The 2023 presidential election is just about four months away and candidates of 18 political parties have been working round the clock to woo the electorate ahead of the poll. Who are the candidates and what are their chances?
ATIKU ABUBAKAR
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar Abubakar is running for president for the fifth time, having contested in 2007, 2011,2015 and 2019. Since he left office as vice-president in the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, Abubakar has been actively involved in politics although on different political platforms, leaving the PDP only to return there in 2017.
He is easily the most experienced politician among the long list of contenders working hard to replace President Muhammadu Buhari next year. Atiku was also a founding member of the PDP and is seen as one of the party’s biggest financiers. One of Abubakar’s priorities if elected president, according to Blueprint, would be unifying the country. Atiku’s choice of Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, a Christian from the Southern part of the country as against All Progressives Congress (APC’s) Muslim-Muslim ticket is a plus for the PDP presidential candidate.
BOLA AHMED TINUBU
Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been involved in the nation’s democratic process since the ill-fated Third Republic when he represented Lagos West Senatorial District in the Senate of the Federal Republic. the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was also a two term Governor of Lagos State and APC National Leader. During his reign as the governor of the nation’s commercial capital, Tinubu tackled key challenges affecting the state at the time. These include : poor revenue profile arising from a fragile fiscal structure; an inefficient, leaking tax administration; a public trust deficit; creaking road and transport infrastructure with a barely functioning public transport system; weak public health institutions; a broken down public education system. Instructively, he raised the state’s revenue profile from N600m in 1999 to N23billion in 2007. Although there is a stiff opposition to his party’s same faith ticket, power of incumbency may work in his favour.
PETER OBI
Mr. Peter Obi is a former Governor of Anambra State. Although a first timer in the race, his aspiration is being propelled by the force of youths who are seeking a change of guard from the old brigade to Mr. Obi whom they see as the most competent of the pack. Obi’s supporters who go by the moniker, OBIDIENTS do not want to hear nothing about anyone else but Peter OBI. They are fiery and feisty foot soldiers, and they have taken over the media space. The deaf everywhere hears them. Although he has been around for a while, and has variously pitched his tents with three political parties for about two decades and is a household nomenclature, especially in the South, this appears the only time that his message has resonated with many Nigerians especially the youth. . If his support base on the social media is anything to go by, then the presidential race may likely be a three-horse race between Atiku, Tinubu and Obi.
RABIU MUSA KWANKWASO
A two-time governor of Kano state and a former senator representing Kano central senatorial district, Kwankwaso is another candidate seeking to replace President Muhammadu Buhari in May 2023. With a huge fan base in Kano engineered by the Kwankwasiya movement, Kwankwaso was one of those that formed the APC and his impact in politics in the north is not in doubt.
Kwankwaso recently registered New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), a platform which he hopes to use to actualize his ambition. At every opportunity, Kwankwaso has harped on education as one of his core mandates if elected president. “We believe that education is the cornerstone of any development and nation-building. Education shall be a cardinal point of our administration,” he had said at one of such fora.
OMOYELE SOWERE
Omoyele “Yele” Sowore is a human rights activist and pro-democracy campaigner, known for founding the online news agency Sahara Reporters. In August 2018, he founded the African Action Congress (ADC) party and ran as its presidential candidate in the 2019 Nigerian general election. Sowore is also running for president in the 2023 Nigerian general election.
He has been at loggerheads with the authorities in the past few years. On 3 August 2019 Sowore was arrested by the Nigerian State Security Service (SSS) for alleged treason after calling for a protest tagged RevolutionNow. He was arrested again and beaten during a protest in Abuja on 1 January 2021. It doesn’t appear that his message is well received by the political establishment across the country.
Other candidates include Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (AA), Kachukwu Dumebi (ADC), Yusuf Yabagi Sani (ADP), Umeadi Chukwudi (APGA) among others.
