Former Ondo State Military Governor, Navy Commodore Olabode George (retd), is reported to be asking serial presidential candidate and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, to symbolically fall on his sword by taking himself out of the 2027 presidential race of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party.

Governor George told Vice President Abubakar: “My advice is this. You will be 81 years old in 2027, and you have been contesting since 1993. This is the time for you to calm down and act like an elder. I appeal to you, in the name of the Almighty Allah that you serve, to take it easy and leave everything for posterity.”

Vice President Abubakar, who turned 78 two days ago, lost the presidential slot of the Social Democratic Party, one of the “political parastatals” contrived for the tortuous transmission programme of the government of military President Ibrahim Babangida, to Bashorun MKO Abiola, presumed winner of Nigeria’s freest and fairest presidential election.

Since 2007, Vice President Abubakar has variously been a presidential candidate or presidential aspirant of the Action Congress of Nigeria and the People’s Democratic Party in 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023, and has famously lost each attempt.

Also, Governor George is concerned that the People’s Democratic Party is crumbling under the weight of members who placed their personal interests above country, sometimes by flirting with the ruling All Progressives Congress while yet remaining in the People’s Democratic Party.

“Falling on the sword” is an old Roman practice whereby a disgraced or defeated soldier falls on the point of his sword or stabs himself in the stomach. In pre-colonial days, Yoruba kings who fell out of favour “opened the calabash” and drank the poisonous potion therein to death.

In modern days, falling on the sword or opening the calabash have become metaphors for individuals to resign high political or corporate offices or accept responsibilities for mistakes by themselves or on behalf of the group they lead.

That is why Kimberly Cheatle resigned as Director of the US Secret Service after President Trump was shot by Thomas Mathew Crooks at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Though she was not physically at the rally, she was obliged to accept responsibility for the security lapses.

While Governor George may have spoken out whispered sentiments within the ranks of the People’s Democratic Party for Vice President Abubakar to yield the ground to younger aspirants, that may not be an exactly democratic move; it looks like a subtle ploy to make way for some preferred aspirants.

Well, of course, Governor George can buttress his argument with the example of America’s Democratic Party that got President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race for Vice President Kamala Harris to take the ticket, which she eventually lost to former President Donald Trump.

President Biden, 82, was persuaded to yield the presidential slot to Vice President Harris because of his poor showing, which was attributed to ageing, during the presidential debate against President Trump. Age is the argument that Governor George, who turned 79 last week Thursday, is advancing for Vice President Abubakar, who will be 81 in 2027, to recuse himself from the 2027 presidential race.

But really, that call should be the responsibility of the People’s Democratic Party primaries. Section 84 of Nigeria’s Electoral Act spells out the elaborate statutory steps that political parties must follow to elect candidates for political positions through direct, indirect, or consensus procedures.

And according to Section 131 of Nigeria’s Constitution, “A person shall be qualified for election to the office of the President if (a) he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth; (b) he has attained the age of forty years; (c) he is a member of a political party and he is sponsored by that political party and (d) he has been educated to be educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.”

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Maybe Governor George and his cohorts within the People’s Democratic Party should hinge their strategy on Section 131(c), which gives political parties the authority to choose to present a candidate for election through their primaries that must be supervised or witnessed by the Independent National Electoral Commission as required by the Constitution.

As a former National Vice President (Southwest Zone) and, later, Deputy National Chairman (South), Governor George should have enough clout within the People’s Democratic Party to rally votes for or against Vice President Abubakar ahead of the party’s 2027 primaries.

Maybe Governor George should allow Vice President Abubakar’s doctors to speak to the state of his health before asking him to recuse himself on account of age. Indeed, all presidential aspirants of the People’s Democratic Party may be required to submit themselves to a medical board for medical examination.

One good advantage of a medical board is that Nigeria would have avoided the type of constitutional crisis that occurred when President Umaru Yar’Adua finally succumbed to the illness that was pointed out to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who adamantly anointed and made him his successor.

Reports say that Governor George had once called for the resignation of Vice President Abubakar from the People’s Democratic Party for defecting to the Action Congress party in 2027. If he carries his battle and manoeuvres into the treacherous trenches of the People’s Democratic Party, he would have been acting within his constitutional rights as a citizen and participant in the democratic process of Nigeria.

Some of the negatives he could present against the presidential ambition of Vice President Abubakar may include the $16.5 billion that Abubakar himself admitted that the Obasanjo government that he served threw at contractors who never performed electricity contracts awarded to them.

Another negative against Vice President Abubakar could be the gaffe that he committed when he thought that he was playfully telling a female interviewer that he would sell Nigeria’s assets to his friends if he became president.

He could also accuse Vice President Abubakar of living in the United Arab Emirates from where he comes in just ahead of elections to see if he could somehow snag the presidency of Nigeria as if it were there for the picking.

It indeed looks as if his presence in Nigeria has largely been through the auspices of his exceedingly competent media handlers, who have been faithful in performing their duties to keep his name in the minds of the Nigerian electorate, who are probably unaware that he almost does not live in the country.

And while Governor George and his group are at it, they must also be aware of CREEVP—the Committee for the Re-election of the Vice President—made up of admirers and cronies, some of whom may have profited from the days of Abubakar as Vice President of Nigeria.

It should not be a surprise to anyone that such individuals will surely want those happy days to be here again. No one likes the motion of their gravy train to stop. And they would do everything they consider necessary to keep it going.

Governor George must acknowledge that some members of the People’s Democratic Party think the world of Vice President Abubakar and are still convinced that he can bring the presidential oyster to the party, and they must have their say.

Even if you do not like his face, you cannot deny Vice President Abubakar his right to his presidential ambition. But you can work for your preferred candidate to defeat him.

Lekan Sote