_29/05/22_

By Chris O

Finally PDP has chosen its Presidential Candidate in the person of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. He pulled the most votes, and was closely followed by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.

President Buhari and his kitchen cabinet had smartly used the INEC to play a smart one on PDP, by extending APC's nomination date by one week, when it became practically impossible for the PDP to reschedule theirs. APC wants to see how the PDP votes, before deciding on who carries their own flag. Having seen how the PDP voted they can now "wisely" make adjustments to choose someone whom they believe will attempt beating Atiku, and thereby continuing with President Buhari's grossly clueless and nepotic governance. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will fight tooth and nail to carry APC flag. Can anyone stop him? We shall see in a week's time.

With Peter Obi out of the PDP, Atiku should better choose Wike, the bulldozer, as his Vice President, in order for them to beat the APC. PDP can never choose a Muslim to pair with Atiku. Wike will fight tooth and nail to be the next VP. Theirs will be the winning ticket, just like Atiku/Peter Obi would have. The Igbos have now lost their chances of becoming President in the nearest future through Mr Obi's indiscretion and thoughtless exit from the main opposition party. Refer to part 1 of this article to see my main reason for this.

Atiku had earlier promised taking Peter Obi with him in the coming dispensation, like he did a few years ago. This has now been overtaken by events.

Peter Obi has blown the Igbo chances of governing Nigeria by leaving PDP and rushing to join Labour Party. Unfortunately Labour Party has not got the structures with which to win a Presidential election. Not even a teaming up of Labour with the other minor parties can spring a surprise against APC or PDP. They need good geographical spread in the 774 local government areas in order to attempt upstaging the two major parties.

Make no mistakes about it, Peter Obi has followed his conscience by not towing the _sharing_ of money to delegates in agreement with Nigeria's deep-rooted and institutionalised corruption pattern. I commend him for following his conscience. But he has also set the Igbos backwards for many years to come by leaving the PDP. He remains the strongest and trustworthy Igbo who has the capacity to do a good job for Nigeria and Nigerians.

Truly Peter Obi has got massive followership in the social media, but that is where it ends. Large Social media followership cannot win elections in Nigeria. Money politics does, quite Unfortunately, because people are "hungry".

What happens to Pa Adebanjo and Edwin Clarke's continued crusade for Igbo Presidency? What happens to Ohaneze Ndigbo's cry against marginalisation? Continued insecurity especially in the South East? Only time will tell what happens.

Will President Buhari and his APC spring a surprise to upstage Atiku with federal might and finance? They will try very hard but I don't see that happening. Atiku wouldn't mind going for loans from United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, knowing that this is his very last chance to fulfil his vaulting ambition to rule Nigeria. He has promised good governance and restructuring of our polity. This is to be seen when, and if the time comes.

Let us also hope not to see too much instability in our security challenges and well-being that could lead to forceful change of power before May 2023.

Will 2023 be, politically? Your guess is as good as mine.

So help us, God!

Nice one Baba. Atiku/Wike is an unbeatable combo.
I celebrate my FTC quietly.