in , , , ,

Who picks APC presidential ticket?

AMONG those jostling for the presidential ticket of All Progressives Congress (APC), only four have paid the N2.5m expression of interest and N25m nomination forms. The four are General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Governor Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso and Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah.  It is therefore assumed in most quarters that these are the four that will be vying for the APC presidential ticket.

Who among these four will eventually pick the ticket? Let us take a look at their chances.

 

GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI (retd)

MUHAMMADU BUHARI
MUHAMMADU BUHARI

General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) is 72 years old. He is Fulani from Daura in Kastina State. He has been the military governor of North Eastern State which presently consists of six states.  He was the Minister of Petroleum during Obasanjo regime as military head of state. He was the GOC of Third Division of Nigerian Army. He became Nigeria military Head of State between 1983 and 1985 when he was removed in another military coup led by General Ibrahim Babangida. He was the Chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) during late General Sani Abacha’s regime.

He has contested to be the president of the country three times -in 2003, with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2007 with late President Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, and in 2011, with the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan.  In all of these presidential elections, he was the runner-up with substantial votes from the northern part of the country.

Aside his rich political pedigree, General Buhari also has some other things going for him.  He is a man of impeccable character. Of all the juicy political offices that he has held, he has never been accused of any corruption or abuse of office.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo tested this in 1999, when he set up a probe panel to investigate Buhari’s tenure as the chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) between 1994-1998. The first panel did not find any incriminating evidence of corruption against him (Buhari).  Obasanjo was not satisfied.  He set another panel and the result was the same.

Despite being a military governor, Minister of Petroleum, GOC, military Head of State and Chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), the man has no mansion to his name.  All he has are his modest house in Daura, Kastina State and another one in Kaduna State.

General Buhari also has large followers, particularly among the youths from the Northern part of the country. In all, his three previous presidential bids the man did not garner anything less than 12 million votes in each of the elections.

All these will be a plus to APC, if General Muhammadu Buhari emerged their presidential candidate in the December 3, 2014 presidential primary of the party.

At his age (72), his bad human rights records when he was military Head of State and his stance on Sharia law may be the few issues that some people have against him.

 

RABIU MUSA KWANKWASO

RABIU MUSA KWANKWASO
RABIU MUSA KWANKWASO

Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is the incumbent governor of Kano State. He has indicated his intention to run for the presidential primary of APC by purchasing the Expression of Interest and Nomination forms. He is 58 years old. He is an engineer by profession and was in the civil service of Kano State before he ventured into partisan politics in the 90’s when he contested and won election into House of Representatives, where he eventually emerged the Deputy Speaker.

In 1999, he was elected the governor of Kano State on the political platform of PDP. He lost his second term bid as governor of Kano State to Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau of ANPP in 2003 but was appointed Minister of Defence by President Obasanjo. He resigned his ministerial appointment in 2007 to contest for the governorship of Kano State but lost again to Ibrahim Shekarau. He was, however, not deterred and in 2011 when he contested for the same post he won.

Dr. Kwankwaso has his integrity intact because in all the political offices that he has held there has never been any corruption allegation levelled against him.  This probably explains why the EFCC has not been after him despite his running battle with President Goodluck Jonathan. He also has age in his favour, at least going by the two other aspirants’ ages.  He is still the youngest.  But does he have the mass appeal of Buhari or the financial power of an Atiku? We doubt this very much. His chances of clinching the APC ticket will certainly go beyond the issue of his age.

One other thing that does not stand in his favour is the fact his political antecedent is PDP and it may therefore be a bit difficult for core members of APC to trust him with their presidential power.  This also goes for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who has been in and out of PDP.

 

ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR

Atiku-Abubakar
Atiku-Abubakar

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is 68 years old.  Prior to his venturing into politics, he was in Nigerian Customs where he rose to the position of Deputy Controller. He, like Buhari, is also Fulani. He also has a rich political pedigree. He was a presidential aspirant of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1993 Jos Convention of the party. He later stepped down for late M.K.O Abiola on the agreement that he would be appointed the vice president. That was not to be.  He was a founding member of People Democratic Movement (PDM), the political organisation of late Shehu Yar’Adua which later merged with other political organizations to form People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998. He later emerged the governor of Adamawa State in 1999 before he was appointed the Vice President by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in that year. He was Nigeria’s Vice President between 1999 and 2007.

In 2007, he was the presidential candidate of ACN in that year’s presidential election where he came distant third with 2.6 millon votes to late Musa Yar’Adua and General Muhammadu Buhari who came first and second respectively.

In 2011, he dumped ACN and went back to PDP where he contested for the party’s presidential ticket with President Goodluck Jonathan and Mrs. Sarah Jubril. He lost.

What the former Vice President has going for him is political network which he has built overtime and his stupendous wealth which many believed he can use to sway the delegates to vote for him if the party adopts direct or indirect voting  of delegates.

He also has to his advantage the experience of someone who knows workings of the economy by virtue of the fact he was in charge of the economy in his first term as Vice President between 1999-2003.

His albatross may be his political inconsistency which many believed came about because of his desperation to become Nigeria’s president at all cost. For instance, he left PDP for ACN in 2007 because Obasanjo would not have allowed him to pick the party’s presidential ticket in the first instance.

Again in 2011, he dumped ACN, only to go back to PDP just to get the party’s presidential ticket which unfortunately he did not get.  Now he is in APC of which ACN is an integral part all in a bid to secure their presidential ticket.

Despite his stupendous wealth and his political networking, he did not command a large following among the electorate. This is certainly a minus to his chances of winning the presidency for the party.

–  TOLANI ABATTI

Encomium

Written by Encomium

A media, tech and events company.

What do you think?

Leave a Reply

Avatar

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Annie Idibia, Nicole Chikwe and Tania Omotayo support their men at Hennessy Artistry Club Tour

‘Good Luck Jonathan has done well’ – Dr Dako Mamudu