A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dele Momodu said the presidential candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and the Labour Paty, LP; Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi respectively do not have the requisite to reposition Nigeria.
Momodu, a former presidential aspirant of the PDP, made this assertion in an interview on Channels Television’s programme, The 2023 Verdict.overlay-cleverCloseCloseAccording to Momodu, Obi is “struggling” because a presidential race is not a marathon and takes time to build bridges.
But, the PDP chieftain acknowledged that Obi is a third force in Nigeria’s national politics.He said, “Usually, in many countries, you have two mainstream political parties and candidates.
“In the case of Nigeria, now we seem to have a third force, the fourth force is not doing much. And who are the leading candidates?
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos and Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State.”
Speaking on Obi and the Labour Party as a third force, Momodu said, “I’m a democrat, I will not disparage anybody. He (Obi) is a third force but the question is how forceful that third force is.”
According to him, only his party, PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who is from Adamawa, in North-East Nigeria, has what it takes to reposition the country.He dismissed Tinubu; and Obi, saying both candidates, though they are southerners, don’t have what it takes to reposition Nigeria.
“If Peter Obi is struggling, then the number four would have to struggle more. He is definitely struggling. A presidential race is a marathon; it is a long-distance race, it takes time to build up,” he added. Meanwhile, Momodu has said he never said the 2023 presidency “must” be a southern affair.
He said, “I never said it (2023 presidency) must, as a matter of life and death, become a southern affair.”Recall that Momodu had said it is unfair for a northerner to succeed the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari, who is from Katsina State in North-West Nigeria and whose eight-year tenure ends in May 2023.
However, Momodu, who is the Director of Strategic Communications of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, said he never said the 2023 presidency “must” be a southern affair.According to him, the powers within his party changed the tempo before the primary last May by throwing the ticket open.
He said, “The powers that be within PDP were the ones who changed the mood of the moment. My mood was that: yes, a lot of people within the people wanted power in the south…
“Once the party decided to throw it open, you cannot blame me for that. I am a loyal party man but there is nowhere where it was signed that a southerner cannot become vice president. The party is always supreme.”
