Politics
Why youth votes can’t make Obi President – Chidoka *Insists Atiku, best bet for S’East
Former Minister of Aviation, and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Osita Chidoka, has explained why Ndigbo of the South East must back Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the party instead of Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), saying the former rather the latter, is the best bet for the region at the moment.
Like Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo and business mogul, Arthur Eze, Chidoka, echoed the argument that Obi, though a good candidate, would not win the 2023 presidential election, for lacking the structure and numbers of supporters.
Though he acknowledged that Obi would sweep the South East and disrupt the stronghold of the PDP in the region, he said such a development, would not affect the chances of the PDP, arguing that the former Vice President, would clear the North East and North West, which would not only make up for the loss but lead him to the desired victory.
Dismissing the argument that the revolution among the Nigerian youths, which Obi is banking on to win the election, he said it would not amount to a significant outcome because of the marked differences in sentiments between the youths of the North and their counterparts in the South.
Hear him: “Let me take something like the youth votes. There are 37 million people between the ages of 18 and 35. Of these 37 million people, nine (9) million of them are in the Northwest, 26%. So there is no national youth movement. 4.1 million of them are in the Southeast 11%. Obi can’t sway those votes.
“The issues before the youths in the South and youths in the North are different. So when we were talking about EndSars, nobody in the North moved because this is not a problem for them.”
Aside other outcomes and sentiments, Chidoka, argued that it was unwise for the South East, which had been the bedrock of the PDP to abandon the party at this time, stating that it was for this reason that many Igbo political heavyweights had refused to team up with Obi.
The former Minister, who was a guest of Sunday Politics, on Channels Television, said: “The Igbo position for me is that our significant investment in the PDP for 24 years cannot be thrown away overnight. I remain in the PDP and many Igbos remain in the PDP.
“The Igbo presidency is just around the corner. Once an Igbo man is capable of holding on strong in a party and controlling the levers of that party, that is going to happen soon. Atiku Abubakar has won the election. It is just a matter of time. When we get to February 25th, the country will say it.”
The former Minister, who explained that Atiku would also make a significant showing in the South East and South South despite the activities of the G-5 Integrity Group, made up of five governors from the South and other party big wigs, asserted that the poor performance of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last seven years, would make it easier.
“They have significantly degraded the capacity of Nigeria as a nation. They have degraded our unity in diversity and our economy,” he said stressing that just like President Muhammadu Buhari, who won elections in 2015 and 2019, did not bank on the two regions, Atiku would be satisfied with coming second in the area.
“Buhari has been president without winning those two regions. And that is what is going to happen in the forthcoming election. PDP is going to get considering vote in Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Anambra, Imo, Abia. We are going to come second. Whoever does well in the Northwest and Northeast will win the presidential election.
“What will happen is that the APC is talking about this presidency by the virtue of the fact that they have structures and they are in power. Peter Obi is significant player in the game, though this election is between the PDP and the APC
“Peter Obi’s emergence is the challenge we have in Igbo land. There are two opinions in Igbo land. One is that we can go with the Third Force to win the presidency. And I think that is a valid argument. However, I am of the opinion that the structure of the two major parties (APC/PDP) offer all the ethnic groups the opportunity of winning the presidency. Once you get the ticket of any of those parties, your pathway to becoming the president of the country is clearer.
“The reason I am of that considered view is that if you look at the considerable investment of the South East in the PDP, we are the owners of the PDP. We have given 80 per cent of the vote.
“Now, PDP did not give us the ticket of 2023, I don’t think it is enough reason to throw away that significant investment. So, those who said our best bet was to go out of the PDP and align forces with others to get the presidency have a better argument in that.
“And I can say that Obi is doing a great job at that. He is mobilising people across Nigeria. But I don’t think that is the Igbo position. For me, the Igbo position is that our significant investment in the PDP for 24 years cannot be thrown away over night.”
There is no valid order stripping Abdullahi Ganduje of his position of National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), known to the party and therefore, he will continue his duties as prescribed, the National Working Committee (NWC), has insisted, debunking that he is no longer a member of the party by the orders of the courts.
Felix Morka, spokesman of the party, who made this declaration on Wednesday, on Arise Television, maintained that neither Ganduje himself nor the party, was served with the orders, said to have been obtained against the party boss by his ward in Kano State, where he served as a two-term governor between 2015 and 2023.
Insisting that Ganduje’s position remained intact, explained that the ruling party would disregard the said court order affirming Ganduje’s suspension as APC national chairman and only honour the recent Kano Federal High Court ruling ordering a stay of the order.
