Five PDP northern aspirants on Friday joined 12 others for screening for the presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scheduled for May 28.
The 17 presidential hopefuls are a former vice president, Atiku Abubakar and two former Senate Presidents, Bukola Saraki and Pius Anyim. Four state governors, Bala Mohammed of Bauchi, Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto, Nyesom Wike of Rivers, and Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom. Two former state governors, Peter Obi of Anambra and Ayo Fayose of Ekiti.
Also on the list are a journalist, Dele Momodu; businessman and banker, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen; a pharmacist, Sam Ohuabunwa; a lawyer, Ugwu Okwudili; two lawmakers, Chikwendu Kalu and Ndukwe Cosmos; a businessman, Nwachukwu Amakwenze; and the only woman among them, Oliver Tariela Diana.
Consensus mirage
But for the collapse of a deal among four of the PDP northern aspirants, only two of them would have presented themselves for the screening by their party, the Peoples Democratic Party.
The so-called consensus deal, initiated by Mr Tambuwal, collapsed after the Sokoto governor became alarmed at the direction it was taking, sources close to the principal actors exclusively told PREMIUM TIMES.
But when he demanded that the process be aborted, his colleagues and the man they had chosen as the midwife felt it was too late to do so.
According to his spokesperson, Bello Muhammad, it was Mr Tambuwal who first sold the idea to Mr Saraki.
They then approached the Bauchi governor, who also bought into it. They were later joined by Mr Hayatu-Deen, who was a later entrant into the presidential race.
“He (Governor Tambuwal) initiated it. About two weeks before their first meeting in Bauchi (March 28), His Excellency went to see Saraki in Lagos.
“They were in the meeting for about two hours. Later they went to meet Governor Bala (Mohammed) and they did two or three shuttles to Bauchi before they decided to go and meet Babangida,” Mr Muhammad said.
According to an aide of one of the other aspirants, who declined to be named to “avoid aggravating a dispute among brothers who may still have to work together”, the goal was to “help the PDP reduce the number of aspirants to something it can better manage.”
The aide, who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday, confirmed that Governor Tambuwal initiated the idea. He said the younger aspirants from the North agreed to demonstrate their willingness to sacrifice their ambitions to save the PDP from a rancorous presidential primary.
“They believe having too many aspirants on the ballot at the primary can cause confusion and make reconciliation difficult after the nomination.
“You know, that was the same spirit that was exhibited in the APC in 2014. Aspirants like Saraki and Tambuwal stepped aside from the APC presidential primary in Lagos and at the end of the day, only two strong aspirants, Atiku and Kwankwaso (former Kano Governor Rabiu) challenged Buhari at the primary. So it was easy to get everybody behind Buhari after he won the primary.”
Atiku left out
According to findings from other sources by this newspaper, the four PDP northern aspirants never planned to involve Mr Abubakar in the consensus deal.
“In truth, they did not involve him. They knew he would be reluctant to step down if he is not the choice of the group. What they wanted was that the North should be represented by two aspirants, including Atiku, while
the South too could produce two,” one of the sources said.
However, according to the source, at the first meeting of the three aspirants that started the process in Bauchi, they agreed to meet Atiku to assure him that they were not ganging up against him.ⓘ
“They also did not invite southern aspirants to be part of the consensus. They went around meeting southern PDP leaders just to explain what they were doing and urge them to consider producing their own consensus candidates,” the source said.
However, Mr Tambuwal soon began to doubt the wisdom of his own involvement in the plan after they started meeting former military president, Ibrahim Babangida.
The consensus MoU
According to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) by the PDP northern aspirants involved, a copy of which our reporter saw, dated April 17, the aspirants made certain commitments, principal of which were to withdraw for and pool their structures and resources behind the consensus candidate, and to give that candidate the right of first refusal at the primary.
They initially agreed to refer any deadlock in the process to the national chairman of the party for settlement, but later substituted him for a respected northern leader, later identified as Mr Babangida.
That substitution apparently was made late as it was written with hand on the typewritten MoU, and probably led to the dispute with Mr Tambuwal as he was the only one of the four aspirants who did not sign the document.
It was not clear at what point the role of Mr Babangida changed from adjudicator over disputes to appointer of the consensus candidate.
The PDP northern aspirants and Babangida’s role
According to the aide who spoke in confidence, they agreed that Mr Babangida should help them to choose the consensus candidate in consultation with northern elders.
“But IBB said because of his state of health, he would appoint somebody he trusts to carry out the consultation and that was why he chose Ango Abdullahi (a former vice chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria).”
Mr Abdullahi later announced that the governor of Bauchi and Mr Saraki had been selected as the consensus candidates, drawing instant rebuttal from Mr Tambuwal.
According to Mr Abdullahi, the four aspirants had given Mr Babangida “the mandate to lead the process for a consensus, and agreed to abide by the outcome of the decision”.
Mr Abdullahi said the choices were made after several consultations with northern stakeholders and a three-phase approach.ⓘ
“In the first phase, the opinions of six distinguished persons each from the three geopolitical zones were sought with regards to each of the four aspirants. Each of the zonal delegates were allocated two votes to choose the first and second choice making a total of 36 votes overall. The outcome of that consultation was as follows: 7 votes for candidate (A) Aminu Waziri; 10 votes for candidate (B) Bala Muhammed; 10 votes for candidate (C) A-B Saraki; 5 votes for candidate (D) M Hayatu-deen,” the report reads.
“One of the elders deferred his votes on grounds of continuing consultations with traditional rulers and other major stakeholders. Two members did not cast their second ballots bringing the total to 32 votes casted out of 36.”
