 There's a breakfast in Plastivia, Africa. We head straight to a second conversation and we have Mohammed Mukta, who joins the conversation. Mohammed Abdullahi. I beg your pardon, Mohammed Abdullahi is on standby. He joins the conversation, but a little bit of background to the focus. President Mohammed Abdullahi has downplayed claims that he has favoured candidate for the 2023 elections, saying he will hand over to whoever Nigerians elect. Now, the president made the remark on Monday while answering questions from journalists after observing the Eid al-Fatri prayers at the Barak's Parade ground in Abuja. According to the president, he has no special candidate to replace him in the 2023 election. He instead said the one who would succeed him is the peasant Nigerian select. The Nigerian leader equally urged security agencies to redouble effort to fight against insecurity. We have our guest joining us, Mohammed Abdullahi, a public affairs analyst. Mohammed, it's good to have you join us this morning on the show. Good morning. Nice to always be here. Good morning, Nigerians. What do you think about the thoughts of the president as regards handing over to whoever wins? Does the constitution not state that? Yes, that's a very easy one for the president to answer actually. I don't think anybody, even his close confidant, I don't think anybody expects the president to say to the contrary to what he mentioned on the Eid ground. Definitely that's what the constitution states. Anybody that fits the bill, whom Nigerians have elected will definitely be handed over to. So I think the president is just playing to the gallery. But there are some indications from his body language and his actions that is contrary, if I may use that word, to what he mentioned yesterday. I don't mean, please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying whoever Nigerians elected will not be handed over to by the president. No, what I mean is that the president by his actions and his inactions seems to have to some extent a preferred candidate. And if you allow me, I can give you some few instances and reasons why this is so. Please go ahead. Please go ahead. If you remember during our nascent democracy days, I mean the Obasanjo and Artiku era, if you remember what played out, it was glaring that even though the then vice president Artiku Abu Bakar wanted the presidency so badly, even after the first time of Obasanjo, it was glaring that Obasanjo was not in support of his ambition. They came back in 2007. The same thing, the president as his boss was not in support of his ambition, even though after their tenure he contested. You know, but in this case, you will see that even before the end of the tenure, there was rumor more than six months ago, a year ago, that this vice president, the current vice president Yemi Osimbalio will be contesting for President's presidency. If he does not have the green light of his boss, I mean President Muhammad Abu Hari, I think is an impossible task. The best he could have done would have been to resign. If he had the ambition, would have been to resign and then contest on a neutral ground. But for him to, you know, be the vice president and have that green light from his boss to say, okay, I want to be, I want to contest for the position of Nigeria's president. And, you know, it went on smoothly from rumor, from the fact that it went, you know, from rumor to say he might not declare here and there, and he declared, and now he's in the running. So that is one. Secondly, some of the people who gave President Muhammad Abu Hari the backing during his days as a contestant were seemingly backing Yemi Osimbalio. Yemi Osimbalio as well. And that is an indication that it is in the know of the President Muhammad Abu Hari. I will give you an instant. Again, there is a popular musician in the north. In fact, he's called Ra-Ra-Ra. He's from Casino as well. He is the number one press singer of President Muhammad Abu Hari when he was contesting for election. And he has led a delegation. They call them 1313 in Northern Kaniwood. He has led a delegation to visit Yemi Osimbalio and to say they are fully backing him for the presidency of May 2023. So, you know, so those for me are some of the indications. Like I mentioned, if you have a supporter of President Muhammad and he himself, his vice president is currently vying for the post. I think the president in some extent might be favored by favoring the current vice president for the position of the presidency next year. Alright, Muhammad. Fine. I like the analysis that you have given or the background foreground you've given concerning the president's likely, you know, succession or who he's preferred candidate is. But let's look at it in another way. First of all, is it wrong for the president to have any particular person that he is supporting? Does it in any way mean that he would give the person some undue influence or something? I won't say it is wrong legally. I don't think there's anywhere in our constitution that says it's wrong for a sitting president to have a preferred candidate. But again, morally, it might be wrong because it would seem as if there is no level playing ground for all contestants. And these are the facts that we also understand that some of the contestants, I'm talking about the PT, sorry, the APC camp now, we also understand that some of the contestants in that camp played a pivotal role in ensuring President Buhari becomes the president of Nigeria. I want to mention a few names. We all know the role Borla Mehtinibu played in his campaign and his support. We all know some of the roles it would be a meticulous play. I mean, the current transportation minister who has also thrown his hat into the ring to say it will be contested. So if the president is seen as a favoring or preferring one candidate, it will be, it will not be, it will not be fair. It will be unfair to other candidates who are also, you know, also by the virtue of what they've contributed. I mean, in terms of bringing him to the presidency, also deserve such preferential treatment. So I think it will be best in everybody's interest that there's a level playing ground that, you know, everybody should go campaign and delegate on their own, just like everyone of