By Saidu Abdullahi

After the fallout of the national convention of the ruling party All Progressives Congress (APC) last Saturday/Sunday at Eagle Square, Abuja, groups and individuals have stepped up their game by mounting pressure on the former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to throw his hat into the ring and contest for the presidential election in 2023.

At the venue of APC’s national convention, there were group discussions about the future of the country’s democracy regarding next year’s presidential election. Of course, the major issue that dominated sideline conversations was the question of who the party would produce as its presidential candidate.

So far, the answer to this question seems like a mirage, in view of the line-up of persons who have publicly declared their interest to run for the office of the President.

Those who want to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari next year on the platform of the APC include Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; national leader of the ruling party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State; and Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State. Others who are reportedly nurturing a presidential ambition to take over from Buhari are Governor Kayode Fayemi; Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transport, among others.

But the body language of President Buhari has been saying something completely different that the aspirants and some APC hawks were totally oblivious of until the last week before the national convention of the party. Members of the ruling party at the highest level were shocked at the strings that the President pulled.

Knowing fully well that any bloc within the party that produced the national chairman of the party would eventually influence whoever would emerge as the presidential candidate, the cabal devised a killer strategy by ensuring that President Buhari invited the party leaders, APC governors, National Assembly caucus and other stakeholders and mounted pressure on them to accept his proposal of concensus option.

Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State explained the outcome of the meeting on Concensus candidacy proposal of the President while he was fielding question from the State House correspondents. According to him, “President Buhari is a believer in consensus as one of the options of producing leaders and he urged us to explore consensus while recognising that many people who have indicated interest are equally competent but only one person will occupy the office at the end of the day.

“Consensus is part of our constitution and he urged us to work towards consensus. We are in total support of Mr. President. We are appreciative of his leadership. We commend him for his leadership. We are appreciative of the sacrifice of the National Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee. And we thank them for the successes recorded under them. Our party, like I said, is greater and stronger with more members by the day.”

Expectedly, no one could turn down the President’s offer. So, when Senator Abdullahi Adamu eventually emerged as the concensus candidate and national chairman, it was a fait accompli. Everyone fell into line.

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Bagudu went down memory line to justify this line of argument when he said, “We have produced a number of national chairmen by consensus; Bisi Akande emerged as the pioneer chairman of the APC through consensus, John Oyegun emerged by consensus, Adams Oshiomhole emerged by consensus, so the President reminded us of that.”

But the untold ultimate strategy that was not revealed by the President and is still kept close to his chest is the fact that the cabal has perfected plan to also, like the concensus that made other national chairmanship aspirants withdrew from the race, former President Jonathan is going to be the concensus presidential candidate of the party.

It is imperative to note that the President is determined to hand over power to a worthy, dependable and patriotic Nigerian within the ruling party who he believes Nigerians want and has the requisite credentials to pull this country together from the current brink of explosive agitations along ethnic and religious lines.

The President is fully aware that he cannot leave the country with myriads of problems orchestrated by protracted national security issues. He is also well aware of the fact there are many desperate individuals or political elements in the APC who are ready to cross the borders of decency, law, patriotism and statesmanship to grab power.

Besides the APC, the President is also not unaware of politicians in the opposition who are trying to move heaven and earth to succeed him. But he is not disposed either. Knowing fully well that he cannot depend on rigging for APC to produce the next President, he has to reposition the party and ensure that only candidates that he can market to Nigerians emerge as the ruling party’s standard-bearers.

In all of this, all fingers are pointing at one man, former President Jonathan. He arguably possesses the most enviable political credentials in the current democracy dispensation. He has proven over and again that he can be trusted. He is a leader that has demonstrated beyond any doubt that he promotes the interest of Nigeria, its unity, peace and progress above his personal whims and interests.

He has showed that being in power or out of power does not affect his commitment and dedication to pursuing national interest of the country. He has made enormous personal and political sacrifices for Nigeria’s democracy. His post-presidential antecedents in Nigeria, Africa and beyond have boosted Nigeria’s international image as the most responsible and biggest democracy in Africa.

More importantly, Jonathan has become the light of optimism for the interest of the minority in a heterogeneous democracy and society like ours in terms of ethnicity and religion. This and more are the core reasons the cabal wants Jonathan. He is a man of peace. He willingly, against the highest odds possible, called and congratulated Buhari as the winner of his second term campaign while counting of votes was still going on. Indeed, Jonathan is a man of history.

But the only challenge now is the question everybody has been asking: Will former President Jonathan accept to contest the 2023 presidential election as the ruling party’s concensus candidate?

•Dr. Abdullahi wrote from Sabon Gari, Kano