Ahead of the 2023 elections, 13 presidential aspirants have signified their intention to contest on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, Adedayo Akinwale writes:
Less than one year to the 2023 elections, things appear to be taking shape in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with 13 presidential aspirants throwing their hats in the ring to battle for the sole ticket of the party.
The main opposition party, having been dislodged in 2015 is already positioning itself to take over power in 2023 following a not-too-impressive performance by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Against this background, the PDP commenced the sale of Nomination and Expression of Interest Forms for all elective offices in the 2023 elections on March 17. The sale of forms was initially scheduled to end on April 1, before it was extended to April 8, 2022.
Though, it appears the main opposition party is on the right track, the zoning of the presidential ticket will make or mar the chances of the party in next year’s election. While political gladiators from the South are clamouring for the ticket to be zoned to the region, their northern counterpart argue that the last president produced by the party came from the South. However, political analysts believe that zoning the presidential ticket to the north may be the best bet for the party to reclaim power in 2023.
Nevertheless, the presidential primaries according to the schedule of activities released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are scheduled to hold between April 4 and June 3, 2022, while the presidential election will be held on February 25, 2023.
The 13 presidential aspirants are: Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal; a United States-based medical doctor, Nwachukwu Anakwenze; Newspaper publisher, Dele Momodu; Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike; Investment banker and economist, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen; former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi; Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel and a Pharmacist, Sam Ohuabunwa.
Others are: former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar; former Senate President, Bukola Saraki; former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim and the Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, as well as the only female aspirant in the race, Oliver Tareila Diana.
Nwachukwu Anakwenze
Dr. Anakwenze is a United States-based Medical Doctor. He graduated from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine in 1982. He works in Inglewood, CA and specializes in Family Medicine and Internal Medicine. Anakwenze is affiliated with Memorial Hospital of Gardena and Centinela Hospital Medical Centre. Politically, nothing is known of him, but he has decided to contest for the number one seat, even though he may not know how to navigate the dangerous political waters of Nigeria.
Mohammed Hayatu-Deen
Hayatu-deen is an economist, banker, former Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and a former Managing Director of the now-defunct FSB International Bank. He recently joined the PDP to run for the office of the presidency in 2023. He believes that the country needs a leader fully equipped with the type of skills, character and experience to safely navigate the Nigerian people out of the stormy waters to a much brighter and better place reflective of the nation’s rich potential for greatness.
Hayatu-Deen started his career working in principal investments and project finance at the Northern Nigeria Development Corporation later rechristened New Nigeria Development Corporation (NNDC) which at the time was Nigeria’s largest industrial holding company with investments across a range of industries. He rose to the position of Group Chief Executive and was responsible for providing leadership, direction, and oversight to 140 subsidiary and associate companies under the group portfolio.
His economic expertise may be needed to revatilise Nigeria’s ailing economy.
Samuel Ohuabunwa
Ohuabunwa is a Nigerian Pharmacist, politician and business executive. He is the founder and former CEO of Neimeth Pharmaceutical. He was the former President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria. Ohuabunwa was the foundation President of the West African Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and the Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group. He was also a former chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria.
Ohuabunwa was a member of the Presidential Committee on Vision 2010 and Vision 2020 national development plans. He has been on the Board of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research and the Nigerian Health Insurance Scheme. He was appointed to the board of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) by President Goodluck Jonathan. He was chairman of the governing board of Abia State Polytechnic and also Chairman of the board of the Abia State Teaching Hospital.
His antecedent shows that he’s not new to Nigeria’s public sector. While he can bank on the structure of the PDP, it is uncertain if he will have that acceptance both in the North and in the South to be able to mount a serious challenge to the eventual candidate of the ruling APC if he emerges.
Udom Emmanuel
Emmanuel is the current Governor of Akwa Ibom State. Prior to that, in July 2013, Emmanuel was appointed Secretary to the State Government of Akwa Ibom State. In 2014, he contested the governorship primary election and defeated 22 other aspirants to emerge the candidate of the PDP. He contested for the office of governor in the April 2015 elections on the platform of PDP and he was re-elected as the governor of Akwa Ibom State in 2019.
Governor Emmanuel has performed very well as a governor, sticking to his promise to industrialize the state. He is admired admired by many for establishing the only government owned functional airline-Ibom Air.
He may capatilise on his position as a sitting sitting governor to mount a strong campaign.
Nyesom Wike
Wike is a Nigerian politician and lawyer who is the sixth and current Governor of Rivers State. He was elected as a two-term Executive Chairman of Obio Akpor Local Government Area from 1999 to 2007. He was appointed Minister of State for Education on July 14, 2011. Wike was later appointed the Acting Minister of Education, after Mrs Ruqqayatu Rufai was sacked. He resigned before finishing his term to campaign for Governor of Rivers State. In 2014, he won the Rivers State PDP governorship primary. Wike defeated Dakuku Peterside of the APC and Tonye Princewill of the Labour Party in the April 11 gubernatorial elections to emerge as governor. As the Governor of the state, he has performed above average. But political analysts believe that it may be dangerous to entrust Wike with the Number One position in the land due to his eccentric behaviours.
