SaharaReporters understands that these talks, which began on Sunday and continued till Tuesday, received big inputs from Obasanjo, Sanusi and the international community, notably the European Union (EU). Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, was also credited with some faint involvement in the talks, but sources very close to him told SaharaReporters that this is very unlikely, as he prefers to stay out of the politics of electioneering.
Olusegun Obasanjo, former
President and Sanusi Lamido, former Governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN), are among high-ranking Nigerians who convinced Obiageli
Ezewesili, candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), to
with[b][/b][b][/b]draw from the 2019 presidential race.
Ezekwesili
withdrew from the race on Thursday morning after “extensive discussions
with Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora”, citing the need to “focus
on helping to build a veritable coalition to ensure a viable alternative
to the #APCPDP in the forthcoming elections”.
“It is my ardent
belief that this broad coalition for a viable alternative has now become
more than ever before, an urgent mission for and on behalf of Nigerian
citizens,” she had said. “I have therefore chosen to lead the way in
demonstrating the much needed patriotic sacrifice for our national
revival and redirection.”
Talks for the emergence of a consensus
candidate under the Presidential Aspirants Coming Together (PACT)
initiative were on earlier in the campaign. While seven candidates —
notably Tope Fasua, presidential candidate of the Abundant Nigeria
Renewal Party (ANRP) and Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the
African Action Congress (AAC) — pulled out of it, 11 more — including
Fela Durotoye, presidential candidate of the Alliance for New Nigeria
(ANN) and Kingsley Moghalu, candidate of the Young Progressives Party
(YPP), stayed till the end. Durotoye emerged the winner, but Moghalu
refused to step down, after which Ezekwesili herself joined the race.
However,
after monitoring the performance of candidates at Saturday’s
presidential debate organised by the Broadcasting Organisations of
Nigeria (BON) and the Nigeria Elections Debate Group (NEDG), some
concerned Nigerians became convinced that two of those candidates —
Ezekwesili and Moghalu — could defeat President Muhammadu Buhari,
candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Atiku Abubakar,
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). They, therefore, began a
series of “intense talks” towards presenting just one candidate.
SaharaReporters
understands that these talks, which began on Sunday and continued till
Tuesday, received big inputs from Obasanjo, Sanusi and the international
community, notably the European Union (EU). Nobel Laureate, Professor
Wole Soyinka, was also credited with some faint involvement in the
talks, but sources very close to him told SaharaReporters that this is
very unlikely, as he prefers to stay out of the politics of
electioneering.
“The international community was involved,” a
diplomatic source deeply involved in the talks told SaharaReporters on
Thursday evening.
“They were here before the debate, and
afterwards they held several meetings in Abuja. You also had a former
President who pretends to be supporting Atiku. I will tell you for free
that Obasanjo’s support of Atiku is not genuine. He wants a coalition
but he agreed to support Atiku so that in the event that the coalition
does not work, Atiku will be a better President than Buhari is for him.”
A
second source with extensive knowledge of northern Nigeria politics
also told SaharaReporters about the influence of Sanusi, the Emir of
Kano, on Ezekwesili’s withdrawal.
“Sanusi has been involved, too.
He is the chief sponsor of Moghalu. He is the one mobilising the
northern elites for Moghalu,” he said. “That is where Moghalu has always
got his confidence from. Sanusi believes in Ezekwesili too, but he and
some others feel that Moghalu, being a man, will pull more weight.”
The source, though, ex
pressed
doubts that Moghalu would step down for anyone should the new idea of a
consensus candidate produce someone other than him.
“You know
Moghalu will never step down for anybody,” he said. “Now, somebody has
to sacrifice his/her ambition, and the woman wants to sacrifice hers so
that in the coming days others will also sacrifice theirs.
“You’ve
seen also that ACPN also will never support a coalition. Galadima never
wanted a coalition; he has always said that in 2015 when he was the
candidate of the party, the party came fourth in the presidential
election. And now that the party has Oby as the flagbearer, they will
definitely win the election.
Already, Galadima, the National
Chairman of ACPN, has disowned Ezekwesili, claiming that she never
wanted to be President in the first place but only wanted to use the
position to negotiate for the position of Finance Minister. However,
SaharaReporters understands that this is unlikely, as Ezekweisli, since
leaving office as Minister of Education in April 2007, is privately
known to have turned down ministerial offers from two presidents.
The
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has also turned down
her withdrawal, saying it came in two months after the deadline.
Source:- Saharareporters
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