2023: Zoning, cash crunch frustrating presidential hopefuls

Less than two years to the 2023 presidential election, the unresolved issues of zoning among the two main political parties as well as cash crunch are said to be reasons why none of those nursing ambition to contest the poll has publicly declared interest.

Some chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are lingering debate over where power will shift to in 2023 among the leadership of both parties, is slowing down politicians, who want to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari from launching their respective bids, New Telegraph reports.

The newspaper also learnt that the harsh economic situation in the country explains why most of the presidential hopefuls have refrained from making their ambitions public.

The belief is that this will help them to avoid unnecessary spending ahead of the primaries and main election.

Our correspondents further gathered that part of the reason for the lull in political activities ahead of the 2023 presidential election is the battle for the structures of the leading parties by the presidential hopefuls and other interests within both parties; President Buhari’s disposition and likelihood of a fresh political alignment that may produce a Third Force.

The President is said not have any candidate in mind, but people around him have one or two people already penciled down.

A source, who revealed this said: “One of those being speculated in the APC from the South-West has many things working against him.

The first is the issue of religion. For someone like him to come out, the President must give him the go-ahead.” He added that an underlying issue about the lull in political activities is that the incumbent president is not returning, which makes it critical to any interest within his party and the PDP to tarry before taking decisions.

His words: “In 2007, former President Olusegun Obasanjo singlehandedly selected late Umaru Yar’adua and that is the power of incumbency. But in the present scenario, it is either President Buhari is not strong politically enough to back an aspirant or he does not want to get involved in the process that will produce a likely successor from his party.

“Interestingly, the situation in the APC is also affecting the PDP from knowing where it will come from ahead of the election. It seems the two of them are tending towards the South, but the ruling party usually takes the first shot, such that when people know where it is going, they start to chart their own course.”

It would be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced February 18, 2023 as the date for the next presidential election, but unlike in previous presidential elections, no member of the APC and PDP has publicly declared interest for the tickets of their respective parties.

Some of the gladiators, hoping to succeed President Buhari within the APC and PDP folds, have mainly announced their ambitions through campaign posters sponsored by either cronies or support groups on the various social media platforms, thereby raising concerns over the seriousness or otherwise of their aspiration among party stakeholders.

On paper, power is expected to shift to the southern part of the country by the time President Buhari’s tenure elapses in 2023 given the zoning arrangement between the North and South, which took effect from 1999.

However, recent developments in the polity show that the 2023 presidency will go beyond a southern affair as gladiators from both sides of the country’s political divides – North and South – are gearing up for the contest.

This has left the leadership of the APC and PDP at crossroads as both parties, unlike during the 2015 and even the 2019 general elections, are yet to declare their stand on the zoning arrangement, thereby leaving their members and the rest of Nigerians in the dark.

However, a chieftain of the APC, Chief Chekwas Okorie, who spoke on the zoning impasse as it affects the two leading parties, told one of our correspondents that until both parties decide on where their respective presidential tickets for the 2023 elections will go to between the North and South, no serious party member will declare his or her ambition public.

According to him, “anyone who does not belong to either the APC or PDP, who has come out to say that he or she is running for the office of president at this time is wasting his or her time because politicians have to appreciate that parties must have structures in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory to win Nigeria’s presidency.”

On how the impasse over zoning is hampering the APC and PDP presidential hopefuls from publicly declaring their ambitions.

Okorie said: “I can authoritatively tell you that the debate over the zoning arrangement is the major factor delaying the 2023 presidential hopefuls from publicly declaring their ambitions, and until the issue is resolved, no serious would-be presidential aspirant will come out to publicly declare his or ambition.

“Although the PDP is likely to throw the contest for its ticket open going by the recommendation of its committee, the belief is that anyone who declares for the 2023 presidency now would be taking a political gamble as his or her geopolitical zone may be shut out by the time the leadership of the leading parties finally settle on where their respective presidential tickets will go to.”

When reminded of the belief in some political quarters that some of the presidential hopefuls, especially those in the opposition, are being cautions with the declaration of their ambitions to avoid being hounded by the ruling party.

Okorie said: “It is wishful thinking for anyone to believe that the Buhari administration will use the anti-graft agencies against anyone for showing interest in the presidency except those who have something to hide.

A former Deputy Chairman of Lagos State chapter of the PDP, Prince Ola Shakiru Apena, who corroborated the zoning argument, said: “The two major political parties, PDP and APC, are in serious internal cri-sis situation.

So, because of the crisis, there is struggle for power. The presidential gladiators are trying to position themselves to hijack the structure of both parties.

“That is why most of the hopefuls are running away. If you take APC for example, ex-Governor Bola Tinubu is not even sure of what is going to happen to him because some members of the cabal have positioned themselves to rubbish him. Don’t forget that the APC membership revalidation and re-registration exercise that is going on is part of the game plan to whittle his influence.

However, nobody among them is sure where the pendulum will swing. “In PDP, we have former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso; two prominent personalities who have shown interest. But then, there are still struggles because there are moves in some quarters to remove the PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus.

“Basically, what is responsible for the lull in presidential race has to do with the stability of the two major parties.

The two parties should have their national convention this year and the picture will be clearer on where and how the zoning arrangement will be.”

Another chieftain of the APC, Osita Okechukwu, who spoke on the issue, said besides the issue of zoning, the new political culture in the country as a result of belief in what he described as “stomach infrastructure,” by most Nigerians, partly explains why most of the presidential hopefuls are keeping their plans to themselves.

Okechukwu, who is the Director General, Voice of Nigeria (VON), insisted that it is not a question of being cautious among the presidential hopefuls as he revealed that he is aware of some of them who have already acquired buildings for campaign headquarters in Abuja.

“I know some people who have acquired buildings for campaign offices in Abuja and it is clear that people have started attending meetings,

So, I don’t think that people are afraid to declare their ambitions for the2023 presidency, but I believe that the lull in political activities is because of the mood of the nation.

Things have changed as it has become a culture of stomach infrastructure. “Immediately anyone declares ambition now, you will see people besiege him and he will start spending. You and I know that such an individual is likely to run short of funds before the main race commences,” he said.

A social commentator and Executive Director, Rights Monitoring Group (RMG), Mr. Olufemi Aduwo, who said that the 2023 presidential election is going to be dicey because there is not much difference between APC and PDP, added that “most of the gladiators are scared of President Buhari because you don’t know the mind of a man who is not even talking on an issue, so they must stay calm to see the direction.”

Source: New Telegraph

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