The declaration is coming on a day Justice AM Liman of the Federal High Court, Abuja overturned the said suspension of Ganduje by his ward executives in Dawakin Tofa Local Government area of Kano State.
The party boss, had obtained the ruling through another ex-parte motion in which he sought to enforce his fundamental right to a fair hearing, in a suit, in which he also joined the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Department of State Services (DSS ), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and nine other individuals.
Morka told his hosts: “The order issued by the first court was very disturbing, for some reasons. First, the plaintiffs who purportedly filed that action are not recognised members of our party and therefore shouldn’t have the locus standi to invoke the authority of the court to make any such order.
“Secondly, every lawyer in this country is aware that from the Supreme Court up to the NJC, there is this cautiousness that judges don’t make orders that are far-reaching in effect on an ex parte motion or application”
Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), did his best to resolve the crisis in the party, but his suggestions for lasting peace was ignored by the National Chairman, Julius Abure.
This much was revealed by Yinusa Tanko, Chief Spokesman for the Obi-Datti Campaign Organisation, who made the revelation, said that the current crisis rocking the party, could have been prevented if the leadership had taken the advice of the former Governor of Anambra State.
A guest on The Morning Brief, a breakfast programme on Channels television, on Monday, the former campaign spokesman, said: “His Excellency, Peter Obi, has made a concerted effort in trying to intervene at any point we have this particular issue and trying to improve.
“When the issue of the national convention came up, he (Obi) suggested to the national chairman that because we are bigger now, we need to have a wider consultation: meet with responsible and interested people such as the TUC and NLC, stakeholders, the Obidient group – young generation people who are interested in seeing Nigeria work – meet with leaders who have different ideas that can midwife us into a greater height.
“All of these were the suggestions that he (Obi) made, and not only did he make those suggestions, he practicalised them because he met with the members of the National Assembly. He (Obi) met with the leadership of the party recently in Asaba trying to give them ideas on how he thinks certain things could be done and you could improve our situation but of course, you know how politics is, sometimes, people may be trying to encourage people, but they do something different.
“You can only take a horse to the river, but you cannot force it to drink water. So that’s exactly what Peter Obi has done. He has done so greatly to see if we can find a solution to some of the problems we find ourselves.”
Tanko, who argued that Abure had the right to contest the national chairmanship position again, it was only proper that the right things are done by opening the door for more people to be part of the process, noted however that the party boss went outside an initial agreement to have an all-inclusive national convention which ought to start from the ward, local government and state levels before the national level.
He said that the convention held in Nnewi Anambra State that returned Abure as the party’s leader did not conform with that agreement and therefore was not acceptable to everyone within the party.
Asked if the crisis in the party could be a problem for Obi in the next election, Tanko said Obi is a brand of his own and that he and other people would always move with him wherever he went to.
At the convention of the Labour Party held on March 27 in Nnewi, Abure was re-elected as the National Chairman for a second term by a unanimous affirmation of delegates despite strong opposition by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had also said none of its officials monitored the convention while the party’s Board of Trustees insisted that Abure’s tenure had expired.
Before the controversial convention, the NLC called for Abure’s resignation as party chairman and the immediate constitution of a caretaker transition committee to organise a legitimate and all-inclusive national convention for the party.
“There can never be peace in APC, judging by the way they run the party. The foundation is faulty. There can never be peace until the day the party will explode. The way they are running the party is wrong. There will not be peace in a party with a chairman nobody voted for.”
These were the words of Yekini Nabena, Deputy National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as he weighed in on the situation at the ruling party since the coming of Abdullahi Gaduje, former Governor of Kano State as the National Chairman.
Nabena, who argued in a statement that he personally signed that peace would continue to elude the ruling party as due to Ganduje’s clueless leadership, warned that its implosion was inevitable unless the situation was remedied.
His words: “He didn’t buy any nomination form to contest for the position but was appointed. And because he is appointed by Mr President, he acts as if every other person does not matter.
“It is even worse when the chairman sees the position as compensation for not being the Vice President. It becomes more painful when he, like his predecessors, enters Aso Villa and imposes decisions on members as what the President said just because others don’t have access to the Villa. So, they adopt name-dropping.
“The party exploding is just a matter of time because when was the last time they called for NEC meeting based on constitutional provision? Most of the members of the NWC are just appointed and they don’t know what the party stands for. We lost Bayelsa because the party chairman does not even know what it takes to win an election having lost his election in Kano.
“We have seen the crisis in Edo state that led to re-conducting the primary before the candidate could emerge. Ondo state is building up and nobody knows what will be the outcome. The party cannot do the right thing because nobody is checkmating anybody.”
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