Akani Alaka examines the implication of the emergence of former Senate president, Iyorcha Ayu as the Northern consensus candidate for the chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party for the party’s 2023 presidential ticket.
Amidst highwire intrigues with eyes on the 2023 presidency, northern leaders of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP last Thursday chose former Senate president, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, as their consensus candidate for the election of the national chairmanship at the national convention party scheduled to hold in Abuja on October 31.
Ayu, a Senate president in Nigeria’s failed Third Republic emerged the consensus candidate after former governor of Katsina State, Ibrahim Shema, and the incumbent deputy national chairman (North) Senator Nazif Suleiman, considered to be front runners for the position were forced to step down. Suleiman and Shema stepped down when it became clear that the governors who called the shots at the over three-hour meeting of northern PDP stakeholders held at the Bauchi State Government Lodge were not in support of their ambition.
“Distinguished Senator Iyorcha Ayu has emerged consensus candidate of the North. With this, we are fully prepared; we are ready. We will be talking with our colleagues from other parts of the country, especially, the South that they see reasons for this consensus candidate and give us support during the 30 and 31 convention of PDP,” Governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri told journalists at the end of the meeting.
He was flanked by leaders of the party in the North, including Governor Aminu Tambuwal, the chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum.
Ayu’s Race To Becoming Northern Consensus Candidate
The North Central stakeholders of PDP had two days before adopted Ayu as their consensus candidate for the party’s national chairman in a meeting chaired by Gov. Samuel Ortom out of five people from the region aspiring for the position.
“There was no voting, we all agreed that he is the right person for this job at this time. Tomorrow (Wednesday), the northern stakeholders of our party are going to meet. So, he will be presented to the northern caucus of the party. I think that by the grace of God they will also accept him,” Ortom said at the end of the meeting held last Tuesday.
The meeting was attended by former Senate presidents David Mark and Bukola Saraki; former Kogi Governor, Ibrahim Idris and some former governors from the zone, including Francis Agbo, a member of the House of Representatives.
As it is, the prediction of the Benue State governor came to pass with the decision of the Northern caucus of the party to adopt Ayu as their consensus candidate last Thursday.
Ayu In the Mix Northern PDP’s 2023 Presidential Gameplan
The emergence of Ayu as the national chairman of PDP is a done deal as the party’s National Executive Committee has already approved the recommendations of Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of the Enugu-led National Convention Zoning Committee that the national chairman of the PDP be zoned to the North. PDP NEC also approved that the positions currently in the South should be swapped with the North and vice versa.
As such, another challenger from the South or even from the North to Ayu is ruled out given that his emergence was supported by key stakeholders including the governors.
Speaking after he was announced as the consensus Northern candidate for the chairmanship position, Ayu said, “It is my singular honour to accept the responsibilities which have been put on my shoulders from the North. I believe that at the end of the day, it will not only be the North, but it will be all Nigerians. The PDP will be back to its winning ways. And we will work tirelessly after the convention to rebuild the party to take over power to rebuild the country.”
The former Senate president from Benue in North Central or part of the country some of the indigenes liked to refer to as Middle Belt is a Christian.
According to analysts, his choice as consensus candidate is another strong indication that Northern members of the party with their eyes on the 2023 presidential ticket of the party are not ready to forgo their ambition despite the clamour by some members of the party to produce the party’s presidential candidate in 2023.
As was learnt, leading aspirants on the platform of the party from the core North – the North-west and North-east, notably former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, from Adamawa State and Aminu Tambuwal and Bala Mohammed, the governors of Sokoto and Bauchi States had worked to ensure that nobody from their zone was chosen as the chairmanship candidate so as not to jeopardize their presidential ambition.
Analysts also said with Ayu, a Christian in the PDP saddle as the chairman, the northern aspirants, mostly have succeeded in diffusing the potency of religion, one of the tools usually thrown in by Nigerian politicians in political battles to the disadvantage of their Southern counterparts who are mostly Christians.
“Though the PDP said it will throw the bid for its 2023 presidential ticket open to aspirants from all parts of the country, it will not be a surprise that when it comes to the crunch, you will hear some people saying you cannot have a Christian chairman and a Christian presidential candidate,” an analyst told this newspaper last week.
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Aside the southern aspirants, supporters of former Senate President Saraki who is from the North-central like Ayu are also crying foul last week. Some of them claimed that the choice of Ayu, an associate of Atiku, his key opponent in the battle for the PDP was a plot to scheme out of the bid of Kwara-born Saraki from the ticket of the opposition party.
However, speaking in a television interview last Friday, Ayu insisted that his choice will not preclude any member of the zone from seeking the presidential ticket of the party. He also expressed his readiness to step down from the position if there is need to do so in deference to zoning or any other arrangement by the party. But for the PDP, the intrigues over which of the regions will produce its next presidential candidate have just entered another level.
