By Bala Ibrahim.

In the race to clinch victory and sweep the presidential polls come 2023, the two major political parties in Nigeria, the APC and the PDP, are undoubtedly hysteric, particularly after the choice of the Waziri of Adamawa, Alh. Atiku Abubakar, as the flag bearer of the PDP. The calculations were earlier complicated for them with the decision of Kwankwaso to fly the presidential flag of a dark and initially lowly rated political party, the NNPP.

In Nigerian politics, if Atiku is an enigma, then Kwankwaso is a quandary. Underrate or trivialize the importance of the two, at the risk of you labouring in tribulation. They are forces too strong to treat with triviality.

I am not a political scientist with the mastery in political permutations, but I was a student of marketing, and a regular visitor to the market. So in the art of competition, especially with regards the strive to gain advantage or win support or defeat an opponent in the market, I have a near comfortable comprehension of how the forces work. It is from that comprehension, that I intend to market the merit of matching Atiku Abubakar with either Mallam Nasir El-Rufai or Professor Babagana Zulum, as the panacea to the present problem of how best the APC can keep the keys to the presidency.

Marketing strategy involves the outlining of visions and values, in the direction that are in tandem with the overall selling efforts of the business’s value proposition. This means with good marketing strategies, there would be an improvement in sales and the possibility of success in the business, be it the business of selling beans, or the political marketing of a presidential candidate.

With the choice of Atiku Abubakar by the PDP, one needs not be a soothsayer to say that the game plan would change. The issues would not be looked at from the sense of sensible reasoning, but the prism of sectional sentiments. The likelihood of issue-based campaign and conviction is deformed, as the opponent would take advantage of every mistake to entice the electorate, using sectional sentiment silently and secretly. In the end, performance, patriotism and national balance, would not be allowed to play any role in balancing the equation. Northerners may vote just on the basis of sectional sentiments. And the north controls the vote.

Kwankwaso had already placed himself as a spoiler, that would work towards splitting the northern votes, particularly the votes from Kano, the big reservoir of Nigeria’s votes.

Kwankwaso is not interested in winning the presidency because he knows it’s a herculean task, and he hasn’t the structure for effective national reach. All he want’s is to take control of the Kano votes, humiliate Ganduje and remain relevant in politics till they part ways with his stooge and son in law, Abba Kabiru Yusuf. From experience, that’s only a matter of time and the degree of frequency of siren and the power of the air-conditioning in the government house.

The APC therefore needs to put on its thinking cap, by setting aside the issue of zoning or power shift, after all the PDP started it, and has now violated it.

Like the PDP, it should bring in a northerner with zeal and zest. For me, Zulum has the zeal and zest to take the party to the zenith. Some may argue he hasn’t the muscle to beat Atiku politically, but I beg to disagree.

Yes Zulum hasn’t the political mileage of Atiku, but with what he has achieved in Borno within four years, particularly in placing premium on the security of the citizenry and the development of physical infrastructure in the state, Zulum can comfortably square up with Atiku, especially if given another strong man from the other side of the block as a running mate.

Zulum may also come out clinically clean on corruption.

Another person to do the job is Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the man that is hated only by those without the courage to touch the gate of gallantry. Yes, El-Eufai has the antecedent of taking Nigeria to the Eldorado, and can injure Atiku seriously in the political ring. Forget the noise from my people on the social media, they are bloggers and not voters. They are asleep all day on the day of the election, only for them to wake up in the evening, and start analysing the situation from the comfort of their air conditioned rooms.

Nasiru is a tested political wheeler-dealer that can be trusted to deliver, at least against Atiku.

It may interest APC to be reminded of the tenacity of Atiku, who has ran for the President of Nigeria five times, and now, he is running for the sixth time.

In 1992, Atiku ran under the Social Democratic Party, the SDP. He lost to late Chief Moshood Abiola. In 2007, Atiku ran under the Action Congress, AC, which merged with other political parties to form the All Progressives Congress, APC. He lost to the candidate of the PDP, late Umaru Yar’Adua. Atiku’s third attempt was in 2010, when he was beaten by former President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP. Again Atiku had a go at the presidency in 2015, but was beaten by President Muhammadu Buhari, who repeated the beating on him in his fifth attempt in 2019.

Yet, Atiku is running again in 2023. You think it’s for nothing?

Because he has a history of being beaten, some may think he is a familiar car to crush. But that is naked naivety.

As things stand now, with the likelihood of sectional sentiments playing out, the sectional factor must be exploited, by bringing someone good from the same region to face him.

And between Zulum and El-Rufai, the road to the Eldorado is sign posted, I think.

Bala Ibrahim is a Journalist and public affairs commentator