Atiku, Obi, Kwankwaso Although many people have been reacting to the report that the former Vice President of Nigeria and 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has started a move to form a mega-party by collapsing the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and merging it with the New Nigeria People's Party (NNPP) and the Labour Party.
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was reported to have met with the presidential candidate of the NNPP in the 2023 general elections, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso who was said to have agreed with the merger talks.
There was also a meeting between Mr. Peter Obi and anchors of his Obidients movement, a social movement with an impromptu reactionary interest in Nigerian politics, to know the ways forth.
In politics, a merger of political parties is one of the many strategies that are used to stop the reining of a ruling mega-party.
However, this may not work in the case of the proposed formation of a new political party by Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the NNPP, and Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party. There are many reasons for this but let us consider the vital ones.
First, the first obstacle that may hinder the success of the proposed merger between the trio of Atiku, Kwankwaso, and Peter Obi is the sharing of the Party Executive Officers.
Most interestingly, if anyone is going to be recommended to step aside when it comes to the party's presidential primary, it is going to be either Atiku or Obi. This is because Atiku may not have aged by his side in 2027, and Mr. Peter Obi may hardly earn the support of the Muslim North because of how he threw his political campaign around churches during the 2023 poll. However, recall that the genesis of the crisis between Atiku and Kwankwaso can never be established without opening the wound of how Atiku stopped Kwankwaso from deciding the faith of who takes what among PDP Executive officers in the Northwest whereas Atiku took the decision solely in his Northeast geopolitical zone.
No doubt, Atiku may have the upper hand, mostly if they are allowed to hold on and take a decision on who takes what from their respective geopolitical zones but North Central, Southwest, and South-South will surely tear the mega party apart if eventually the proposal materializes into a party.
Secondly, although Peter Obi should even find it a privilege to be a running mate to Atiku Abubakar or Kwankwaso but now that a social movement had raised his bar a little bit, the choice of who picks the presidential ticket of the party may be last roadblocks that will tear the mega party into pieces, if it eventually occur.
Recall that the social movement promoting Obi has little to no respect for Atiku as they regard him as one of the leaders who have allegedly ruined the country. Will they be forced by Peter Obi for Atiku to earn their support, in case Obi lose the ticket to Atiku? Does Mr. Peter Obi even have the political weight to control the movement promoting him which has been described by other political parties as a "headless mob?"
Kwankwaso may not pose much threat to the candidacy now but by 2027, he will surely see himself as a more formidable presidential candidate for the new party, because age will be by his side, and the supremacy of Northern votes will still overshadow the planning of the party. Kwankwaso will surely be adjudged by many political gladiators then, as a more formidable presidential candidate than Peter Obi and Atiku for he has no record of religious extremism or old age-related ill-health issues.
Overall, the supremacy battle that will rock the new mega party, if it is formed, at both state and local government levels will surely bury the relevance that necessitated the formation of the party. This is because defunct PDP members in Kano would not sit down, comfortably seeing defunct NNPP members filling all the seats in the state; Likewise other Northwestern states.
The same thing will affect defunct Labour Party and PDP members across many states in the Southwest, South-South, and South East.
The supremacy of the defunct PDP members in the North East may even be so much that it will seem like there is no coalition. North Central will be a battlefield for all the defunct parties that go into the coalition and from here, everything aimed at before the formation of the mega-party may fall apart.
Category: World-News
Tag: Atiku Abubakar Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso Peter Obi Bola Tinubu politics
Written by Omooba Alekuwodo (omoobaalekuwodo)
Published 8/21/2023 1:11:06 PM