The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have both declared that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has no chance of winning in the upcoming 2023 presidential elections.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The 2023 Verdict on Wednesday, the Deputy Spokesperson and Deputy Director of Public Affairs of the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Hanatu Musawa, and PDP member Ladan Salihu, shared their opinions about the potential outcomes of the election.
The front-runners of the election are believed to be the APC’s Bola Tinubu and the PDP’s Atiku Abubakar, while Obi is also running alongside the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Salihu, from the PDP, argued that Obi’s chances of winning the presidential race are hampered by his lack of political structure across the country, especially in the North, compared to the PDP. On the other hand, Musawa of the APC described Obi’s victory as a “constitutional impossibility.”
In the North, the NNPP and Labour Party “don’t have representation on the ground – no governors, no senators,” according to Salihu. When asked if subnational representation matters, Salihu responded, “It matters to some people, but to the PDP, we’re not so much concerned. I wouldn’t say I sympathise with the party, but my heart goes out to the Labour for not having the numbers to compete.”
He further explained, “How do you have a party going into a presidential election, and out of 176,000 polling stations, your presence is only felt in 42,000? So, there’s just no way Labour can pose a threat to the PDP in the North. Ditto NNPP.”
Salihu also mentioned that the 2023 presidential election is a contest between the APC and the PDP, with the former being an insignificant threat to the PDP’s chances of winning.
Similarly, Musawa shared Salihu’s opinion that the contest is a two-horse race, describing it as a “straight contest between APC and PDP – that’s the reality.” Although she admitted that “other brilliant candidates” are running, none of them has the political structure or capital needed to achieve victory.
Musawa further explained, “Yes, he’s [Obi] got an opportunity to contest, but there is a constitutional impossibility for Peter Obi to win this election because of how our laws are constituted. It’s just not possible. He’s disrupting the PDP, not the APC, because what Peter Obi has done is he’s cannibalising the votes of the PDP.”
In conclusion, the APC and the PDP are convinced that Peter Obi and his party stand no chance of winning the 2023 presidential election. With the election just around the corner, it remains to be seen how accurate these predictions will be.
