ADC, LP, PRP, others eager to test strength against APC, PDP

To beat the deadline for the submission of the lists of candidates for the 2023 general elections, the 16 ‘smaller’ political parties have been conducting their presidential and other primaries.
Seven of the parties have repeatedly claimed they are working on uniting into a large platform that will constitute the third force of Nigerian politics and present a viable alternative to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
But there is no visible movement toward that grand ambition as each of the seven parties has been holding separate exercises to nominate candidates for the elections across the country.
Parties began their selection exercises with the state Houses of Assembly primaries and are rounding off with the nomination of their presidential candidates.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recently nominated Atiku Abubakar as its candidate for the second consecutive presidential election but the All Progressives Congress (APC) postponed its nomination to between June 6 and 8.
#AtikuDeclaration: Former Nigeria Vice President, Atiku Abubakar
Ten other parties also fixed their presidential primaries for between May 31 and June 9.
The parties include the Accord Party (AP), Action Alliance (AA), African Action Congress (AAC), African Democratic Congress (ADC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).
The others are the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Young Progressive Party (YPP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

However, as of Thursday night, only the AA, ADC, PRP, SDP, YPP and AP have more than one aspirant bidding for their presidential tickets.
Olufemi Ajadi, a presidential aspirant under the NNPP, recently stepped down for a former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
In the Labour Party, a former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, picked the ticket a few days after joining from the PDP. Pat Utomi, who facilitated Mr Obi’s defection to the party, and two other aspirants stepped down for Mr Obi at the party’s convention held on Monday in Asaba, the capital of Delta State.
A former chief judge of Anambra State, Peter Umeadi, also emerged as the presidential candidate of APGA at the party’s special convention held in Abuja on Wednesday.
A total of 150 delegates affirmed Mr Umeadi’s candidacy through a voice vote.
Cost of nomination forms
Taking a cue from the ruling APC and main opposition PDP which sold their presidential nomination forms for N100 million and N40 million respectively, many of the other parties have fixed their own prices at tens of millions of naira.
Aside from the AAC which issued its forms for all elective offices free of charge, all the third force parties whose officials PREMIUM TIMES interviewed fixed their prices for the presidential nomination forms at N10 million and above.

Mr Kwankwaso, who is the sole presidential aspirant in the NNPP, and Mr Umeadi of APGA paid N30 million and N22 million respectively to obtain their nomination forms.
The only male in the race under the SDP, Adewale Adebayo, paid N35 million. Mr Adebayo will face two female opponents, Khadijah Okunnu-Lamidi and Cessnabimilo Akenova, in the contest for the SDP ticket. The female candidates did not have to pay for their forms.

Before stepping down at the party’s convention, Sampson Charles and Fasuri Joseph had paid N30 million each for the LP presidential forms, while Olubusola Emmanuel, the only female in the race, enjoyed a discount.
The ADC has the highest number of presidential aspirants among the minor parties. Its 12 aspirants paid N25 million each for the nomination forms but the women and youth among them enjoyed special consideration.
The party made its nomination forms free for women, youth and Persons Living with Disabilities.
The presidential nomination forms of the ZLP, YPP and PRP went for N23 million, N15 million and N10 million respectively.
Meanwhile, most of the third force parties named above sold their presidential forms at much lower prices for the last general elections.
Third Force
The idea of a “Third Force Party” was again of interest to some parties in the march to the 2019 general elections.
Since the APC emerged from the fusion of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in 2014 and took power a year later, some of the minor parties think they can reenact the trick.
This is being pushed by the National Consultative Front (NCFront) but the parties involved in alliance talks have been nominating their individual candidates, indicating that their efforts may fail as the Presidential Aspirants Coming Together (PACT) failed in 2019.
Fela Durotoye of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) had emerged as the consensus candidate of the PACT but his candidature did not gain the support of the other aspirants and it was, therefore, no surprise that he did not make any impression at the general election.
The NCFront recently adopted Labour Party as its official platform. But that party has unilaterally nominated Mr Obi as its presidential candidate and the other third force parties have continued with their separate preparations for the general elections.
Leveraging on new deadline
However, following the six days extension granted by the INEC to the deadline for the submission of the lists of candidates, some of the third force parties rescheduled their primaries too.

Delegates of AA, ADC, AP, PRP, SDP, and YPP will now elect their presidential flag bearers between June 4 and 9.

