Barely five days before the All Progressives Congress (APC) closes the sale of its expression of interest and nomination forms, three more aspirants have declared their intention to run for the presidential ticket of the party.

The rash of declarations has raised the fear of a game plan to compel the ruling party into throwing its presidential race open to aspirants from all sections of the country.

The new entrants into the race are a former National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole; the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio; and the Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi; erstwhile Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun.

Also, the Jigawa State Governor, Mohammed Badaru, obtained the APC presidential forms at the party’s national headquarters on 4^th May 2022 in Abuja after announcing his decision to contest just the previous night to the day, in Dutse, his State Capital.

According to various sources, Senate President Ahmad Lawan has concluded arrangements to make his declaration this week, while the Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu disclosed he would formally announce his interest in the same office on Friday, 6^th May 2022.

Earlier on Tuesday, 3^rd May 2022, a businessman, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, joined the rush and abruptly declared his bid.

The new entrants this week have taken the number of aspirants to about 23 who may participate in the APC presidential primary, which will be held between May 30 and June 1 in Abuja.

As of the evening of Wednesday being May 4, 2022, six of them had picked the APC presidential forms after paying N100 million each.

The aspirants who have grabbed the party’s presidential forms are: the National Leader of the party, Bola Tinubu; Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello; Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi; Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, and the Jigawa State Governor, Mohammed Badaru.

The sixth, a female aspirant, Uju Kennedy picked her forms after paying the sum of N30 million. It’s noteworthy that the party had said female aspirants would only pay for the expression of interest forms.

Other aspirants reportedly set to pick the forms include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige; former Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha; Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade; a former House of Representatives Speaker, Dimeji Bankole; a former Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun; including other chieftains of the party such as Ihechukwu Chima, Usman Iwu, Mr Tein Jack-Rich and Adamu Garba II.

It’s worthy of note that five of the aspirants are from the Northern part of the country, while 18 are from the South. The entrance of the northern aspirants feeds speculation that the party is under pressure to throw its presidential primary open to all comers.

The APC was assumed to have zoned its presidential ticket to the South after it announced earlier this year that its northern and southern zones would swap the party offices they were holding at the National Convention of the party on March 26.

The arrangement led to the emergence of Sen. Abdullahi Adamu as the National Chairman of the party, the first person from the North to hold the office since the party was formed in 2014.

However, just penultimate week, Friday, 29^th April 2022, Sen. Adamu made a u-turn, saying the party was yet to decide on zoning, a statement that drew criticisms from across the South.

Responding to the statement, the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu warned the party against throwing the race open or zoning the presidency to the North.

Based on reliable reports, the APC is expected to decide on the party’s zoning formula before the presidential primary.

A similar situation is going on in the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) where five of the 17 aspirants who had picked the party’s presidential forms are from the North.

Although the party set up a committee headed by the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom to advise it on the zoning issue, the sale of the forms to the Northern aspirants indicates that the primary race of the party has been thrown open to all the zones in the country.

From my observation, the APC is of the view that if the party zones the presidential ticket to the South, while the opposition PDP throws theirs open to all comers, it would give the latter an undue advantage over the former.

In other words, the ruling party wants to be extremely careful over the zoning issue, hence would want to take their time to decide on it. They have understood that the PDP would leverage on any mistake made by the party to ensure their (PDP’s) victory at the polls come 2023.

Whatever the case might be, I would advise the APC to consult widely before taking their final decision. But while they do so, they must understand that the party’s chairmanship position had already been given or zoned to the North, hence the need not to rob the South their rightful entitlement.

An All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant and leader of the agitations for Middle-Belt Presidency come 2023, Moses Ayom, has abruptly withdrawn from the impending race, citing irregularities.

He attributed his decision to the last minute dumping of the zoning arrangement by the leadership of the APC.
Ayom, according to a statement by his media office in Abuja within the week, announced his withdrawal while breaking fast with members of the Interfaith Clerics Council of Nigeria, at an event centre he donated to the APC.

The party chieftain disclosed that his withdrawal from the race was in deference and total submission to the Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC.

He said, “On the basis of all these, I wish to state without any form of equivocation, that I am standing down my aspiration for the presidency of our country summarily. I wish to state very boldly that we shall return at the right time.”

It’s noteworthy that Adamu had penultimate week told newsmen at the Presidential Villa that the party had not taken any decision on zoning of the presidency.

When asked where the ruling party would be zoning its presidential ticket to, Adamu replied that such a decision was beyond the NWC and was the prerogative of the entire party membership, which he acknowledged was bigger than his position as the party National Chairman.

Ayom said part of the reasons he wanted to contest the election was to bring relief and succour to his people at the Niger-Delta, who according to him, “for decades had not experienced equity, fairness and justice.”

He opined, “A people that had suffered untold marginalisation and maltreatment in the form of economic and social deprivation arising from political slavery. The wanton destruction of lives and property through terrorism, banditry and kidnappings which had been meted out to the region is a classical example.”

On the failure of the party to zone the presidency to the Middle-Belt, Ayom replied that the APC ought to embrace equity and fairness, while expressing dismay at the failure of the party to reduce the N100 million presidential nomination and expression of interest forms of the party.

He said, “Furthermore, I made another passionate call to the leadership of our party a few days ago, to align with the call of Mr. President to avoid the pitfall of conceding the elections into the hands of the highest bidder.
“I called for the review of the high prices for nomination form, the highest in the history of the country. The Interfaith Clerics Council also wrote a letter and visited the National Chairman, asking for a review of the prices, all to no avail.” Ayom frowned.

The withdrawn aspirant advised the President not to jettison the economic diversification policy of his government. He said, “While I withdraw from the race, I want to remind President Muhammadu Buhari of the good decision he took to diversify the economy as soon as he took over the mantle of leadership of this country.

“The specific case of going into partnership with China to sign some MOU in 2016 is an issue here. The President made history by taking me along with Aliko Dangote to China for those deals aimed at diversifying the economy.

“In that business presidential trip, the Federal Government signed $6bn currency swap to facilitate trade between China and Nigeria and to reduce the pressure on foreign reserve. The second agreement, which was the $2.6 billion signed by Aliko Dangote in the mining sector, has started yielding fruits.

“The third was the contract signed by Rev. Moses Ayom on behalf of Granite and Marble, with World’s largest manufacturer of mining equipment, China’s SBM. It is heart-warming that great milestones achievements have been recorded, notably the recent commissioning of the fertilizer company by President Muhammadu Buhari in Lagos, which is the second largest in the World.”

Nigeria’s politicians have apparently turned the political space to a laughing stock, or a comic stage. On a daily basis, a certain Nigerian must declare his intention to emerge as the country’s president come 2023. Funnily enough, one would declare today; the following day, he would withdraw his interest unannounced.

So, this very aspirant actually declared his interest owing to the APC’s initial zoning arrangement? That means, he can’t contest for power if the leadership structure isn’t zoned to his people?