By Walero Ajiwo

In choosing Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as its presidential flag bearer last weekend, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) flagrantly repudiated its rotational system, thereby humiliating its members from Southern Nigeria.

This decision casts a further slur on the credibility of the party that once, as a ruling party, shared billions of naira to its cronies through the office of the National Security Adviser like sachets of water during a local birthday party celebration.

Unfortunately, the exit of Peter Obi from the Peoples Democratic Party  (PDP) unequivocally put an end to the credibility of the primaries elections of PDP last weekend in Abuja. In Obi’s exit, PDP lost a decent candidate by using money politics to push the articulate politician out of the leading opposition party in Nigeria. Obi is now the presidential flag bearer of the Labour Party.

Winning the 2023 presidential elections in Nigeria has come down to a credibility issue. There is no doubt that President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) has laboured in the last seven years rebuilding the nation from the ruins left by the PDP under the leadership of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in 2015. PMB needs global credibility after he leaves office as the President who laid the foundation for the infrastructural development of a new Nigeria where the needs of the masses are met. If no credible leader succeeds PMB then all his efforts in the last seven years will be a waste.

This is why he himself, in his recent address to APC Governors and strategic stakeholders, pleaded to be allowed to choose his successor for continuity.

The most credible presidential aspirant who can guarantee continuity of the infrastructural development initiatives of PMB is someone who has been part of the herculean process.

For PMB to truly preserve his legacy and shine in retirement, his successor must be a honest, loyal and visionary leader who understands Nigerians and is passionate about growth, fairness and unity. The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, perfectly fits the bill. He can effortlessly improve on the foundation laid by PMB.

An Osinbajo presidency will clearly put PMB on the global stage as the architect of modern Nigeria. Moreover Osinbajo’s track record as reasonable technocrat that is up-to-the-moment with global developmental trends would greatly boost the confidence of the global community that Nigeria is on track to effectively addressing her complex economic challenges. PMB needs Osinbajo to guarantee that the vision of a greater Nigeria where everyone and everything works is fulfilled. I agree with the writer who said that an Osinbajo Presidency will make PMB proud to the extent that he can boast in future that “…we had a plan and President Yemi Osinbajo finished it!”

Osinbajo is an acknowledged servant leader whose pedigree, experience and recent performances are not shrouded in mystery. If APC delegates and stakeholders truly want to defeat PDP and its flag bearer, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, during the 2023 presidential general elections, APC must choose a decent aspirant.

Only Osinbajo has the intellect, integrity and inner drive to defeat Atiku in the 2023 Presidential elections. All APC stakeholders and delegates must vote for Osinbajo this weekend as the party’s presidential flag bearer. This move will be the only guarantee of the continuity of APC as Nigeria’s ruling party from May 29, 2023. It will be a vote for consolidating our infrastructural development and ensuring our prosperity as a united and productive nation.

• Dr.Walero Ajiwo is a Productivity Consultant