Nigeria general election is fast approaching and all the major political parties are choosing their flag-bearers.
PDP just concluded its primaries and Atiku Abubakar has emerged as its presidential candidate that will challenge the incumbent Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling APC.

Many Nigerians are eager to know who PDP will select as the running-mate to Atiku and the geopolitical zone the individual will hail from.
Obviously, there seems to be a consensus that the North should retain the presidency. Sadly, the electorates are once again faced with a decision to choose the lesser of two evils. One is an unmitigated disaster while the other is recycled — having served as vice president in the past.

The only way that PDP will defeat APC is by galvanizing support in its strongholds. That was something the party failed to do in 2015 and was eventually ousted from power as a result.
While Buhari was consolidating his northern base, Jonathan took his Eastern fortress for granted. The consequence was voters apathy that cost him reelection.

In 2015, Jonathan got less votes in southeast than was given to him in 2011 because a lot of people were indifferent due to his underwhelming performance in the region. You don't abandon or spite your support base to please your adversaries. It can only make you weaker in the end.

Check the numbers. In 2011, PDP received 4,985,246 in South-East and 6,118,608 in South-South. By 2015, the figures were not replicated.
Jonathan got 2,464,906 in the South-East and 4,714,725 in the South-South.
You will only understand the impact of the deficit when you take into consideration that Buhari won 2015 election with less than three million votes.

PDP will repeat that mistake if its vice presidential candidate does not come from the East this time around.
Such decision will certainly portray the party as ungrateful. In its quest for acceptability in hostile territories, It will be utterly disrespectful to neglect the aspirations of the party faithfuls that remained steadfast even during the most difficult times. It is not as though the position of Vice President matters so much to the region or that the office will solve their problems, but not offering them such will only show disdain.

As can be deduced from the figures above, it is evident that PDP did not lose in 2015 because it failed to win in South-West, but that it couldn't get enough votes from its Eastern stronghold.

Majority of South-West electorates are loyal to an individual called Bola Tinubu, and tend to follow his political leanings.You cannot win their votes by selecting a Vice President from that region, and they have consistently shown this tendency. In 2011, Buhari failed to gain their support even when his running-mate was Tunde Bakare. They also rejected Obasanjo in 1999.

© Desmond Amaechị 08/10/2018


https://awarenessng.com/news/details/1102/pdp-and-ndigbo-using-two-hands-in-lifting-an-idol-is-an-honour-to-it

PDPs vice looks almost definite to come from the East, as zoning it to any other region would be suicidal and The Atikulate Man sure knows that.