Since May of this year, I have given you various pathways and scenarios leading to the emergence of Orji Uzor Kalu as the President of Nigeria in 2023. Many of you did not believe me then. But those of you who were able to follow my brain trajectory must have seen my calculations as impeccable. I told you that PDP’s will lose the 2023 presidential bid irrespective of how unpopular APC is.
APC will overcome its current unpopularity by zoning the presidency to the east. The focus of the voters will be the innovation of an Igbo president, and not on the track record of APC. Once APC zones it to the east, PDP will face a major challenge. By zoning the presidency to the east, APC will be in a position to cause the Igbos to shift from PDP to APC. To avoid losing its strongest base in the East, PDP will be forced to also zone the presidency to the East.
For APC to zone presidency to the East, Tinubu must kiss goodbye to his presidential ambition. For PDP to zone presidency to the East, Atiku must kiss goodbye to his presidential ambitions. This is where the challenge lies. Recent events in Nigeria have weakened Tinubu considerably, such as: (1) the removal of Oshonmole as the leader of APC and appointment of replacement by people not loyal to Tinubu’s (2) the nasty shlacking Tinubu and Oshonmole suffered in Edo State election recently, (3) the messy lawsuit implicating Tinubu in the Alpha Beta scandal, (4) the resentment for the way Tinubu treated Ambode, which was what people wanted to avoid a repeat of in Edo Stare, (5) the way Tinubu came out in the messy handling of the Endsars protest. So, Tinubu is not strong enough now to prevent APC from zoning the presidency to the East.
On the other hand Atiku retains an undiminished influence in PDP and has not given up his ambitions. So, PDP is likely not going to zone presidency to the East. So, those Igbos who prefer Peter Obi will have him as a Vice President. But the Igbos are not impressed with a Vice Presidential position. Dr. Alex Ekwueme was good enough for them.
No doubt, OUK is the most influential Igbo politician in APC. Compared with other influential Igbos in APC, such as Emeka Offor, Ken Nnamani, Ogbonnaya Onu, Okorocha, OUK is shoulders ahead of them. He is a dollars billionaire like Emeka Offor and Okorocha. But in addition, he is better entrenched within the APC political system.
If PDP fields Atiku and APC fields OUK, it will be an interesting match. OUK will beat Atiku. The Northern APC elites that chose to back an Igbo candidate will be influential enough to neutralize Atiku’s influence in the North. With an Igbo presidential candidate, APC will take the East 90%. With majority of the West will still be in APC, Atiku will lose to the APC candidate, which is OUK. OUK is going to be an unbeatable candidate either way.
OUK could turn out to be the best President of Nigeria so far. Nigeria is at a crossroad. We must either get it right or perish. OUK is bound to be keenly aware of the challenges Nigeria faces. This is the most profound time for this country. We have an old system that failed, and we envision a new system that can salvage the country. The country needs a bridge figure, who is part of the old and part of the new system. That person will be a bridge between the old Nigeria and the new Nigeria. OUK is in an excellent position to be that bridge figure.
Once I reasoned that OUK is the most likely person to emerge president in 2023, my focus shifted. How can we make sure he will be the best President? The positive people of Nigeria have a role to play in making sure that the next President will be the type of leader we want. One way to do it is to give the right candidate the support he needs so we can have a voice and influence in his policy making curcle. The worst thing that can happen to you politically is when you end up with a leader you did not support. If you agree with my analysis that OUK is the man, then we need to rally behind him and positively influence and facilitate his emergence. Let us be king-makers. Let’s make the next president so we will be able to advise him when he is in office. This is why Rambo supports OUK. Pure and pragmatic logic.