Yes, the 2015 race for Aso Rock, Nigeria’s seat of power has started — and candidates have completely immersed themselves in the battle of the presidential election!

Leadership newspaper took a look at the contenders are reported that the ‘fireworks’ going off across the various political parties occasioned by the build-up to the elections leave much to be desired.

The presidential seat will certainly be keenly contested for, with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) working tooth and nail to retain and indeed, consolidate their grip on power, while the All Progressives Congress (APC) continues to make a case to the electorate as the veritable alternative to the ‘15 years of misrule’ by the PDP.

According to the newspaper, constitutionally, the various political parties will have to come up with a flag bearer as a first step towards the inevitable ‘clash’ on Election Day and as expected, the process towards this is anything but easy, as it has thrown up a number of distinguished Nigerians who want to be sworn in as president on May 29, 2015.

The question, therefore, is whom does the cap fit? In no particular order LEADERSHIP Friday has assembled politicians who are vying for the presidency in 2015 and has examined the edge each possesses over the rest.

President Goodluck Jonathan:
The sitting president of Nigeria on the platform of the PDP, no doubt, is at the centre of the 2015 presidential election.
He will remain a favourite in this contest, because he is the man to beat. Like a boxing champion returning to the ring to defend his title, GEJ is preparing for the 2015 election.
It is widely perceived, however, that his reneging on the alleged one-term pact he signed to in 2011 with the governors and the reality that he has performed below expectations are reasons for the resentment towards him by both party members and a large part of the population, including his political godfather, former president Obasanjo.

But he is still the most powerful politician at present, being the president and commander-in-chief of the nation’s armed forces.
Thus, whichever way things go, he will play a very active role in who wins in the 2015 election. Beating a sitting president has so far not been possible in Nigeria, no matter how unpopular he is.
To defeat this one will require the mobilisation of the whole country in neutralising the rigging machinery often associated with his political party.

Sam Nda-Isaiah:
The publisher of Leadership Newspapers is described as “the new kid on the block” by political strategists and therefore the real face of the “change” the APC sports as its slogan among all the aspirants on the platform.
At 52 and from the private sector, he is the youngest presidential aspirant and thus represents the school of thought earnestly seeking a generational shift in the political power equation of the country.
His being a Christian from the North makes him capable of eroding Jonathan’s pivotal and key support in and from the region.
Sam has another critical advantage. Northern Muslims feel very comfortable with him in a way they do not with others, like Prof Jerry Gana.
His candidacy, therefore, in spite of his political CV (according to political experts), has the potential of uniting the whole North.
 His fresh face and lack of political baggage might see him coasting to victory. His candidacy would also put a lie to PDP’s claim that APC is a Muslim party.
He is a member of the Asian think-tank, the Global Institute for Tomorrow (GIFT) based in Hong Kong, an association that has taken him to numerous brainstorming sessions in Singapore, China, India and Hong Kong in search of solutions to today’s global problems and the promise for tomorrow.
Sam has always belonged to the progressive tendency that has been in opposition since 1999.
He was the first to start advocating publicly that Nigerian opposition parties must fuse in order to form a common front to wrest power from the PDP in the interest of the nation.

General Muhammadu Buhari:
This is still the only presidential aspirant who gives the opposition sleepless nights, because of his reputation as an honest and disciplined leader.
Gen Buhari seems to be the most influential man from the North and his voice will echo power come 2015.
Buhari is a very well respected former head of state. He is often described as being as straight as an arrow. His greatest strength is that he is very popular with the masses of the North and that will play a key role as he goes into the elections.
Buhari was selected to lead the country by middle and high-ranking military officers after a successful military coup d’état that overthrew civilian president Shehu Shagari on December 31 1983.
During his regime, he ran a public campaign against indiscipline known as War Against Indiscipline (WAI). Buhari served as the chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), a body funded from the revenue generated by increase in price of petroleum products, to pursue developmental projects around the country.
A 1998 report in New African praised the PTF under Buhari for its transparency, calling it a “rare success story”. His influence and credibility will play a vital role in the weight that the opposition pulls.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar:
A man with nine lives, he is a veteran of so many wars with presidents, the most evident being the one with his ex-boss, former president Olusegun Obasanjo.
The former vice-president of Nigeria seems to be mustering his energies to take another shot at the presidency on the platform of the APC before retiring.
Age, we know, does not seem to be on his side. He played a decisive and prominent role in the factionalism that hit the PDP, his former party.
One of the consequences of that rebellion was the block shift of five PDP governors in one day and the mass defection at the National Assembly of members to APC.
This, according to political strategists, was a signal of the end of the PDP’s monopoly as the only national party in Nigeria. At present, we are faced with one reality, and it is that PDP may no longer remain the one united force — at least not before 2015.
Atiku’s strongest point is the financial war chest at his disposal, with which he can dislodge perceived opponents within the party.

Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso:
The governor has undoubtedly done well in his state and will be banking on that to speak for him. He also has the political sagacity and finances at his disposal with which to prosecute his ambition.
He is one of the PDP governors who crossed over to the APC when the president reneged on his alleged promise not to seek a second term in office.
The two-time governor, former minister of defence and ambassador would most certainly make a fine president, but he has to successfully battle the other powerful and credible aspirants in the primaries, if he is to fly the APC flag.
He started work in 1975 with WRECA. He joined partisan politics in the aborted Third Republic, where he contested elections to the House of Representatives; he won and became the deputy speaker.
At the time, he belonged to the Peoples Front faction of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) led by General Shehu Yar’adua. Kwankwaso is known for his transformation agenda in Kano State, widely referred to as “Kwankwasiyya”.
He has been able to attend to the plight of the common man and this has given him acceptance and credibility in the state.

Governor Rochas Okorocha:
Governor Rochas’ popularity, occasioned by his free education campaign across the country on a charity basis and his having given the presidency a shot in the past, has put him in a comfortable position in the build-up to the elections.
Rochas cuts it as a true Nigerian, speaking the major languages in the country – Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa, and he also has the financial muscle to flex in prosecuting his ambition.
Governor Rochas has done well in his home state of Imo and that he will be banking on as a reference point.
Okorocha was a commissioner in the Federal Character Commission and a member of the National Constitutional Conference when democracy was restored in 1999. Okorocha had earlier competed in the primaries to be PDP candidate for governor of Imo State, but lost to Achike Udenwa.
He moved to the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) and was an unsuccessful presidential aspirant on the party’s platform in 2003. He returned to the PDP and President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him special adviser on inter-party affairs.
Okorocha formed the Action Alliance (AA) party in 2005, planning to become its presidential candidate for the 2007 elections. On March 2 2013, Rochas led an All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) faction and decamped to All Progressives Congress.
He was later elected by his colleague governors in the opposition as chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum.

Prof Akasuba Abiola:
One of the wives of the late business mogul, Chief M.K.O Abiola, she hopes to make history as the first female president of Nigeria.
She will certainly be relying on the affirmative action and the fact that women have done creditably well in their assigned duties.
Prof Akunyili of blessed memory readily comes to mind. She will also hope to ride on the name and reputation of her husband, who was denied the presidential mandate he is widely believed to have won.
If she clinches the primaries, her party has the financial muscle and structure with which to see her being sworn in as president.
But she will have to defeat the president at the primaries first. Going by the agitation by women groups, which are struggling for gender balance and equity, Akasuba may whip up quite some support.

Muhibeedeen Aliyu:
Prof Mahmood Muhibeedeen Aliyu is a strong academician who is passionate about leading the country to greater heights and he believes the best platform for this is education.
Aliyu is aspiring on the platform of the APC, although he recently described the party’s N27million presidential nomination form fee as against PDP’s N22million as ridiculous.
Aliyu is a professor of Business Education at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He holds a doctorate degree in the same field.
As a university professor, he has supervised various workshops aimed at fostering national development. He is a researcher with in-depth experience and is well known for his community service. He has headed various departments in different institutions where he taught.
He was the head, Business Education Department, College of Education, Minna. He was the secretary, P.G. Committee, Department of Vocational & Technical Education, ABU, Zaria. He was also the coordinator, L.V.T Programme, Business Education.
Aliyu is an activist who strongly believes it is time for the emergence of a new crop of well-meaning leaders in the country. He has written many books, to foster national development.
Certainly the 2015 general elections will be a defining moment in our national history and evolution, with the hope of a smooth transition for the fourth consecutive time since 1999. With violence, corruption, religious intolerance and underdevelopment plaguing Nigeria’s quest to be among the twenty most developed nations of the world, whoever becomes president will have a lot on his or her plate, as Nigerians earnestly yearn for good leadership.