2015: A surest win-win Formula For APC

As the All Progressives Congress (APC) gets ready to hold its primaries for the purpose of choosing a presidential candidate to fly the party’s flag in the 2015 election, Nigerians are eagerly awaiting who the party will settle for from the aspirants who have indicated interest in the race.
The aspirants in the APC are former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, Kano State governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and Publisher of Leadership newspaper, Sam Nda- Isaiah.
Any of these aspirants that emerges as the party flag bearer would have to face the incumbent President and candidate of the ruling party, PDP, Dr Goodluck Jonathan. In view of the fact that Jonathan has been on the presidential saddle for the past six years, and has at his disposal, all the apparatus of state, including the hefty financial power of the federal government; the APC has to look carefully and eschew sentiment in its choice of candidate. If the PDP candidate was a greenhorn who is about to taste power for the first time, it would suffice for the party to look in the direction of any of the younger aspirants.
However, considering the fact that the chosen APC candidate would be confronting the awesome power of the Federal Government, the nationwide institution called the PDP which is used to power and how to get it, to confront the PDP candidate would be no tea party. It would require that the APC choose from these aspirants that one of the quartet that can complement the appeal of the party.
Going by the above and based on what the public know about the two leading aspirants namely General Buhari and Atiku Abubakar, the latter has more of what is required to confront the PDP candidate. In the first place, General Buhari has told all who cares to listen that he is the poorest of all the presidential hopefuls in his party, and of course he would be no match financially for the PDP sole candidate, Goodluck Jonathan who has transformed from a shoeless poor person to a money bag, no thanks to all the stories of missing public funds in the NNPC and other government establishments. President Jonathan’s financial power would of course be hugely supplemented by business moguls and cronies of his who have benefitted immensely at the expense of Nigerians through his economic programmes and policies.
Also, in a rather comical disclosure, General Buhari told the nation that he took a bank loan before he could afford the purchase of the presidential nomination form of his party, the APC. This means that clearly, the former Head of State, who failed to amass wealth while in power as is customary in Nigeria, may not be able to prosecute the presidential election given the huge role money plays in the contemporary politics of the country. The time is long past when Nigerians voted for people based on how good and trustworthy they are. Politics now has been monetised heavily and the general poverty and unemployment engendered by the six year misrule of President Jonathan means that financial power which enables candidates to give inducement to voters are important.
Atiku Abubakar, a man that is financially solvent and a successful businessman comes in here. While his financial ability cannot match that of the incumbent and the PDP as a group, he can at least mobilise resources that will go a long way to beef up the financial capacity of the APC to go into the presidential race with confidence. Atiku, as an astute businessman and a popular business leader would also be able to attract some members of the elite business community to make donations that can jack up the purse of the APC.
The APC should take a second and close look at the Turaki Adamawa, he is the person the party needs.
Yet another good quality of the Turaki Adamawa that recommends him highly for the eventual success of APC’s presidential quest is the fact that he is a religious moderate and cannot be associated with any form of extremist views. The Turaki differs here from his opposite number and leading party man General Buhari, who unfortunately does not engender much confidence to certain religious communities in the country. It is really sad that over the years, no matter how hard he has tried, the retired soldier from Katsina has been unable to shake off the label or toga of religious intolerance and fundamentalism. It is important that the APC does not waste valuable time required to run an issue- based campaign which Atiku is adept at, to be bogged down by the effort to minimise hostility towards the Katsina general by a cross section of Nigerians uncomfortable with his religious views.
It needs be recalled that in the 2011 presidential elections, Buhari could not campaign in some South- south States like Bayelsa, and actually got zero vote from those areas. This cannot happen with an Atiku Abubakar, whose reputation is well- known and who have friends, allies and supporters across the social and political divide of the country.