Mr Abdullahi said the second phase of the exercise involved zonal assessment “based on regions which was concluded as follows:
- North Central – (Eight);
- North East- (Seven);
- North West – (Two);
One is still under consultation”. For the third phase of the exercise, the consultations involved looking
into the past experiences of the PDP in terms of northern candidates.
Mr Abdullahi said he submitted recommendations to Mr Babangida, who approved them.
“It was resolved that a leading aspirant from the North Central and one from the North East are to be presented as northern presidential candidates. The two would in turn be required to make further concessions so that in the end one of them would be presented as the consensus candidate, out of the four that presented themselves from the North,” he said.
“For the purpose of this exercise, it is hereby resolved that Governor Bala Mohammed from the North East and former Senate President Bukola Saraki from the North Central be presented as the northern consensus candidates for the moment.
“The successful aspirants are hereby urged to work together to make allowance for further consultations to foster understanding among themselves, and the PDP community to ensure a rancor free primaries in
which all eligible candidates would be free to exercise their right.”
Tambuwal, Hayatu-Deen kick
Instantly rejecting the announcement through a statement by Nicholas Msheliza for his campaign organisation, Mr Tambuwal said the outcome was not the agreement reached at a previous meeting of the four aspirants.
“The attention of Tambuwal Campaign Organisation (TCO) has been drawn to a news item that former Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Governor Bala Muhammad of Bauchi state have emerged as consensus candidates from amongst the four of us announced at a meeting in Minna, Niger state.
“This is, to be candid and forthright, not correct. The correct situation is that the team met on Wednesday, 20th April, 2022, at Bauchi Governor’s lodge in Abuja and had a review meeting; and, unanimously agreed that the consensus arrangement was not working.
“The team further agreed that Senator Saraki should come up with a draft statement on how to communicate this decision to the Nigerian public. This was the last time that members of the team sat and mutually agreed on anything. The proposed meeting to review and vet the statement scheduled for 10 pm of the same day was aborted unilaterally by Senator Saraki via a WhatsApp message.
“However, on Thursday, April 21st, 2022, same Senator Saraki circulated yet another WhatsApp message suggesting that members of the team should head to Minna for a meeting on Friday. Gov Tambuwal reached other members of the team and informed them that he stands by the decision of the team that the initiative is not working.
“This is the reason Gov. Tambuwal was absent at today’s (Friday) meeting in Minna. As a result, therefore, the outcome of the Minna meeting has no consequence or any implication on the aspiration of Gov. Tambuwal, who had earlier on informed his colleagues of maintaining their agreed position that the initiative has collapsed.
“Members of the public should be reminded that what was canvassed for was a consensus candidate and not consensus candidates. For the avoidance of doubt, Gov Tambuwal has submitted his presidential nomination forms and now that the quest for a consensus candidate out of the four has clearly collapsed, will go ahead and face screening and indeed contest the PDP presidential primary.
“This is in consonance with his acclaimed outlook as a pan-Nigerian candidate, with pedigree of national service as the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, life member of the Body of Benchers and now in
his second and final term as Governor of Sokoto state.”
Mr Hayatu-Deen also issued a similar statement distancing himself from the decision.
In the statement issued by Isa Galaudu of his campaign organisation, he said the aspirants had parted ways on the issue.
“For the record, it must be stated that the four candidates seeking a consensus had agreed that the process had collapsed prior to this announcement. The candidates could not reach a compromise resulting in the decision of our principal, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, and Governor Aminu Tambuwal to discontinue the process.
“The purpose of the meeting yesterday (Saturday) was for candidates who participated in the consensus process to express their gratitude to the Northern Elders for their efforts in seeking a consensus.
“Unfortunately, one of the candidates had other plans which led to a press the conference that misrepresented the outcome of the closed-door meeting.
“After this announcement, we consulted with the Northern Elders’ Forum and agreed that the campaign of Mohammed Hayatu-Deen would henceforth proceed independently to maintain the sanctity and integrity of the People’s Democratic Party.
“The sham news conference we witnessed yesterday reiterates the fact that Nigeria needs a new breed of leaders. We believe that true leadership should be built on the principles of truth, integrity, and equity.
“Going forward, the focus of our candidate, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, is to prove to our great party and Nigerians in general that he is the best man for the job, as we proceed towards a truly democratic process at the PDP primaries.”
Despite their claims, PREMIUM TIMES’ findings indicate that the two rejected the outcome after realising it did not favour them.
Influential Generals
Mr Babangida is said to be working with some former military generals who are said to be influential in the PDP and were believed to have swung the 2018 primaries of the party in the direction of Mr Abubakar.
According to sources, these generals were said to have drawn a portrait of their next preferred candidate to exclude Messes Abubakar and Tambuwal.
They want the next president to be below 60 in age and from either the North Central or North East, two northern zones that have not produced the president in the Fourth Republic.
Insisting that Mr Tambuwal wanted out of the consensus search before the controversial outcome was announced, his spokesperson, Mr Muhammad, said they all realised it was “an exercise in futility.”
“These guys set their own rules. They decided to be together and if they decided to call it quits, what’s the problem? They said they wanted to go to Minna to tell Babangida, but he (Mr Tambuwal) said he was not going. Then you went to Minna and came out with something different. That is ungentlemanly,” Mr Muhammad said.
What next
Meanwhile, it is not clear whether the two consensus candidates will proceed to the next stage of the exercise which is for them to agree between themselves on who to carry the torch for the North at the PDP primary.
Both Messrs Saraki and Mohammed were scheduled to appear at the screening on Friday before Mr Tambuwal, who at No 16 was scheduled to come only before Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike.
Credit: Premium Times