ADC
The ADC will conduct a primary for its 12 presidential aspirants on June 8. The aspirants are Kingsley Moghalu, Mani Ibrahim, Chukwuka Monye, Angela Johnson, Dumebi Kachikwu, Joyce Nsaka, Chike Okogwu, and Chichi Ojei
The others are Favour Ayodele, Muhammed Lamido, Ify-George Oforkansi, and Ebiti Ndok Jegede.
The PRP rescheduled its senatorial, governorship and presidential primaries for June 4 and 5, while the Action Alliance (AA) will hold its special convention and presidential primary on June 9.
The YPP will hold its governorship primaries on June 4, although the Akwa-Ibom State chapter of the party has conducted its own. The party’s presidential primaries originally fixed for June 3 will now be held on June 8.
Still enmeshed in a leadership crisis, the SDP postponed its national convention and presidential primaries from June 2 to 7 and 8 of the same month.
With the Court of Appeal handing over the AAC chairmanship seat to Omoyele Sowore, the party may extend its primaries earlier scheduled from June 1 to 3.
The appellate court on Thursday voided the judgement of the Federal High Court delivered in Abuja and dismissed the appointment of Leonard Ezenwa as the acting chairman of the party.
Presidential aspirants
AA
Having promised to relocate to Sambisa if elected as Nigeria’s president, Hamza Al-Mustapha, the chief security officer to the late dictator, Sani Abacha, wants to be Nigeria’s president on the ticket of the AA.
He joined the presidential race in May when he paid the N15 million to obtain the nomination forms. His rivals for the ticket are Tunde Kilani, Felix Osakwe and Samson Odupitan.
NNPP and LP
While Mr Kwankwaso’s NNPP has acquired the status of the main opposition party in Kano, other minor parties are making efforts to make an impression in the general elections.
Just as the former Kano governor is drawing attention to the NNPP, Mr Obi’s ambition in LP has continued to gain support from politicians, celebrities and many of his online supporters who have vowed to vote in the coming elections because of him.
Mr Kwankwaso said he would have nominated the former Anambra governor as his running mate if the latter had joined the NNPP after defecting from the PDP. But as things stand, the two will be running separately for president next year.
ADC
Proclaiming a vision to consolidate Nigeria’s democracy when it was founded in 2005, the ADC has fielded presidential candidates in the four elections since, from 2007 to 2019.
It recorded its finest performance in 2019 when it fielded the recently deceased former deputy CBN governor, Obadiah Mailafia, who polled 97,874 votes to put the party in the fourth position, its highest in its 17 years of history.
Mr Utomi polled 50,849 votes for the ADC to return in the ninth position in the 2007 presidential election, while Peter Nwangwu and Mani Ibrahim placed the party in the eighth and seventh positions in the 2011 and 2015 elections respectively.
Four aspirants are taking part in the ADC’s coming primaries. They are Messrs Moghalu and Monye, as well as Mr Ibrahim, its candidate in 2015, and Dumebi Kachikwu, a brother of Nigeria’s former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu.
“We know him, and he is the kind of person that can deal with the Nigerian situation. Having that boldness and the courage to come out, I’m sure that by the time we finish our primaries, and he emerges as winner, I can assure you that he will be the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the Chairman of ADC, Okey Nwosu, said about Mr Ibrahim after he declared to run for the seat again.
Mr Ibrahim received 29,665 (0.10 per cent) votes in the 2015 election.
Can Abiola, Bugaje, others put PRP on the chart?
Kola Abiola, the son of the winner of the 1993 presidential election, Moshood Abiola, will be running against a former member of the House of Representatives, Usman Bugaje; a retired colonel, Gboluga Mosugu; and Patience Key, a former chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO), United States chapter, for the PRP presidential ticket.
The PRP, unlike many of the 15 other parties jostling to displace APC and PDP, is a progressive left of centre political party. It was created by the supporters of Aminu Kano after his withdrawal from the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1978.
It reincarnated in the Fourth Republic but has not really made headways since then, despite having prominent persons like Sule Lamido, Umaru Yar’Adua, Chinua Achebe, Uche Chukwumerije, a former Bauchi State Governor and 2003 PRP presidential candidate, Balarabe Musa, as members in the past.
Mr Bugaje, a former member of the House of Representatives, and Mr Abiola are the frontrunners for the party’s presidential ticket.
Although PRP has never featured on the INEC presidential ballot paper since its return in 1999, the party is showing a determination to do so in 2023.
YPP: Not where it promised to be
The senator for Anambra South District, Ifeanyi Ubah, in 2019, promised to make the YPP a formidable political platform in Nigeria before the 2023 general elections. But this has yet to happen.
Until recently when Malik Ado-Ibrahim, a son of the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland in Kogi State, joined the party, the YPP has largely been tied around its sole senator.
However, Garba Adamu also recently jumped into the party to pursue his presidential ambition after fleeing from the APC over the N100 million fee the ruling party charged for its nomination forms.
Founded as a social democratic party in 2017, the YPP fielded Kingsley Moghalu as its presidential candidate in 2019 and came 14th in the election.

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