Speaking on power shift, a top northern politician told Vanguard that the North has 70 per cent of the votes and would not give it to candidates who don’t understand the problem of the North and regard northerners as idiots.

His words: “Many southerners don’t understand the problems of the North. They are reading the political template and barometer wrongly and believe that power is heading South in 2023 and when it does not they will be crying blue murder.

“For us in the North, the issue is security, security and security. We can’t go to the farm. Villages are attacked by bandits and many people are killed on a daily basis. We want that to be tackled.

“If the atmosphere is not secure, you can’t do anything. For the South, the issue is restructuring, devolution of power and stopping open grazing. They don’t feel the pain of the North.

“Next election can’t be approached the way 2015 and 2019 polls were approached. It is not about the ambition of anybody now, it is about the survival of the country. The army we have now is not the army that went to Sierra Leone and Liberia.

“Most of the soldiers have not fought any war all their lives. The bandits carry AK-47s and go to the barracks bare-footed and sack soldiers. It is about the survival of the country now.

“War-chest and deep pocket will not determine 2023. The Alhaji Shehu Shagari 1979 example will be replayed and the 2023 presidency will not be for sale.

“70 per cent of the votes will come from the North. Northerners will not give the votes to somebody that considers them idiots.

“The North is not ready for rotation. They will rally around to present a candidate that is acceptable to the North and the candidate will beat any southern candidate. APC will present a consensus candidate that will be acceptable. “The northerner will be acceptable to the South. The sentiments of the North is not about zoning or power shift.

“This election is not one the candidate will win in every region. It will be a tight race. The candidate will win in four regions. Nigeria is badly fractured and disunited. It is after the election that rebuilding will start.

“The APC and PDP don’t have an idea of what problems are. The candidate’s personality will shape the outcome of the election. We pray that the next president won’t be worse than President Buhari.”

So far,  Third Republic Senator and former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (70, South-West), Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (65, South-West); former Imo State Governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha (59, South-East); Businessman, Reverend Moses Ayom, (53, North-Central); and Ebonyi State Governor, Engr Dave Umahi (58, South-East); and Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim (56, North-West), Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello (48, North-Central); former Abia State Governor and Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (61, South-East); Transportation Minister and former Governor of Rivers State, Mr Rotimi Amaechi (56, South-South); Businessman,  Ihechukwu Dallas Chima (40, South-East); and founder of Latter Rain Assembly, Dr Tunde Bakare (66, South-West) are all in the race for the APC Presidential ticket.

While former Vice President Atiku Abubakar (75, North-East); former Senate President and Kwara State Governor, Dr Bukola Saraki (59, North-Central); Rivers State Governor and former Minister of State for Education, Mr Nyesom Wike (58, South-South); Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel (55, South-South); Sokoto State Governor, chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (56, North-West); Bauchi State Governor and former FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed (63, North-East),  former Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose (62, South-West); former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Muhammed Hayatu-Deen; former Senate President and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim (61, South-East); former Governor of Anambra State and 2019 Vice Presidential Candidate of the PDP, Mr Peter Obi (60, South-East), veteran journalist and Publisher, Mr Dele Momodu (61, South-South);  former President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, Mazi Sam Ohuabun-wa (72, South-East); and Dr Nwachukwu Anakwenze (70, South-East) are all fighting towards being the PDP official presidential candidate.

Former governor of Benue State and Chairman, also the Senate Committee on Power and chairman of the presidential campaign team of Akwa Ibom State Governor,Senator Gabriel Suswam has also kicked against zoning and consensus,

He said that Nigeria needs a President who understands its problem  and has the demonstratable  capacity to solve them.

Suswam said that his candidate, Udom Emmanuel’s chances might be affected by the emergence of a consensus candidate and the unwillingness of the North for power-shift, he said: The issue is the country now is not consensus. What consensus are you talking about? Consensus without merit or capacity? Consensus should be about capacity and merit.

“In the North, the Hausa word for zoning or our own is namu. Today, the North is worse off because of namu. So, namu is no longer tenable. We have got to a point where the person we need is the one who can safely take us to our destination.

“Talking about the North not being prepared for power-shift, why arrogate power to a certain group of people when the power is with you? Nigeria is the abyss. Nothing is working in the country.

“There is insecurity in all parts of the country. There is no power. We need a man who can create money and turn things around as Udom Emmanuel did in Akwa Ibom with Ibom Air and many industries.”

To get other parts of the country to back the South-East to produce the next president, the Greater Nigeria Conference, GNC, will today host a parley of presidential aspirants from the South-East with leaders from other parts of the country in Abuja.

Elder Statesman and Afenifere leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo and South-South leader, Chief  Edwin Clark alongside other eminent Nigerians are expected at the event held at the International Conference Centre ICC, Abuja. The GNC is led by a former Governor of Enugu State, Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo, Senator Victor Umeh and Senator Chris Anyanwu among other Igbo patriots at home and in the Diaspora

In a statement  by Collins Steve Ugwu, the GNC said that the conference is organized as a pan Nigerian dialogue by the non-partisan ‘Nzuko Umunna’, a global Igbo Think Tank and “is dedicated towards awakening the best ethnic and political fraternities of Nigerians to appreciate the binding need for accommodation and sacrifice, in supporting a Nigerian President from the South-East zone of Nigeria come 2023 elections.”