THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, deserve commendation for their generally hitch-free and credible presidential primaries.
The APC comes in for a bigger pat on the back for the courage and patriotic spirit that committed its Northern leadership to ensure that the presidential candidate of the party comes from the South. This is more so when they had all the opportunity to take advantage of the weakness among the Southern aspirants as evidenced in their fractious tendencies.
The aspirations of Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; Governors of Kogi and Jigawa states, Yahaya Bello and Abubakar Badaru respectively, and Senator Ahmed Yarima, could have tempted them to give their presidential ticket to a Northerner. Indeed, the election of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, as the flagbearer of the opposition PDP was another compelling reason for the APC, especially its Northern elements, to be tempted to also look for a Northern counterpart for Atiku.
President Muhammadu Buhari pleasantly shocked Nigerians when he suddenly dropped the idea of adopting a candidate and using “consensus” to impose his will on his party and Nigerians. In spite of APC Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu’s failed attempt to sway Northern leaders to adopt Lawan, the president’s vow of “no preferred candidate” and “no imposition” was allowed to prevail.
While explaining the rationale for the 13 APC Northern Governors’ support for a Southern candidate, the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Simon Lalong of Plateau State, said it was to promote national peace and unity.
They took the decision in spite of protests by some aggrieved Northern youths who felt that power must remain in the North.
Definitely, the APC Northern governors were wise to allow the South produce the party’s 2023 flagbearer. If they had done otherwise, the party could easily have disintegrated after the convention.
The outburst by a leader of the party and presidential contender, Bola Tinubu, was an ominous sign of the calamity waiting for the APC.
Secondly, the Southern leaders of the party had been very instrumental to its defeat of an incumbent president of Southern extraction, Goodluck Jonathan, in 2015. They ended Buhari’s serial failures to clinch the coveted position.
They sacrificed their finance, intellectual resources and energy to give Buhari victory and keep him in power for eight years despite his obvious shortcomings.
It would have been a blunder capable of producing volcanic reactions if the APC had anointed another Northerner after eight years of Buhari in power.
The only way that Nigeria can survive and possibly thrive is for its diverse stakeholders to learn to give and take, live and let live, be their brother’s keepers and eschew the “might is right” syndrome. We must respect one another’s entitlements.
Justice is always a winner.
(Vanguard)
