Presidency 2023: APC, PDP plot Northeast, Southeast pairings  

The configuration of the politicking in the preparations for the 2023 general elections, essentially, the presidential election, has continued to alter at every stage. The two dominant parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Demcoratric Party (PDP), have been unpredictable on the issue of zoning. The two parties appear to have abandoned zoning as the northern elite insist on retaining the president in northern Nigeria.

The presidential game appears to be changing more frequently in the ruling APC, while the PDP is also weighing its options on the best advantages of winning the presidential election in 2023.

In both parties, regional interests are overriding national interest. While the south agitates for zoning to the region, the north seeks regional interest to retain power in 2023.

From the emerging schemes, the southwest seems to be seconded to the sideline, as the arrangements of the two dominant parties may be throwing up presidential candidates from the northeast and vice presidential candidates from the southeast or south-south.

Party sources disclosed that APC leaders are watching the PDP and who emerges its presidential candidate. The APC is perceived to be waiting for the PDP to conduct its primary, and if Atiku or any northern presidential candidate emerges, the APC would also nominate a northern candidate. Such arrangement would sideline the southwest where reputable presidential aspirants like Vice President Yemi Osinbajo SAN, APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, beside others like Pastor Tunde Bakare, etc., who made immense contributions to the formation and growth of the APC.

The tendency in the PDP is to field former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from the northeast, while Peter Obi is projected to stand in as the Vice-Presidential candidate.

The APC is also projecting the President of the Seante, Ahmad Lawan, as its presidential candidate.  The former Minister of State for Education, Nwajuba, was revealed to be considered for vice president to Lawan. Some APC stakeholders were said to be making a case for the former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, for vice president, considering the sacrifices he made for the formation and growth of the APC.

There are insinuations that President Muhammadu Buhari prefers Nwajuba for vice president. It was indicated that Nwajuba’s mother is a Kanuri, and Buhari’s mother is also a Kanuri. President Buhari was said to have preference for a northeast presidential candidate.

The arrangements in both parties have the tendency of making the presidential contest be a show for the northeast and southeast in the 2023 elections, while other zones could be clapping from the sidelines.