The Race For 2027 Presidency Hots Up

• AMINU TAMBUWAL Set To Run Against ATIKU

Ahead of the 2027 race for the presidential ticket of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), a major crisis is brewing within the party. And it is not looking good for the former vice president and standard bearer of the PDP at the last presidential election, Atiku Abubakar. This is because three of PDP’s biggest heavy weights, including one of his closest political allies, Aminu Tambuwal, are gearing up to dislodge him from the party and stop him from picking the party’s presidential ticket come 2027. This powerful trio include former governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Muhammed and his Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde. And from reports available to City People, they have concluded plans to team up and wrest the party’s ticket from the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.

Highly placed sources within the party informed our correspondent that though the three top politicians are yet to agree on who will be on the ballot as the standard bearer and the running mate, it is certain that they will work together as a team, as they have agreed to dislodge Atiku.

It was further gathered that Makinde is insisting on being the principal candidate because the plan is to remove a Yoruba man, as such, he is arguing that a fellow Yoruba man should be used to replace him. The sources also noted that Makinde has consistently said that if the agenda is to defeat the incumbent, President Bola Tinubu, who is a Yoruba man, then, someone from the same zone as Tinubu should be the candidate.

However, Tambuwal is rejecting the option of a second fiddle, saying that he was a governor before Makinde. “They have agreed definitely to pair but the only snag now is that the two are yet to agree on who will lead the joint ticket. Makinde is claiming that a Yoruba man must replace Tinubu.

But Tambuwal is saying that it would be an insult for him as a former Speaker of the House of Representatives and a two-term governor before Makinde, to be the running mate”. On the other hand, a section of the party is rooting for alliance between Makinde and his Bauchi State counterpart, Bala Mohammed.

Though the former Vice President, Atiku, who had been the party’s candidate for two consecutive times (2019 and 2023), is still eyeing the ticket, our correspondents gathered that he is about to be schemed out of the race by the governors. Insiders say the one person whose ambition has shocked Atiku the most is former Speaker Aminu Tambuwal whom he considered a brother and close political ally. Many will still recall how Aminu Tambuwal stepped down for Atiku at the PDP convention in 2022 and instructed his delegates to vote for Atiku, enabling Atiku to beat Wike, his closest contender to the ticket. Fast forward to 2024, the same Tambuwal is now aligning with others to scheme Atiku out of the ticket. And going by feelers reaching us from the Atiku camp, the former vice president is not finding this development the least amusing. To him, it is nothing short of a betrayal, considering that he expected that he and Tambuwal were supposed to be protecting the northern interest together.

Party sources who blamed the unhealthy relationship in PDP on Atiku’s ambition, wondered why he does not want to mentor any of his supporters to step into his shoes. Makinde and Mohammed are in their second term in office, which expires in 2027.

The Bauchi governor contested the PDP presidential primary in 2022, which Atiku eventually won. “But we knew it was a gamble; he was not serious; he was more interested in finishing his second term as governor.

That was why he made one of his commissioners a placeholder,” the source said. Mohammed is now the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum while Makinde is Deputy Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), the umbrella body of Nigerian governors PDP governors have resumed their monthly meetings, which were halted because of the 2022 post-presidential primary.

This, the source further disclosed, was an indication that the governors wanted one of them to pick the party’s presidential ticket. Arguing this would have been achieved in 2022 if Tambuwal had not stepped down for Atiku, the source said:

“Even though four governors contested the primary, it would have been difficult for Atiku to beat Wike.” Four of the PDP governors then -Mohammed, Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) and Nyesom Wike (Rivers), contested the primary, while Ifeanyi Okowa, then Delta State governor, later became Atiku’s running mate.

“Makinde at the moment is the new face of PDP. He practically funds every activity in the party, as was the case when Wike was Rivers State governor”, another source said, revealing that the Oyo State governor provided the funds for the party to rent the Asokoro office of the party, the training arm of the party, as well as its renovation and furnishing, and funded the recruitment of the Director General of the institute.

“He is the one the party looks up to in everything. I am not surprised he demands to be given the presidential ticket. Another thing that is going for Makinde is because he is from South West, the same zone with President Bola Tinubu, ,” the party source stated.

The source said PDP may go for a candidate who will split the president’s stronghold. This might have been the reason why the party’s primary for the October governorship election in Ondo was crisis-free.

“We already have two states in the South West. If PDP can add Ondo State, we are sure of the South West in 2027. Of course, the South East is a no-go area for APC. If not because of the Labour Party, South East and SouthSouth are for us. But we have not given up,” he said.

Tambuwal and Mohammed are however banking on Northerners’ disaffection with Tinubu’s administration. While Tambuwal is claiming executive seniority, having been a Speaker and governor before the other two, Mohammed is said to take pride in the fact that he has remained steadfast with the PDP, even when people from the region were leaving the party after PDP lost the 2015 presidential election to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“Mohammed has remained faithful to the party. The governor has said that the only thing that would stop him from contesting the next presidential election is if former President Goodluck Jonathan accepts to run”.

–  WALE LAWAL (08037209290)