 Well, joining us on the news is Biordan Shawmi, political analyst. Glad to have you with us, Mr. Shawmi. I'm pleased to be here. All right. Well, discuss with us if you will. I mean, first of all, the man anointed by the president has emerged as the chairman of the party. Discuss with us if you will. Some of the intrigues you observed as a political analyst as all of these played out. Yes. What we've seen clearly is the direction in which KPC chose to pick its own election officials. They are quite aware of many problems the party has faced and is still facing. And realize that there's no way to all the factions and different things. They will go into an election to elect the party of operatives without having some kind of consensus candidates. If they are chosen in direct election or indirectly, that will have created more problems for the party. So I must commend the president. He's been able to stare the party clearly in this direction since the constitutional, the electoral act provides for consensus candidates. So, therefore, they have done very well to manage their internal crisis. And that is one part of it. The other part is, if you look at the way all the candidates might come out there from, clearly shows that there are some states that are probably excluded or some zones. You know, even in the south, from bidding for the presidency, you cannot hold certain post and say, for instance, chairman of the party and say you want to come from the north again. The presidential candidate, that's not the matter. I see southwest better placed to provide the next presidential candidate given the distribution of the post, which they did through consensus. So that may as well be what's the president or the ruling party about. You know, prefer that look with other skirmish to ensure that it's only more likely the candidates from southwest with a march as presidential candidate. That is what has played out. It has reflected clearly in the representation in terms of those who were elected through consensual arrangement. It is clear that more likely than not, southwest is better placed to provide the next presidential candidate. Your guess is as good as mine, probably with a march. But the fact is, they have used the convention to resolve, even though it's on party officials, they have also used it as an indicator, as a pointer to where the presidential candidate is likely going to a march. That is what I've seen with this approach. Alright, well, Senator Abdelayah Damwan, other key national leaders were selected based on consensus. Well, Burutimiya Michi, who is one of them, one of the key members of the party, says that this will strengthen the party. What are your thoughts, Consonant? Do you see this strengthening the party, especially in view of the fact that the other contenders, it took them a long time to play along. Yes, a lot of host trading wins behind the scenes, which are not known to many people. For instance, when you look at, many people thought some candidates were the favourites, until when the host trading started. And then they started pulling up one by one, one by one, because they are also backing different candidates in that race. And they've seen the body language of the president, which is very, very clear. And they've also looked at some other factors, who is better pleased to manage the situation in a way that they will be able to retain, the APC will be able to retain the rulership of the country. They have put all these factors into consideration. There are some of them who are not happy about withdrawing. But they eventually withdraw because the party settled for a consensual arrangement. And therefore, they can't be seen to be anti-that arrangement. And that is why some of them couldn't. But some were genuinely convinced that their candidate would be better pleased, if they allowed the arrangements, the political input in place to go through. It doesn't mean that everybody would be happy. Those two could have failed to pull up. But I can bet you, some host trading would have happened behind the scenes. Those would be ministers from certain portfolios and all that, the chairman of this or that. All these would have happened behind the scenes, if it sequence the next election. So this is probably why you can see that even though there's some rank or there's some minor skimitches there and there, but given the scale of the problem that we see was faced with, our regard is prevention as a success. On the part, they've been able to put a lead on some of the boiling pots in a way that they've managed it successfully. Talking about the boiling point, what are the tasks ahead of this new chairman? What should his main thrust be? The new chairman is faced with a horrendous task. I don't envy Adam, because in the phone systems, you still have the crisis in the States. Those crises are yet to go. You also have some who would leave the convention totally dissatisfied with what is going on. The fact that they had to pull out, whether compelled or pressured or that they had to pull out, they probably wouldn't be happy about it. They're still screaming towards who will emerge as the next presidential candidate in the team to be better placed. Now, the new chairman, Adam, has a major task in his life. How is he going to reconcile all the party top notch in different states of the federation with grievances? There are some of them who are implacable. They're implacable fools, in fact, take from them. They have sworn even on their hearts to ensure that the sitting of now will not come in or they will place the sitting of. And how do you placate those people? And they have societal problems in their states. You also have a second set of people who are people just named to either be vice-president or don't mind if the South does not produce the president. And now realizing that their vote has been dashed by this convention, that certainly the president is