Peter Obi
Obi, a Nigerian politician and businessman, was the vice presidential candidate in the 2019 general election under PDP. He was the former governor of Anambra State serving from March 17 2006 to November 2, 2006, when he was impeached and from February 9, 2007 to May 29, 2007 after his impeachment was overturned. Although a fresh election was held on April 29, 2007, he was reappointed governor on June 14, 2007 after a court ruling that he should be allowed to complete a four-year term. He won on February 6, 2010 gubernatorial election that made him governor of the state for the second time on October 12, 2010. It is the believe of many that Obi has the ability and the capacity to rule Nigeria. If the PDP ever considers micro-zoning its ticket to the South-east, Obi will be the fitting presidential candidate majority of Nigerians look forward to
Dele Momodu
Momodu is a journalist/publisher and a businessman. He is the CEO and Publisher of Ovation International, a magazine that has given publicity to people from all over the world, mainly in Africa. In 2015, he officially launched Ovation TV and subsequently launched an online newspaper called The Boss. Momodu writes a weekly column called “PENdulum”, published every Saturday on the back page of THISDAY newspapers. He boasts of being the only Nigerian politician with the highest number of followers on Twitter. However that may not translate to electoral capital Momodu contested the presidential election in 2011.
Aminu Tambuwal
Tambuwal serves as the Governor of Sokoto State, having won election in 2015 and re-elected in the 2019 general election. He served as the 10th Speaker of the House of Representatives. He started learning the legislative ropes from 1999 to 2000, while working as Personal Assistant on Legislative Affairs to Senator Abdullahi Wali, the then Senate Leader.
In 2003, he decided to run for a legislative seat as representative of the Kebbe/Tambuwal Federal Constituency. He was elected into the House of Representatives on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). Few months to the 2007 general election, he defected to the DPP, alongside the former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa. But when the DPP denied return tickets to former ANPP legislators, Tambuwal swung back to the ANPP, where he eventually succeeded in picking up a ticket for the election. Again, when the ANPP governorship candidate for Sokoto State in the 2007 election, Aliyu Wamakko dumped the party for the PDP, Tambuwal also followed suit.
Tambuwal declared that he was running for president in October 2018, to “revive the dying economy.” Initially, he appeared to be favoured to emerge and was also backed by Wike who was allegedly prepared to be his running mate before he later declared his interest to contest. He won’t be a bad choice for the PDP if he emerges.
Atiku Abubakar
Abubakar, a politician and businessman served as the Vice President from 1999 to 2007 during the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo. He ran as Governor of Adamawa State in 1990, 1997 and later, in 1998, he was elected before becoming Olusegun Obasanjo’s running mate during the 1999 presidential election and re-elected in 2003.
Abubakar unsuccessfully contested the presidential seat five times in 1993, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019. In 1993, he contested the Social Democratic Party presidential primaries, losing to Moshood Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe. He was a presidential candidate of the Action Congress in 2007, coming third to Umaru Yar’Adua of the PDP and Muhammadu Buhari of the ANPP. He contested the presidential primaries of the PDP during the 2011 presidential election, losing to incumbent (at the time) former President Goodluck Jonathan.
In 2014, he joined the APC ahead of the 2015 presidential election and contested the presidential primaries losing to Muhammadu Buhari. In 2017, he returned to the PDP and was the party’s presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential election, again losing to Buhari.
Though a serial defector and contestant, if there is anyone that is fully prepared for the job, it is Atiku. While age is no longer on his side, it remains to be seen if he will be lucky the sixth time, if he wins the ticket.
Anyim Pius Anyim
Anyim served as the President of the Senate and was the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) during the Jonathan presidency. He was elected a Senator on the platform of the PDP in 1999 for the Ebonyi South constituency of Ebonyi State. He was elected Senate President in August 2000. He announced his ambition to run for the 2023 presidential elections in February 2022.
In 1998, Anyim joined the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) and won a Senate election. However, the death of General Sani Abacha on June 8, 1998 nullified the result. During the transitional regime of General Abdulsalami Abubakar, he joined PDP and again ran successfully for election to the Senate in 1999. If he emerges as the PDP standard bearer, political analysts think Anyim may not give APC a tough challenge.
Bala Mohammed
Mohammed is the incumbent Governor of Bauchi State. Prior to becoming the governor, he was the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from 2010 to 2015. In 2007, Mohammed contested and won the election to serve the people of South Senatorial zone in Bauchi State in the capacity of a senator on the party platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). He served as the Senator from 2007 to 2010.
He reportedly fell out with his political godfather and former Governor of the state, Isa Yuguda after Yuguda married President Umaru Yar’Adua’s daughter and defected to the PDP. Following the death of Yar’Adua, he became a close associate of President Goodluck Jonathan. A sweet talker like any other politicians, his emergence may not take PDP back to the Aso Rock Presidential Villa.
Bukola Saraki
Saraki was the 13th President of the Senate from 2015 to 2019 and Chairman of the 8th Nigeria National Assembly. He was previously the Governor of Kwara State from 2003 to 2011. He was elected to the Senate in 2011, under PDP, representing the Kwara Central Senatorial District, and then re-elected in the 2015 general election under APC.
After his re-election in 2015 general election, he was elected unopposed as President of the Senate on June 9, 2015 by an across the party alliance comprising PDP and APC Senators. Saraki had faced stiff opposition from Senator Ahmed Lawan who was a preferred candidate by a group of senators-elect within the APC.
He left the ruling party APC and returned to PDP where he became the opposition leader, on July 31, 2018. Saraki declared his presidential campaign for the PDP presidential ticket in the 2019 election, but lost the primaries to Atiku Abubakar. He was subsequently announced as the Director General of Atiku’s presidential campaign for the 2019 presidential election.
Saraki’s political dynasty in Kwara state was dismantled during the 2019 elections when he lost his grip on the state after his governorship candidate lost the election.
Oliver Tareila Diana
Diana is the only female aspirant in the race. Not much is known about her or her political antecedent. She has, however, decided to test her popularity in the contest.