them have been doing. So it's legally, to the best of my understanding, I don't think there's anything wrong, even if the president comes out openly to say, okay, this is my anointed candidate, you understand. But I think morally it is not fair to all other candidates who, if the president anoints any one of them, will not make the platform fair enough for each and every one of them to contest upon. Could you also be the reason why you have the APC not very decisive of, you know, the mode of picking who becomes the next president, whether, I mean, the issue of zoning, it feels like the APC might just be silent on it. And that's like you have rightly mentioned, maybe the president has a favored candidate. Yes, it is still very unclear, even how the APC, I mean, as a party would decide on who become the presidential candidate, whether it will be consensus, whether it will be indirect primaries, whether it will be direct primaries, and so on and so forth. But if we look at the antecedents, what have been playing, what have been playing around for the past one year or even less, we see that there have been so many, I don't know how to describe it now, but there have been so many, in terms, there are so many kinds of indecisions from the party itself, from the, you know, the days where they have the Boone-led committee to now, you know, you look at what held sway during the convention last month or two months ago, where they had most of the positions, you know, taken upon as people were elected into positions by consensus, even the chairman, you know, so you never can tell what will happen. And so it's becoming very, very tricky, you understand. But again, from what I've been, the feelers I've had and what I've been reading in the media, I think the party has scheduled the end of May for some of its primaries, but there are no indications yet how these primaries will pan out. Even though we've had a whole lot of series of delegates allocated to each of the states, just like what I mentioned earlier, media report so far, but concrete plans on how these primaries will pan out is what we still await from the ruling party. All right, a school of thought would want to say that the president is in some sort of dilemma over what's going on. You talked about people who were instrumental in the presidency when he was elected. Shouldn't it be about, my desire is for this particular person to be, as opposed to this person helped me, the other person helped me, shouldn't it be about who I feel is best to run? Yes, but you are right. I think even in my opinion it should be who is most competent to deliver to Nigerians dividend of democracy. But we all know that in our kind of democracy, not even our kind, even all over the world as well, there are favours here and there. You know, you give and then you take. And if it's your turn to take, you also don't want to give. Yeah, I keep repeating for somebody like Bola, I met Tinibu, he feels, I'm sure, and that's what the camp is feeling. If you follow the media trends a lot, social media and traditional media, they feel, and I mean, Bola, I met Tinibu's camp, feel they've done enough to support this present administration. Remember, President Buhari contested three times on the platform of CPC and AMPP, and he didn't win until a mega party was formed with significant contribution from Bola, I met Tinibu and call, and he won. So the camp, his camp is feeling it is time for a payback. Whether you think that is good enough or not, but that is what, you know, what the camp is feeling. But in my own opinion, like you rightly mentioned, the president might be the dilemma because yeah, we said, I think it is a normal saying in this part of the world that, you know, you don't bite the hand that feeds you. You understand, you know, so he will want to look at it to say, okay, yeah, Bola, I met Tinibu, did me a favor, yeah, whether I want to admit it or not. But again, is he best for Nigeria? Is it, will he be acceptable by Nigerians? You know what I mean? Again, if you want to pan the lens towards the current vice president, Yemi Osibalu, he's also very competent. He's done so many wonderful things in his legal profession, even as a commissioner in Lagos here, and even as a private lawyer, you know, in private practice. So, is it what Timia Metshi that has been speaker? In fact, you know, if it is in terms of core governance, if it is in terms of core governance, I don't think anyone is more qualified than what Timia Metshi, because, you know, he's been speaker for eight years, he's been governor for eight years, and now minister for seven years. Concurrently, you know, this is like 23 years nonstop, he's been in governance, you understand, and he's experienced the last ruling party PDV, and he's also experiencing the current ruling party APC. So it means he has, he has experience for whether you say the bad days of PDV, and now not too good days of APC. So he should have experience on how to fix the country. But again, these are some of the things that definitely my cost dilemma for the president. But for me, my opinion is that I think the most competent should get job. Well, I mean, it's a fantastic position that you have put out there, but the argument has always been about internal democracy at the party level, and everyone believes that if we cannot get it right at the party level, then it makes no sense, you know, externally when we come out, what's the essence of democracy. That argument has been that where you have the politics of gut for terrorism and favoritism, so going on in the entire system, but also mentioning, you know, the minister that you have mentioned of transportation and how qualified he is. It might also interest you to know that the minister also stated recently that he will also, you know, tilt towards supporting the favored candidate of the president for 2023 elections. And so it's just a lot of questioning to do. Well, the president is telling, sorry. Yes, so if the minister is saying that he would tilt to whoever the president anoints or whoever becomes a favored president, he would definitely endorse. Thus his qualification and the fact that he might also be favored of the president counts because it seemed like he probably might have some kind of