coming from the South. You have also people who claim they've not infused one way or the other that they should have been allowed. It should have been kept free and open like what the PDPB. So, Adamou has a task on his hand to unite the party before the presidential aspirants election. Otherwise, the party will face a major problem. Hopefully, one is expected, hoping that there will be people leaving the party or other parties because of their failed aspirations. But so far, they have managed the whole thing very well. What Adamou needs to do now is to pick up from where my Malabu needs stopped with his reconciliation committee and look for another way to appease their grief members in different states. I mean, you're looking at...San Fara has a major problem. It's not only San Fara. In Kano State, you have Chekawa and Bandujeh issue. You have Amosun, Dachua Biotu, you know, in different...in Oshun, you have Aragwe Shola and Uye Shola. And these are major, major political actors. So they need...you know, Adamou needs to look for a formula to reconcile people in different states with a view to ensure that APC remains united even after having nominated the presidential candidate. Yeah, now that you've mentioned the presidential candidate, the river state governor, Anisun Wike, has declared for that seat. How does that hit you? Oh, yeah. Wike is right to be frank with you. Don't forget that Wike was one of the 17 strong people in the world that met in Nassabat. They tossed it. They declared that the next presidential candidate, the next president, must come from the south. And they meant, well, they made that declaration at a point in time when the country was facing major challenges left and right, not only from bandits, from people around you have the...the whole problem you have. You know, the Kano's problem here and there. So they felt that the best way to unite the country is to give everybody a sense of belonging, a sense of ownership, a sense of being taken in their own economy. And they took the right decision at that point in time that the next presidential candidate should come from the south. And obviously, I would not expect Wike to do less. Within the PDP, I expect him to be a champion. And I'm not disappointed he has been championing that cause. He's noted for his own commitment to his own beliefs. And I fancy him for that. He's a fighter. And he's been making the point very clear that no matter who's us is gone, the next president must come from the south. The argument being pushed by certain elements within the PDP from the north the president, the past president produced by PDP were from the south. That is the way referring to Ambassador Jordan, Jonathan, will not hold water. It's about representation, geographical representation, not party representation. And that is the point which PK is trying to make. And I think he's correct. He's right to do that. It's in line with the spirit of the agreement and the declaration made by the 17 governors. Politics should immediately be a popularity contest. Let's fill the polls of the people, the electorate themselves. How prepared would you say Nigerians are for this coming election? How prepared are Nigerians? Do you see Nigerians coming out in Mars? Do you see them seeing this as a game changer for the country? Yes. Democracy is a game of numbers and it's also a game of involvement because we can have low turnout in the elections queuing the results of that election and depriving it of the legitimacy that it's supposed to have. What some people turn as democratic deficit. But I think we have had that in the past but I think it's only changed now. Two rules. One, there's an increasing consciousness amongst the youth in the country that they need to engage with the political process, with the view to be able to change and direct events, shape events that will affect their lives. You have that one angle. The second angle is the transmission of results by electoral agreements. In the past, people believe that the results will just be written, their votes will count and all that. You have so many people totally disengaged in the political process. But now, with the approval of the electronic transmission of results, apart from the gains that I like to make in terms of reducing its cost in transmitting results, creating it from the world, from the government state up to national level, you can easily transmit from the world and that will cut off all the other different areas. There will be a lot of savings in there. Apart from that, electoral savings, you have a situation where many more Nigerians will believe in the process because once the result has been declared at the world level and transmitted, that becomes final. So once you see that process, and many youths are so conscious of that, many Nigerians are happy that we are not going to have electronic transmission of results. So I expect that more and more Nigerians will get to the process. We will probably see, in my own projection, the highest number of Nigerians that will engage in the political process, the electoral process. By Adam, probably in 1979, that is likely to happen in percentage terms because most people are so well-conscious of what needs to be done in the country and more of the youths are coming out. You also have women who are coming out. More women are coming out to challenge for political offices because women are highly underrepresented and we kept ignoring this vital sector, the gender sector in terms of representation. Nigerian politics is more male dominated but with increasing women agitation and participation in the process, you are likely going to have more people floating in the next election in the 2023 election than the previous election, in fact, than the 1979 election. Thank you so much for your time and insight. The political analyst joined us to take a look at the convention just recently held by the All Progressive Congress.