Nigeria: Can Ike Nwachukwu Scale the Obasanjo, Ekwueme Hurdles?

25 December 2002
opinion

In about 11 days, the ruling PDP will, if nothing happens to abort their national convention, pick the party's 2003 presidential flag bearer . The PDP time table puts January 5th for the convention, and so far various aspirants have mounted vigorous campaigns to sell themselves. Beginning with the president, who blazed the trail with his early declaration of his intention; other contenders like Senator Ike Nwachukwu and Alex Ekwueme, have not shied away from political hustlings.

Other aspirants not from the South like Barnabas Gemade and Abubakar Rimi, have however found obstacles thrown on their path. The party's Central Working Committee had ruled that it was keeping to the zoning formula it used the last time in 1999. In effect, by that resolution, the party is explicitly saying that it endorses power retention in the South for another four years. In their own reaction, Rimi and Gemade are in court challenging this decision, which they say is unconstitutional.

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