Presidential Primaries: Strengths And Weaknesses Of PDP’s 12 Candidates
The Oasis Reporters
October 7, 2018
Rabiu Kwankwaso, Aminu Tambuwal, Bukola Saraki.
Bottom (left to right) Atiku Abubakar, Ibrahim Dankwambo, David Mark.
Bottom (left to right) Atahiru Bafarawa, Ahmed Makarfi, Datti Baba-Ahmed.
By Sunday, October 7, 2018, it would have been a done deal on deciding among the Twelve candidates cleared to run on the ticket of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP against President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressive Congress, APC who defeated former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of the PDP in 2015.
In commending the large turnout of delegates for the convention, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, who is the Chairman of the planning committee of the Special National Convention stated: “We are happy with the large turnout of delegates for the convention, you can see that almost all the delegates are in their designated areas and I can assure you that in few minutes time, voting will commence.
“I commend the aspirants for the show of love for our party and our country, the voting pattern will be credible, transparent; there will be no room for anyone to know who voted for him or not, we are one family and the overall vote will determine who will be our Presidential candidate in 2019,” he said.
Continuing, Okowa said: “We are taking our time to conduct a very free, credible, transparent convention that will be acceptable to our party, Nigerians and all lovers of democracy.”
Majority of the Delegates seem set to put the 12 Candidates under the microscope looking for who can best send Buhari back to Daura.
The 12 candidates in the race are: Ibrahim Dankwambo, Atiku Abubakar, Ahmed Makarfi, Aminu Tambuwal, Datti Baba-Ahmed, Attahiru Bafarawa, Sule Lamido, Bukola Saraki, David Mark, Jonah Jang, Kabiru Turaki and Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Looking at their personae, it is difficult not
to consider the resilience in the character of Ibrahim Dankwambo, Governor of Gombe State who remained in the party when it was not fashionable to do so, added to the fact that he is from the North East, a region that is favoured now to take a shot at the presidency as all the previous presidents of northern extraction came from the North West.
Dankwambo had a distinguished civil service career as Nigeria’s Accountant General before retiring into politics where his performance in the governance of Gombe State has been sterling and exemplary. He is on his final tenure as a two term governor of the North East State. The incredible thing about him is that when the Buhari gale swept through the North claiming almost all the States of the North except his State of Gombe and Taraba State, he stood solid like a rock in defense of his Party and his State, ably supported by his Gombe people.
His SA, New Media, Abu Ubaida Ibrahim Kuna said, “surely loyalty must mean something”, added to track record on performance. He has been one Governor that President Buhari could not intimidate or harass and therefore believes that if the Delegates bestow on him their kind votes, he will go on to defeat Muhammadu Buhari and return PDP to Aso Rock.
Dankwambo is debonair and a good mixer. Apart from his early education and First degree that he took at the prestigious Ahmadu University in Zaria, northern Nigeria, his second degree was at the University if Lagos while his Post graduate diploma was sourced at Delta State University, Abraka in the South South and his doctorate degree at Igbinedion University in Edo State. All his friends are routing for him to emerge victorious. Dankwambo is from a northern minority ethnic group, the Bolawa in Gombe State .
Another candidate in the frontline is Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s former Vice President under the PDP administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Both of them later left the PDP, and Atiku Abubakar’s support for Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 largely led to the defeat of his own party the PDP. His sojourn in the APC seemed fruitless because he came back to his original party to struggle it’s ticket. He is rich and quite formidable, but being of the same Fulani ethnic group with Buhari may make Buhari sleep better,according to a Delegate the Oasis Reporters spoke to.
There’s also another serving governor in the race besides Ibrahim Dankwambo and that’s Aminu Tambuwal, Sokoto State governor who was PDP Speaker of the House of Representatives but defected to the ruling All Progressive Congress to emerge as the APC governor of Sokoto State. He’s back to the PDP and currently in the race for the presidency. His emergence as speaker under the PDP was against the PDP’s zoning formula and he showed a stubborn streak in getting the position. He left the PDP for the APC where he became governor. Now he has taken the position he got in the APC, back to the PDP he once helped make lose. Some pundits say his conduct fails the test of consistency.
