As the year 2022 eclipses, the political events that heralded the year revealed many issues that can shape or warp Nigeria’s political landscape since independence in 1960.

TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG), Africa’s most authoritative news platform, will take a close look at events before and after the primaries of Nigeria’s two main political parties, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and the ruling All Progressives Congress. , APC.

The advent of social media equally helped shape it, either negatively or positively, as political drumbeats took on a new dimension for the first time in Nigerian political history.

APC presidential candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu, ahead of his party’s primary during political consultations in Ogun State, revealed all when he declared that without him, President Muhamadu Buhari would not have even dreamed of going to Aso Rock.

Sparing no words in Yoruba dialect, he had declared that ’emilokan’, which literally means it is my turn to occupy Aso Rock in 2023.

This development was not to the liking of many Nigerians and before you say Jack Robinson, it turned out to become a mantra that was echoed throughout Nigeria.

APC primaries:

The primaries came around and the contestants coughed up N100m each for forms.

The selection committee led by John Odigie-Oyegun evaluated twenty-three (23) applicants.

Those evaluated were Bola Tinubu, former Governor of Lagos State; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmad Lawan; Kayode Fayemi, Governor of Ekiti State; Godswill Akpabio, former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs; Yahaya Bello, Governor of Kogi State and Oladimeji Bankole, former Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Others are; Tein Jack-Rich, President/Founder of Belemaoil and the Belema Aid Foundation; Ogbonnaya Onu, former Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation; Ben Ayade, Governor of Cross River State; Ikeobasi Mokelu, former Minister of Information; Rotimi Amaechi, former Minister of Transport, Emeka Nwajiuba, former Minister of State for Education and Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State.

Also screened were Ahmed Yerima, former governor of Zamfara; Ibikunle Amosun, former Governor of Ogun State; Uju Kennedy, only female applicant; Tunde Bakare, Nicolás Felix; Former Senate President Ken Nnamani, Senate Deputy Leader Ajayi Borroffice and Governor Mohammed Abubakar-Badaru of Jigawa State.

True to his words, when this year’s primary was held, Tinubu dusted off all the hopefuls, including a sitting vice president, to clinch the coveted post of presidential standard-bearer.

In fact, it was ’emilokan’ that triumphed. The only close contender was former Rivers State Governor and former Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi.

‘Emilokan’ will only truly manifest fortune Tinubu emerges as Nigeria’s president in 2023.

THE PDP PRIMARIES:

The PDP presidential primaries that took place in May was another 2022 political event that appropriately helped to dismantle the party’s political history when five governors with immense political resources decided to participate in a dance party to register their pent-up anger.

Leading the pack is the vociferous Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, who after losing the presidential primaries sided with his allies to address the perceived marginalization of southern Nigeria.

To this end, Wike and his integrity group called for the resignation of the party’s president, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, to address the imbalance in the party, as the presidential candidate cannot be from the same north.

The party saw this as an empty threat and proceeded to appoint Sokoto State Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as CCP CEO to further confirm that the G-5 governors stand on their own.

This development also helped shape the party as a northern party which the integrity group has vehemently rejected.

It is still a hot topic within the party, as the group has continued to tour the world in search of ways and means to address the injustice generated by the presidential primaries that produced Atiku Abubakar as a standard-bearer.

THE PETER OBI FACTOR:

Former Anambra state governor Peter Obi had to leave the PDP political arena after buying a form for the presidential primary when he discovered it was virtually impossible to achieve anything significant.

He left Nigeria’s oldest surviving party to lace up his boots with the relatively unknown Labor Party LP.

His emergence as the party’s presidential candidate has propelled the party into the media space to the point that most polls conducted in the past four months point to his direction as Nigeria’s most likely president in 2023.

The party does not have structures on the ground like the established APC and PDP which over the years have acquired structures that could give them a major crop position in 2023.

THE LONDON DIALOGUES TO SHAPE THE POLITICAL SPACE OF NIGERIA:

In the last four months, various dialogues to properly galvanize the parties for a smooth transition next year have not yielded any positive results, rather the results are full of rhetoric.

The PDP is heading towards a point of no return as the birth of the Labor Party and the NNPP in the Nigerian political space is giving the old gladiators, PDP and APC, sleepless nights.

The Nigerian political space that has given birth to strong men and not strong political institutions as the year 2022 draws to a close may produce a presidential election that could ultimately shape the Nigerian political space or properly deform it for the future.