doubt. Yes, you know, it's just, it boils down to the fact that, like we've been saying, even the president might have dilemma in choosing also supporting a particular candidate 100%. Because like we've mentioned earlier, if you look at whether Tinibu has done in favor, the vice president has been very loyal to him, you understand? And all others like that. So he can single handedly pick one candidate 100%. You know, so that is a challenge on its own. So I feel like you mentioned, then these candidates should be examined. This candidate should be given a level playing ground so that the party delegate will now sit down, dissect and then choose or elect the person or the candidate that they feel that the delegate feel is most competent for the job. But again, don't discount the opposition party as well. You understand? Because some of the things, some of the challenges are sometimes, even if in democracy is not, even while we talk about competency and competency and competency, you understand? But again, the most important ingredient in the democracy is actually popularity and population. If you choose, for instance, if you go to the corporate world, for instance, and pick one of the GMDs of these banks, I don't want to mention names, one of the GMDs. They are popular, but you think they can pull the political heavyweight to support them? Probably they even have the funds. But how many Nigerians know them? How many delegates know them? You understand? So sometimes also you can, you also look at your opposition to say, who is our opposition giving the ticket? You understand? So if we have this person as a party flag bearer, can he beat the opposition? Because those are some of the mutations and considerations you also do. And for our kind of country, where a particular region, I keep reiterating this fact, a particular region has a whole lot of say in terms of our electioneering process, I mean electioneering numbers. But you don't want to go and select or pick a candidate that cannot beat your rival party's candidate. You understand? So it will be a very challenging one for both parties. That's why most of them are not really clear-cut on when their primaries will hold. Because they are actually waiting for each other to conduct their primary force to see which of the candidate is Mr. Party A is speaking before we say, OK, this is the person that we can give the ticket to beat him or her. Well, I mean, you have mentioned, but I bet to differ, you know, with the fact that that would be popularity would be the important ingredient for democracy or elements as you want to say. Because at the end of the day, if you look at the democratic system that allows for replacing government, free and fair elections. So we're talking about credible, you know, free and fair elections at the party level, where you don't have godfathers, where you don't have strong men deciding who becomes, you know, a flag bearer of a party where loyalty should not be the yardstick for judging. That should be, you know, the important factor for a democratic system, where there's, you know, citizen participation, where you have human rights being respected. I think that that would be the key thing. And it feels like that's what's really lacking at the party level, you know, if you look at it, party politics in Nigeria. Now, all what you have mentioned is almost nonexistent in Nigeria. What you have mentioned are actually the ideals. But it does not mean that it's not true. That's what should be obtainable. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. But there are lofty ideals of democracy. Fantastic. But it's not what is obtainable in our democracy. I gave you an example, you have so many people, even Dan Poteh himself, for instance, I tell you, Dan Poteh is the richest man in Africa for so many years. And he's so popular, you think, but put him vis-à-vis another popular, what's it called, put him in another party, for instance, say A.G.C. I don't want to say maybe P.D.P. is a big party, say A.G.C. But look at his popularity and the fact that he's so rich and allow him to contest with Anatiku, for instance, in P.D.P. And you see the result. Alright, Mohammed, Mohammed. As we round off now, because of time. So the question right now would be, since we're talking about ideals and what should be and the right thing or the right way to go about things, when do we get to the point of our nation's, you know, electioneering, you know, democracy where it would not be a case of quid pro quo or in favors and all of that to be about who actually should be the best candidate? When can we ever get there? We will get there, but I don't see the time any time soon. I don't see it any time soon. I'm sorry. Because there are so many challenges. First and the most glaring of all is the fact that politics is money back politics. I'm sorry to use that word. And favors. Yes, so you are looking for a huge amount of prosecutable local government election as a chairman, or even as a councilor. You know, you don't have that. You have to go and seek for favors. And you promise that, okay, if I do this, if I get here, you get a contract there, you get this there, you get that, you know, so definitely. So when we have this kind of setting, this kind of system, you credible people are not really going to come in. And the fact that the ideas of democracy that we've been discussing that your colleague mentioned, very beautiful ones, they will be very, very scarce. So that is our challenge. We need to use the foray of currencies and money into our politics. All right, thank you, Mohammed. This is as much as we can have from you this morning on this conversation. Mohammed Abdelai is a public affairs analyst. Thanks for your time. Well, I appreciate you. Well, that's the size of a conversation. We appreciate the fact that you have been part of the show 7am, hope until this time we definitely return tomorrow. tomorrow. But if you missed out on any part of it, it's okay to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And do subscribe to our YouTube channel, where Plus TV Africa and Plus TV Africa lives to come. Many thanks for watching. I am Messy Boko. And I'm Justin at Kalinei. Thanks for being a part of the show. And stand by for the news which comes up.