From Our Political Desk
Engineer Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso,the first politician to serve two non consecutive terms as Governor since Nigeria’s return to Democracy in 1999 is nursing the ambition to contest for the presidency of Nigeria.
His first attempt was in Lagos on the 10th and 11 of December 2014 when the main Nigeria’s opposition party warmed up to unseat the ruling PDP in the 2015 General Elections.
But as politics would have it, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso lost to President Muhammad Buhari by becoming second with 954 votes to Buharis over 3 thousand votes.
While Atiku Abubakar another politician from the Northern part of Nigeria who has never been hiding his ambition to rule Nigeria came third and Governor Rochas Okorocha clinched the fourth position .
The publisher of Leadership Confidential Sam -Nda Isiah also came 5th .
Unlike Atiku Abubakar who has since indicated interest to vie for the nation’s topmost seat in 2023,Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is yet to indicate interest as the race is again gathering momentum.
2023 : Will power shift work?
In 1999 when Nigeria decided to return to Democracy ,Northern power brokers made commitment to handover power to the south on a platter of gold without any sweat from the southern part of Nigeria.
The trio of General Abdulsalam Abubakar, Retired General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and Lieutenant General Aliyu Muhammad Gusau picked their former Boss General Olusegun Obasanjo after releasing him from prison , repackaged him , employed known and unknown tactics and on May 29,1999 ,the destiny of the nation was bestowed on Obasanjo for the second time ,but this time not against his personal wish and desire.
Analysts said the dominant Nigerian press which is concentrated in the south mounted a serious propaganda for the North to handover power to the region, citing the excuse of June 12 1993 election annulment as case study to wrest power from the North.
When Obasanjo finished his 8 years in 2007 ,many understand that the former president was not committed fully to returning power to the North,that was why people said he imposed late President Umaru Musa Yaradua to succeed him despite Yardauas sickness.
So instead of the PDP to maintain the gentleman agreement to field another northerner for the 2011 General Elections, it paved way for Goodluck Jonathan to emerge,that arrangement angered many northerners and when GoodLuck Jonathan won the election,post election violence greeted prominent Northern Nigerian cities where properties of elites were razed and Non indigenes were killed.
Now with 2023 approaching ,the call for powershift as a gentleman agreement has started gaining ground again with minister of works and Housing Babatunde Raji Fashola saying for the agreement to be fulfilled the APC should field a southerner as its flagbearer for 2023 General Elections.
Since 1999,the first time the southwest backed a northerner to become President of Nigeria was in 2015 when the Present Chief Obafemi Awolowo of the region,Senator Bola Ahmad Tinubu,APC National leader asked the west to vote for President Muhmmad Buhari.
By 2023, President Buhari will finish his tenure as provided by the constitution,but the APC is yet to tell Nigerians where it’s candidate is coming from ,or it will allow a free contest between candidates from all regions so that the one backed by the party behind the scene will fly it’s flag.
But another party where a number of Nigerians are shifting their attention to is the main opposition party ,the PDP, Politicians like Alhaji Atiku Abubakar have contested under its platform in 2019, and after supreme court judgements that gave victory to President Buhari,Atiku is now warming up and have been regurgitating his structures across the country to launch him into political reckoning and for 2023 Presidency.
Another politician that slugged it out in 2019 with Atiku Abubakar in the PDP Presidential Primaries held in Photarcourt was former Governor of Kano State Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso who has never hidden his ambition to have a shot at the Presidency beginning from 2015?
If PDP decided to allow a level playing field for Atiku,Kwankwaso,Aminu Waziri Tambuwal ,the incumbent Governor of Sokoto State to go for primaries and any one of them wins,APC will have a tough time to win the Presidency easily if it fields a southerner as its Presidential flagbearer for 2023.
