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By Wale Adeduro

The choice of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as presidential flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has no doubt put the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in a quandary at this time. It has dawned on the APC stalwarts that Atiku is a formidable opposition candidate in the 2023 presidential elections.

There is so much pressure within the rank and file of the APC about who to choose as flagbearer. The methodology to adopt for the choice of a flag-bearer has also rankled the APC.

Strategic horse-trading has been going on within the party with frenetic speed in the last one week. As much as all the stakeholders agree that the party must not lose the 2023 presidential election, not a few party stalwarts are still blinded by their personal interests. Interestingly, those who are bent on realising their personal agenda, at the expense of the nation’s corporate interests, are the most vociferous in APC.

Those who want to guarantee that the party continues in power on May 29, 2023 are pushing for a Southern candidate. The hardliners, on the other hand, are insisting on the party producing a Northern Muslim as the party’s flag-bearer. In the minority is the lone ranger who insists that the party must present him as its consensus candidate.

As the party pussy-foots about how to choose its flag-bearer, the APC delegates and stakeholders are in utter consternation. The more politically experienced delegates and stakeholders know that what matters most at this crunchtime is choosing a candidate who can square up with Atiku at the polls to win the Presidential elections for APC.

Atiku is quite formidable. So it is not wise to field a candidate with integrity and mental deficiency against him. You can’t overcome darkness with what is opaque.

It is also too late in the day to rewrite the code of conduct on presidential rotation between the North and the South. APC will be shooting itself in the foot if Senator Ahmad Lawan is chosen as the party’s flag-bearer. The PDP is already imploding because Atiku, against the spirit of a gentleman’s agreement, substituted the arrangement of the party to concede the presidential slot to a Southerner in the 2023 elections. If APC takes a descent into the labyrinth where PDP now finds itself, it would have strengthened the positions of the Labour Party and The New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, to reduce APC’s chances of victory at the polls.

There is a fragility in the Nigerian polity on account of the disadvantages that the South has been perceived to have suffered in recent times. The agitations for self-determination are mostly coming from the South. APC will do well to be pragmatic in uniting the nation again. Giving the party’s flag to a credible Southerner for the 2023 presidential elections will go a long way in fostering unity.

As President Muhammadu Buhari has opined, it is imperative that APC institutionalises continuity of its infrastructural development agenda. Implementing a succession is important to make this happen. The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who has faithfully worked with the president in the last seven years, is the best hand who can ensure a seamless flow at the highest level of leadership in Nigeria after the tenure of President Buhari expires next May. Osinbajo is a humane, respectful and diligent team player as well as a unifier.

His strengths have been acknowledged, even by the supporters of his fellow presidential aspirants in APC, as being an untainted strategist and an astute administrator.

One major legacy that President Buhari will be proud to leave behind is the fact that he handed over to a President who is not a moneybag just as he became Nigeria’s President in 2015 without having a huge personal financial war chest. This is also the legacy that APC delegates can leave to generations of unborn Nigerians. Our nation would have been put on the path of redemption if all the APC delegates could refuse to be influenced by financial handouts by voting for the protection of our commonwealth.

Nigerians are looking up to all APC delegates and stakeholders to protect the internal cohesion and democracy of the party as well as the country from moneybag dictatorship. We need to move away from the self-entitlement induced tantrums of individuals who believe that Nigerians should gratify them with the presidency of our nation.

If I were an APC delegate, the above concerns would dominate my thoughts and guide me as I cast my vote during the presidential primary elections.

•Dr Adeduro, a productivity consultant, wrote from Lagos