Bukola Saraki is a two term former governor of Kwara State under the PDP. He defected to the APC and became the Senate President. He can give Buhari a good fight but ethical issues surrounding his relationships with his father’s bank that failed continue to mar his relationships with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Should he run against Buhari, it would give the president armor to cry over his oft repeated mantra that powerful forces are frustrating his war against corruption. Perception right or wrong, would give Buhari some leverage, where he shouldn’t necessarily get.
Besides Bukola Saraki is his predecessor in office, former Senate President, David Mark. He calls himself, last man standing who has weathered the storm with the PDP without ever defecting.
Historically, northern middle belt Christians where David Mark hails from have often shied away from running for the presidency whenever it is zoned to the North, leaving the field wide open to only the Muslims of the North.
But the unchecked aggression and near annihilation they are facing from the unrestrained Fulani herdsmen militia has suddenly galvanized them into action, seeking to harness their strength and make a go for the presidency.
The drawback David Mark could face would be the fear of core Muslim North citizens who may fear retribution from their long troubled Christian brethren in the Middle belt. Enough sensitization seeks not to have been done to build bridges of love before they can earn the trust and votes of the core northerners.
Another Christian in the race is Jonah David Jang, former Plateau state governor. He is making a strong bid to rally the Middle belt behind him.
Kabiru Turaki is another contestant.The first Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN is equally in the race and hails from Kebbi. Coming from the North West, he came into limelight when President Goodluck Jonathan appointed him as Special Duties Minister. He is also the Chairman of former ministers Association, but little is known of him in the South.
Former Sokoto State governor, Attahiru Bafarawa is equally in the race. He has journeyed from the ANPP to the PDP, then as presidential candidate of the DPP, a Party he formed himself before going back to the PDP. Bafarawa has not etched himself much in People’s consciousness, whereas a politician needs that to emerge victorious.
The same description of not being too well known or remembered outside his State can equally apply to Datti Baba- Ahmed, another Presidential hopeful.
But Senator Datti Baba Ahmed is a young and vibrant Nigerian who has all the credentials to give Buhari a good fight.
Datti Baba-Ahmed studied Economics at the prestigious University of Westminster, United Kingdom
At the age of 41, he had worked for the Security Printing and Minting company in Lagos, obtained two different Masters degrees, a PhD, served as elected Hon. Representative, Distinguished Senator, and established one of the top ranking private universities with two other companies employing over 600 people drawn from every state in the country.
Datti Baba-Ahmed has a passion for educational advancement and he is the Pro Chancellor of Baze University in Abuja.
His emergence in the political firmament sent former Kaduna State governor, Ahmed Makarfi into retirement from the Senate. Both of them are in the race for the PDP ticket. And both of them would share Kaduna Delegates votes. It has already put them at a disadvantage as their clout in the South is very minimal.
The case of Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is markedly different because he hails from Kano, a highly populous part of the North West where political followership for Kwankwaso is practically cult like. He is seen in the South as a man not in tune with restructuring, a subject southerners hold dear to heart. Kwankwaso can make a good President but his views on revenue sharing from resources found in the South make him unpopular in the South who are kingmakers today. Many remember his ungentlemanly treatment of President Jonathan when he acted the rebel, leading many PDP governors from the North to force the party to it’s knees and make it lose. Today, he needs the People he once treated with contempt.
Last but not the least of the contestants is former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido. He is yet to show the same kind of streak that Kwankwaso has, looking more laid back from the largely rural State of Jigawa.
As only one of the Twelve would emerge as President Buhari’s main challenger, the rest are at liberty to negotiate deals with the eventual winner who will emerge tomorrow, with all things being equal.
