‘It’ll be better if Southern candidate runs against Tinubu’
The forthcoming national convention of the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), to pick the presidential standard bearer of the party, will not be a walkover for a Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. This is because there appear to be some elements within the Northern bloc who are working for the emergence of a candidate from the Southern part of the country to challenge the incumbent Bola Ahmed Tinubu come 2027.
Sources in the know within the party told Saturday Telegraph that these elements are employing a two-pronged approach to ensure their preferred candidate, which many say is the former Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, to triumph over the former number two man in the country at the convention.
Apart from Abubakar and Obi, and other chieftains of the ADC interested in picking the ticket of the party, the immediate past Minister for Transport, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, has also declared interest in the ADC ticket. The former Vice President however remains the main contender with the biggest war chest and reach to clinch the ticket considering his vast network of political contacts and deep pocket to be able to outwit the others at the convention.
Findings by our correspondent from some top leaders of the party revealed that it might not be a smooth sail for the Adamawa State born former customs officers as some elements are working to ensure the emergence of a Southern candidate, preferably, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 General Elections, Mr Obi.
“Things are not rosy for the presidential bid of the Waziri (Abubakar’s traditional title) as we speak be- cause some ADC members are rooting for a Southern candidate to square up against President Tinubu come 2027, and they are working seriously to make that happen,” one of the sources told our correspondent in a telephone chat during the week.
He added that the realisation of a likelihood of victory at the convention as well as concrete assurances from some prominent personalities in the North prompted the decision of Obi to openly declare for the ADC recently in Enugu, the capital of the defunct Eastern Region.
According to the sources who pleaded not to be named, those plotting the ‘Obi for President’ agenda have the enlisted prominent Nigerians to help prevail on the former Vice President to stand down and allow the South to take the slot.
“These elements are insisting that it would only be fair for a fellow Southerner to square up against President Tinubu and not for the North to field a candidate, arguing that support for a candidate from the North would raise tension in the country.
“They (the promoters of Peter Obi in the North) believe that support for him would douse agitation for Biafra in the East as well as rekindle the old friendship between the North and the East. Don’t forget that the South East has never produced a democratically elected President for the country and some of our people believe that support for Peter Obi would erase the age-long notion that the North is politically antagonistic to the East,” another source added.
When asked to name those plotting Peter Obi agenda, he said, “Some former governors from the North West and some retired Generals from across the country led by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.” Abubakar had recently hinted that a lot of pressure was being mounted on him when he issued a press statement vowing not to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race.
In the statement entitled ‘Nigeria’s Democracy Under Siege: Opposition Faces Existential Threat, issued by his media aide, Mr. Paul Ibe, he (Abubakar) noted that all contenders for the ADC ticket would submit themselves to a presidential convention, having been assured by the party’s national leadership of “its commitment to an open, transparent and competitive process for selecting its flag bearer.”
Indeed, the leadership of the party has resolved to allow all the contenders for the ticket to present themselves to delegates to the convention who will be the ultimate deciders.
