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2023: Party forces rise against Atiku’s last chance
 
From: Punch
Sun, 30 Jan 2022   ||   Nigeria,
 

As the 2023 election is drawing closer, Political icon and veteran presidential election contender, Atiku Abubakar, is up against mounting opposition in his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Ironically, going by the current headwinds and his age – 75 years old on November 25, 2021, the next presidential election billed for February 2023, would possibly be his last chance to vie for Nigeria’s foremost position.

At present, he remains a formidable contender for the PDP presidential ticket despite mounting opposition to his zone, age, and frequent contention for the same position.

This is, perhaps, attributable to his charisma and political clout garnered over the years in the political battlefield.

Not a few political pundits would argue that he remains the biggest and surest bet for the PDP at present in the party’s quest to return to power in 2023.

The Atiku choice has been canvassed by a chief­tain of the PDP in Edo State, Barr. Kenneth Iman­suangbon, the leader of the technical committee, Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, and other notable Nigerians.

Imasuangbon says Atiku remains the best candidate of the PDP to defeat the ruling APC if the party is desirous of winning, adding that the former Vice President has the prerequisite experi­ence, contacts across the country and has impacted in many lives through his many philanthropic works.

Dokpesi says if elected, Atiku would rule for a single term of four years, which would pave the way for the South-East to pro­duce the president in 2027.

But some political analysts, who hold different opinions, have shredded this line of argument and blanket conclusion that Atiku is the man to beat.

The opinion that Atiku is the best choice is already facing serious criticisms from different quarters, as some Nigerians are already kicking against any perceived move to field a northerner.

Aside the erstwhile Information Commissioner in Edo State and one of the former spokespersons of Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign during the 2019 presidential election, Kassim Afegbua, who has asked the elder statesman not to run again, there are other groups that have voiced their nay.

On Monday, over 1000 Civil Society Organisations stormed the secretariats of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the opposition PDP to de­mand that the presidency be zoned to the South.

The protesters, under the auspices of Coalition of Civil Society Groups in Nigeria (CCSG), who displayed placards and chanted solidarity songs, barricaded the gate of both political parties, insisting that since the North has completed eight years with the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari, it was only fair for power to shift to the South.

 

In a counter move against the position of Afegbua and the Coalition of Civil Society Groups and other opinions, another civil society group, under the aegis of Justice and Equity Group (JEG), said the ticket should be zoned to the North in the inter­est of fairness and justice, while maintaining that the presidency, under the ad­ministration of the PDP, had remained in the South for a total of 14 years.

Indeed, there’s no doubt that Atiku’s interest for 2023 is facing stiff opposi­tion.

 

 

 

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