Presidential Running Mates: What Chances For PDP, APC

Uzo Chikere

The race is straight between just two parties. It will not matter whether there are other close to 50 political parties fielding some persons masquerading as presidential candidates. But by the time the electorate would have spoken on February 14, 2015, either Mohammdu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress APC presidential candidate or the ruling People’s Democratic Party PDP presidential flag bearer, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan would become the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Though the build-up to the impending poll has been fraught with more of war of words, accusations, claims and counter claims by the two prominent contending parties, it is not clear that both have actually in clear terms told the citizenry how they will positively impact on the populace should they emerge victorious.

While APC is coming to town with its credo of change, scarcely has the party and its operational organs sold to the people what manner of change they are bringing to bear on the polity. But what is a constant feature of their proposition to the electorate is that there is the overriding need for change given that 16 years in the saddle by PDP has nothing to show for it. APC is therefore deploying every weapon in its arsenal to ensure that its desired change becomes a reality come 2015. But for a party which has over the years undergone a series of metamorphoses and has never controlled power at the centre before, and considering the fact that it is a battle of wresting power from the ruling PDP which prides itself on being the largest political party in Africa, it is an uphill task.

Presently, PDP which is basking in the euphoria of its incumbency seems to be showing off its transformation agenda with its components of structural development, rehabilitation of the rail transport, improvement of airports, establishment of new federal universities and the like as reason its candidate to be reelected.

Even as APC as opposition may not be pointing to such developments, it has to resolve to bloody the ruling party’s nose at the polls with the fielding of a retired army general, Buhari who has picked as his running mate, an academic, technocrat in the person of Professor Yemi Osinbajo who is also a legal luminary and pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God RCCG.

Although, it took six days of what APC chieftains described as consultations and assessment for their presidential flag bearer, Buhari to pick his running mate, many an observer regard the choice as the party’s trump card in the contest between Buhari and Jonathan in the race to Aso Rock in 2015. For this school of thought, the choice of Prof. Osinbajo was well thought out and will spell huge political asset for APC at the polls.

The role and personality of a presidential running mate in any polity during an election year goes to a large extent to affect how the voters will cast their ballots at the polls, and the whole essence did not seem to have been lost on both the APC and its presidential candidate as 2015 draws close. Presenting Professor Osinbajo to the party, Buhari said he had chosen a man of unimpeachable character, pointing out that the method employed in choosing his running mate was meticulous but rigorous. According to him:         

“I have chosen a man of unimpeachable integrity, an excellent professional, a man of faith, a devoted family man and a role model to our fellow countrymen and women. He is a professor of law and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, aAn alumnus of the University of Lagos and the London School of Economics.

“He is a prodigious author who has to his credit several books on civil procedure in Nigerian superior courts.

“The vice-presidential candidate is a friend of the less privileged, compassionate and zealous in service. A man of uncommon humility, a loyal, dependable and selfless patriot. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, who by the grace of God, and the vote of Nigerians, will be the next vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

In the consideration those who well understand the country’s political terrain, APC seems to have got it right with the choice of Osinbajo, a senior pastor (RCCG) who rates as one of the richest pastors in the country even though he rarely exudes affluence. He is currently a pastor at Olive Tree House of Prayer for All Nations, Banana Island, a parish of the RCCG.

Boasting 14,000 branches in Nigeria and outposts in 110 countries, RCCG has an estimated membership population of five million in Nigeria alone. Given the country’s polarity along religious lines, observers postulate that the choice of Osinbajo is a deft political calculation that will obliterate the religious card being played by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

As a highly revered pastor in RCCG, it is the belief of many followers of Nigeria’s political development that he stands the chance of garnering in the RCCG five million votes, with Christian sympathizers across the country aligning in that direction to clinch the number two position in the country if eventually APC wrests power from the ruling PDP in the 2015 general election at the national level.

In his opinion,Pastor Bukola Johnson, a pastor with the RCCG, holds that ”Osinbajo is a man of integrity. His pairing with General Muhammadu Buhari will save the country from the quagmire of corruption it found itself. Right now, Nigerians are longing for leaders that have integrity that would liberate them from the mess of under-development that corruption has plunged the country.”

An aspirant for the APC presidential ticket, Sam Nda-Isaiah who lost to Buhari is in agreement that the combination of Buhari and Osinbajo will spell well for the party at the polls. In a congratulatory message to the duo, he said:   

“It is noteworthy that the announcement of Osinbajo, a distinguished professor of law and a man of strong integrity as running mate, is coinciding with the 72 birthday of General Buhari who has served this country selflessly. I am confident that the candidates will lead the APC to victory in the forthcoming elections and pledge my support to this cause.”

“It is noteworthy that the announcement of Osinbajo, a distinguished professor of law and a man of strong integrity as running mate, is coinciding with the 72 birthday of General Buhari who has served this country selflessly. I am confident that the candidates will lead the APC to victory in the forthcoming elections and pledge my support to this cause.”

By the choice of the professor of law, APC Has averted the trap being laid against it should it float a Muslim-Muslim ticket, providing a balance and further equating the pair with Jonathan-Sambo card in PDP.

There is this aspect of Osinbajo’s selection which some pundits think may also have thrown some Yoruba leaders, elders and potential voters into indecision. The astute lawyer is a native of Ikenne, Ogun State, the home of the sage and late Premier of the Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The romance between the Awolowo clan and the PDP leadership a familiar existence, with its siblings as beneficiaries of federal government’s appointments since 1999. Segun, a grandson of Chief Hannah Awolowo, remains a Special Adviser in the President Jonathan administration. How this will affect APC’s political fortunes in the west can only be conjectured.

For Namadi Sambo, vice president and running mate to PDP presidential candidate, Goodluck Jonathan, is likely going to be challenged by the struggle to sway the north in favour of PDP and its presidential flag bearer which in the view of those who know his rating in the area might be an uphill task. This according to them will even be worse as Jonathan’s popularity is plummeting presently in that region.

For a man who lost in the polling booth in his in his home, and his constituency in the 2011presidential election, the question agitating the minds of a lot of people is how much value Sambo can attract to the re-election bid of the president especially considering that some founding members of PDP in his state decamped to the opposition APC of recent.

A member of the PDP in Chikaji ward of the Sabon Gari area of Kaduna state, Umar, said that Namadi’s problem was how to deal with the people that matter most. “It is only when somebody has a strong base at home that he can expand his political empire to other areas. I am a PDP member, but in my opinion, politics is all about people. But when you cage yourself either in a state or federal government house and expect that your people would be with you, it is surely an unrealistic dream.
“As a politician, one has to also show a high level of commitment in the interests of his people. People are supposed to see a politician occupying a certain position as their representative. One has to be up and doing in defending the interest of his people and addressing their concerns. Those are some of the things that endear a given politician to his people. But when people are killed and maimed and you remain docile because you are a loyal deputy, it is certainly a way of attracting the people’s wrath.
“If the truth must be told, in my opinion, the VP cannot even deliver his hometown, Zaria not to talk of his local government of residence, Kaduna North. It is therefore impossible for him to win, not even now that most Northerners are nursing serious grudges against this government,” Umar said.
In the same vein, Ambassador Sule Buba, a former ally of the vice president, said Nigerians are now clamouring for change. “The wind of change is blowing everywhere in Nigeria and it is, therefore, difficult for Sambo to make serious inroad in states of the North.”

In the main, the die is cast and whatever the presidential running mates will bring to bear on their candidacy in terms of influence, character and carriage will determine their fortune at the polls.