2023: Why North may not produce consensus candidate for PDP

Mr. Bukola Saraki is among the PDP presidential aspirants from north. And he is among the few who advise the party to go for a consensus candidate. Northern elites are making arrangements towards that. 

The northern aspirants recently held a meeting with the ex military president Ibrahim Babangida. The aim is to find a common ground to present someone from the northern region to clinch the ticket of the PDP. Yet it may not work.

The issue is that virtually all the aspirants from north are seriously interested in the ticket. And how can one bend for the other? Somehow unimaginable to say the least.

Would the aspirants ask Mr. Atiku Abubakar and Bukola Saraki to step down? Atiku is determined to take power from Muhammadu Buhari in 2023. His focus is on ruling the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He may not be ready to surrender.

Mr. Bukola Saraki is running for the second time in a row. And he knows this might be his last chance. Opportunity knocks once. He must have calculated the possibility of not having the chance anymore. Hence, he will push his own candidacy forward.

Let’s even agree that both Atiku Abubakar and Bukola Saraki withdraw from the race. Would Mr. Aminu Tambuwal or Bala Mohammed be the consensus candidate? Of course, Tambuwal comes from the same region as the incumbent, Buhari.

Or would Atiku jettison his own dream to let Mr. Bala Mohammed go on like that? It is quite a knotty issue. The aspirants are strong enough to represent the party. And that is why consensus may not work in the region.

The Peoples Democratic Party may do away with the zoning formula. This is a possibility. But that doesn’t mean consensus would work. The northern aspirants may gimmick one another.

On a final analysis, each of them would go to poll to fight for political survival. The possibility of using a consensus is really low. And unless other sociocultural, religion and political leaders from north intervene, there may be no consensus.