The governor of Delta state is
unarguably the man of the moment as he successfully chaired a peaceful and to a
large extent, transparent presidential primary election. Devoid of rancour,
delegates trooped into the pavilions earmarked for their respective states,
while the 12 aspirants also went about their businesses. States voted
concurrently and the officials gave the exercise their best shot.
While declaring the winner after
the exercise, the University of Ibadan-trained medical doctor radiated like a
winner too. As the chairman of the electoral committee of the party in Ekiti
state, Okowa was said to have called the delegates out one after the other and
did personal headcount as they lined up to cast their votes. One thing that
stands out in his qualities as an electoral umpire is his penchant for
orderliness.
GBENGA DANIEL
If there is one man whose efforts
paid off with the outcome of the primary election, it should be Gbenga Daniel,
former governor of Ogun state.
In May, Abubakar unveiled OGD, as
he is popularly called, as the director-general of his campaign organisation.
The former vice-president had said, “I am in no doubt OGD is a very positive
and welcome addition to our campaign and I look forward to working with him as
he leads our campaign to victory in February 2019.”
On Friday, while calling on the
delegates to rally behind Abubakar, Daniel said the former vice-president could
stand shoulder-to-shoulder against Buhari. With the victory of the
ex-vice-president, OGD is no doubt strategising on how to embark on another
journey to the nooks and cranny of the country to secure the presidency for
Abubakar come 2019.
AISHA ALHASSAN
Although not a member of the PDP,
Al-Hassan, fondly called Mama Taraba, can be considered a winner with the
outcome of the convention. Even before Abubakar made his presidential ambition
public, Alhassan who was minister of women affairs until eight days ago, never
hid undivided loyalty to the former vice-president.
In 2017, as a member of Buhari’s
cabinet, Mama Taraba declared support for Abubakar whom she described as her
godfather. While some consider it an act of folly, it’s safe to assume that
Mama Taraba occupies a special place in the heart of Abubakar since candour is
a rare virtue in politics. Besides this, Alhassan would be happy that her
godfather is ready to give Buhari a run for his money. The APC disqualified her
from the governorship race in Taraba and her loyalty to Abubakar is believed to
have contributed to this.
The losers
NYESOM WIKE
The governor of River state is
undoubtedly one of the major influencers in the PDP. This could be seen in the
way he threatened to teach the party a bitter lesson if it changed the venue of
the convention. Moreover, he was said to have rooted for Tambuwal. During the
exercise, he had openly displayed his ballot paper to indicate the he voted for
the Sokoto governor.
His support for Tambuwal even
pitched him against Abubakar. Although, he didn’t mention the
ex-vice-president’s name, Wike had taken a swipe at him while attempting to
defend the choice of Port Harcourt as convention venue.
“I don’t know why anyone who
wants to be president will be afraid of a venue. Then you are not prepared for
the election… you come here to deceive us about restructuring. Just that Rivers
State is a venue, you fight it. Then, when you are there, what will happen? You
think we are fools where you preach restructuring, then when you get the
position, you abandon restructuring,” he had said.
Wike did not wait for the
convention to be brought to a close before he exited the venue.
AHMED MAKARFI
One issue political pundits have
been discussing after the primary is the fact that the three top contenders in
the race were in the All Progressives Congress (APC) when leadership crisis was
tearing at the heart of PDP. Mocked, dejected and rejected, PDP was on its way
down during the period.
Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo
had taunted the party saying it was dead but while many politicians defected,
Makarfi stayed back to help in nursing life into the party. Sadly, he polled
only 74 votes in the primary.
In a chat with reporters while
the party was making preparations for the convention, Makarfi had said no other
presidential aspirant had his pedigree and that he had confidence that he would
pick the party ticket for the 2019 election.
“PDP has become a beautiful bride
because of what I did. The party was considered dead until I came in as
chairman of the caretaker committee and turned it round,” he had said.
But the delegates reasoned
otherwise and Makarfi came 7th in the race contested by 12 aspirants.
DOYIN OKUPE
In August, Okupe, a former senior
special assistant on public affairs to former President Goodluck Jonathan, said
if Abubakar becomes the president, it will take another ten years to recover
from that.
Writing on Twitter, Okupe said while
he disagreed with Abubakar becoming Nigeria’s president, it would be a
different case with Senate President Bukola Saraki.
He tweeted, “If Atiku rules
Nigeria for 1 day, it will take us 10 years to recover. If Saraki rules for a
day, Nigeria will make history.”
Although he later deleted the
tweet and attempted damage control, Saraki named him media head of his
campaign.
With the former vice president’s
victory and the loss of Saraki, Okupe stands out as one of the losers.
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