AYO ESAN
WITH two weeks to 2021, the tone of the political activity that will pervade the new year has started unfolding. Political actors, analysts and watchers of political developments in the country are in no doubt that the 2023 presidential race will be the major topic in the new year.
Many believe 2021 is not too early to start the race to Aso Rock. Though the Independent National Electoral Commission has not come out with the detailed general elections timetable for 2023, party primaries will be conducted in the second or third quarter of 2022.
This means if you must contest the party primaries at that time of 2022, you need to come out openly with your ambition in 2021, according to political analysts who spoke to THE POINT.
However, many Nigerian politicians are not even ready to wait for the new year to make their intentions public. To some of them, 2021 is a long time. They are already coming out with presidential campaign slogans, though with a veiled reference to their involvement, while political permutations are also heating up.
While prospective aspirants for the Number One Seat in Nigeria are playing hide and seek with king makers and perhaps the electorate, by testing the waters with supporters’ call for their declaration, others are already thinking of 2027, in terms of power rotation and zoning.
In fact, the development in the nation in the last few weeks has shown that Nigerian politicians are more Machiavellian in their approach. They abore ideology but seek power, bothering less about morality as they go about it, analysts have said.
This is clearly evident in the way some Northern All Progressives Congress Governors are said to be courting former President Goodluck Jonathan to move to the APC and contest the 2023 presidency.
To these Northern Governors, a Jonathan presidency of only one term would be better for the North than waiting for eight years for a new entrant into Aso Rock who may desire a second term for the South.
Many watchers of political events in the country were shocked with this new garment of ‘holiness’ being put on Jonathan. This is the same Jonathan whose government and party, the Peoples Democratic Party, have been blamed for all the problems currently bedeviling the country by the APC leaders.
VEILED DECLARATIONS?
Also, as the permutations continue into the new year, some groups have started coming out in the open in support of some aspirants.
One of such is the penultimate week’s gathering of loyalists of former Governor of Lagos State and National Leader of APC, Bola Tinubu, in Ibadan, where they launched a group to support his presidential ambition.
The Group named itself South West Agenda (SWAGA 2023) and is led by a former Minister, a former member of Alliance for Democracy; former PDP, and now APC chieftain, Dayo Adeyeye.
While explaining the SWAGA agenda, Adeyeye said it was to champion a common front for the Yoruba race in the 2023 presidential race.
Though Tinubu has not publicly told anyone he is interested in the presidency, he recently embarked on a tour of the North, which some readers of political barometer labelled political moves ahead of 2023.
Also last weekend, the Ekiti State Chapter of the APC brought the rumoured 2023 presidential ambition of Governor Kayode Fayemi to the open when it said though Fayemi had not declared his intention to contest, members would force him to run because of what they described as his competence, dedication and loyalty to APC.
This position was made known by the state Caretaker Chairman, Paul Omotoso, in Ayede-Ekiti, Oye Local Government Area of the state, during a programme organised for 1,000 APC members in Ekiti North Senatorial District by Olusegun Osinkolu, a chieftain of the party.
APC State Publicity Secretary, Ade Ajayi, who represented the caretaker chairman, said the Governor had paid his dues in Nigeria’s polity and in the ruling party, adding that he should be given the opportunity to rule Nigeria.
However, former Governor of Zamfara State, Sani Ahmed Yerima, has declared publicly that he is interested in the 2023 presidential race.
Yerima, a member of the ruling APC, has even said regardless of the decision taken by his party in terms of zoning, he will still contest the 2023 Presidency.
As we enter the new year, more names will come into the open and political analysts will have a busy time assessing their prospects for Aso Villa.
