The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is on the roll, hitting the different geopolitical zones of the country with its message of rescuing Nigeria from what it believes is the maladministration of the All Progressive Congress (APC). The party prides itself as being rebranded, renewed from its ouster from power, the odium to which it had been subjected by government and its agents who entangled it in a grand corruption narrative, and from its very low period in the days following its defeat when nobody wanted to speak out for it, to now feeling strong and confident enough to re-present itself to Nigerians as the only party that truly understands governance and can meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people.
Against all odds, the former ruling party went through a contentious national convention and emerged unscathed. It produced Atiku Abubakar, former vice president, as its presidential candidate for next year’s election and all his co-contestants who had been thought would work against him, have demonstrably remained by his side to tackle a common foe in President Muhammadu Buhari at the poll.
They descended on Sokoto, the seat of the Caliphate for the kick -off of the presidential election campaign in the North- West Zone, with former President, Goodluck Jonathan, leading the assault. Speaker after speaker dealt with the peculiar concerns, plights, fears and aspirations of people in the North West. The PDP advances the argument that the North West bears heavy imprints of neglect by President Buhari’s administration and is keen to show that Buhari and the APC cannot point to any key development project articulated and completed by it in the last three and half years, despite the huge resources it claims to have channeled to the zone. The PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PDPPC) therefore seeks to leverage on its thinking that “the zone is hugely disappointed in President Buhari, who had failed to fulfill any of his 2015 campaign promises.”
If attendance at the Sokoto rally is anything to go by, the PDP can believed that it has acceptance in the zone. The party celebrated the mammoth crowd it managed to attract as “a clear demonstration that Nigerians, across the board, have reached a consensus to vote Atiku in as the next president of our country.” The party observes that “the courage and show of patriotism by the people of the North West in rejecting President Buhari and sectional politics to support Atiku Abubakar,” is “in keeping with the collective quest to unify our nation and revamp our ailing economy.”
APC governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, was not impressed, or as the PDP believes, was so surprised at the turnout of supporters at the Sokoto rally that he claimed that they were hired from Niger Republic.
His Sokoto State counterpart, Aminu Tambuwal, who hosted the PDP rally, wasted little time firing back at el-Rufai, confirming that the Kaduna governor was shocked by the number of people who showed up for the PDP rally and at the same time accused him of sinking the APC.
The PDP Youth Leader in Kaduna State, Alhaji Aliyu Bello, also faulted el-Rufai on the claim, saying that whether el-Rufai liked it or not, the Sokoto rally marked the funeral of APC in the North- West and the country as a whole. He said in a statement issued in Kaduna.”
Some youths in Sokoto State took their ire against el-Rufai further by issuing the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) a 24-hour ultimatum to respond to the Kaduna governor’s allegation. The youths, who stormed the Federal Secretariat, Sokoto where the zonal office of NIS is situated were armed with placards with various inscriptions including “el-rufai is a liar.” Their spokesperson, Dr. Awwal Ahmad, said they were disturbed by the allegation, which he observed, has socio-economic and security implications.
Not minding el-Rufai’s attempt to devalue its effort, the PDP moved from the North-West to the North-Central and South- West within three days, delivering its message of rescuing Nigeria to its well wishers. The PPCO is lapping up every moment of the campaign as it lauded “the spontaneous jubilation and the overflowing crowd of supporters” that received Atiku at the North-Central zonal rally in Ilorin, Kwara State and described it as “a clear confirmation of his acceptance across the board as the next president of our nation.”
As for the South West Zonal rally in Mapo Hall, Ibadan, Oyo state, , the PDP thought that “the unprecedented crowd” that received its presidential candidate “is an undisputable pointer that the region has abandoned President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, ahead of the 2019 general elections.” The PPCO said that with the outpouring of support for Atiku, “the people of the South-West region have demonstrated that they cannot be subdued by expansionist interests or framed into sectional politics, rather, they are in complete alignment with other parts of the country, in the collective aspiration to rescue our nation from the stranglehold of the incompetent, corrupt and anti-people Buhari administration.”
With what it has seen in the areas visited, even before it has completed its zonal rallies, the PDP is confident that it can wrest power from the APC and from government in 2019, exploiting the dissatisfaction and disappointment of Nigerians with President Buhari and his party who, after nearly four years in office, are perceived to have been unable to bring to fruition the electoral promises they serenaded them within the run-up to the 2015 election.