By Ben Ogbemudia Abuja
Though the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has said that it has not zoned its presidential ticket ahead of the 2023 general elections, there are insinuations in some quarters that it could have tactically zoned the ticket to the North.

Specifically, former governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, and broadcast media guru, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, have been reported to have said while receiving former vice president Atiku Abubakar‘s support group, that the PDP has zoned the presidential ticket to the North.

Also, the National Chairman of PDP, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, has promised to create a level playing field for all presidential aspirants on the platform of their party.

This is as the publisher of Ovation Magazine, Dele Momodu, and former president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Sam Ohuabunwa, have also visited the PDP chairman to intimate him of their interests to contest the 2023 presidential election of the party.

Ayu said he does not have a preferred candidate for its presidential ticket, that it is the members of the party that will decide its presidential candidate in the 2023 polls.

Recently, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State decided to speak on the issue of the 2023 presidency. He revealed that zoning is one issue that will give his party, the PDP, a serious challenge.

According to the Rivers governor, the issue is how to choose a presidential candidate for the party. He foresees that selecting the PDP presidential candidate will be turbulent.

But how true is this position taken by Wike? Going by the PDP National convention, some people may not agree that the selection of a PDP presidential candidate would be turbulent like Wike said. This is because the convention was peaceful and successful as most top party leaders emerged through consensus.

Again, Wike is an insider and a top influencer in the PDP. Before even saying that he must have seen some signs that made him take that stand. However, some points seem to support Wike’s position based on political developments in PDP and calculations ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

Now, there is a verbal war gradually growing among contenders for the 2023 presidential ticket of the opposition party, PDP. So far, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Senate presidents Pius Anyim and Bukola Saraki, governors Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto) and Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), are believed to be in the race.

They join the ranks of former Kano State governor, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso; Ohuabunwa, and Dele Momodu. Atiku’s former aide and political associate, Segun Sowunmi, started the verbal fight 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”. Part of the letter reads; “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 the frying pan to the fire.”

Pissed off by the letter, the spokesman of a group within the PDP, Dr. Rufus Omeire, fired and defended the young aspirants jostling for the PDP ticket.

He asked after Atiku’s political relevance that is above that of other aspirants. 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: “Concerning 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 the 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 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.”

Omeire added, “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.”

Former President of the Senate and a presidential aspirant in the 2023 election, Anyim Pius Anyim, said he is experienced enough to serve as Nigeria’s president. “I have stood with our party, the PDP, in good and bad times. Like most loyal party members, I have had my moments of elation, as well as some difficult times, but I never moved. I have never switched parties.

“Therefore, I make bold to say that I can be entrusted with the vision, mission, values, and principles of PDP as a committed party man.

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“I have been privileged to understand our national problems and appreciate their enormity and peculiarities in the last 21 years from my vantage positions in both the legislative and the executive arms of government. Therefore, I have a clear view of the task ahead as well as the solutions needed to advance the cause of our country.

“My records as President of the Senate and as Secretary to the Government of the Federation clearly show that I am more interested in building strong institutions than seeking enhancement of personal power or position. My records show effective and efficient management of the nation’s diversity based on equity, justice, fairness, and inclusiveness.

“I am a committed believer in the rule of law; and will always promote and protect the sanctity of lives, as well as the rights and liberties of all citizens.”

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Now that the battle for the ticket on the platform of PDP has just begun, will Governor Wike’s postulation that selecting the PDP presidential candidate will be turbulent become real?