Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
governors are split over the expected defection of ex-Vice-President Atiku
Abubakar to the party and his bid for the presidential ticket.
Some of the governors and party
leaders prefer National Caretaker Committee Chairman Ahmed Makarfi, former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido and
one-time Governor of Kano State Ibrahim Shekarau.
There were indications that some
of the governors might oppose former President Goodluck Jonathan’s plan to back
Atiku as the party’s presidential candidate.
They claim not to have been
consulted by Jonathan.
Atiku has continued his consultations prior to his return and
registration as a PDP member in Jada 1 Ward, Adamawa State.
The Adamawa chapter of the APC
yesterday confirmed the receipt of Atiku’s resignation letter.
State Secretary of APC Alhaji
Saidu Nera confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola.
Nera said he was yet to get the
letter but the party officials of Jada 1 Ward in Jada Local Government Area
where Atiku registered had told him that they had received the letter.
Atiku spent the weekend holding
talks with some of PDP’s Northeast Zonal executives; Adamawa PDP executives and
party leaders from Jada Local Government, Jada 1 Ward and zonal executives.
PDP State Secretary Abdulllahi
Prambe described the meetings as fruitful.
“Our meeting with him has been
fruitful and from his body language, he will soon return to PDP,” Prambe said.
“With Atiku, the party will carry
more weight and more people will also troop in,” he said.
It was learnt that Atiku might
meet Governors Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe) and Ishaku Darius (Taraba) in Abuja
this week on his plans to return to the PDP and seek their cooperation.
Although he was silent on when he
would rejoin the PDP, there were speculations that he might re-register in Jada 1 Ward of PDP on December 6.
It was learnt that some of the
PDP governors might have opted to work for Makarfi when he leaves office at the
National Convention on December 9.
The governors have reportedly
said they were “not keen to work for Atiku”.
A governor who spoke in
confidence said: “Not all the PDP governors have bought into the Atiku agenda,
we are not united on him. If we have our
way, some of us will go for Makarfi who has shown uncommon leadership in
reuniting PDP. And those of us in this group are encouraging him to join the
presidential race.
“Some of our leaders also prefer
Lamido or Shekarau. If we have any issue with Makarfi, it is about rumours on
his health and we have conducted our research, the ex-governor is as fit as a
fiddle. It is all propaganda.
“As I am talking to you, we have
not been fully consulted by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on Atiku’s
candidature.
“At the end of the day, we will
follow the rule of law, the party’s
constitution and go to the field to elect a presidential candidate. What if our members decide not to grant Atiku
a waiver to contest the presidential primaries?
”He is a new member, he can as well queue like others.
“Some of our leaders speak about
Atiku as a political asset in the North but he was a distant third in the APC
presidential primaries. We won’t be blind on our choice this time around. I
think programmes and not personality should matter to PDP.”
A former member of the National
Working Committee (NWC) said: “Some of the governors have been working behind
the scene with Jonathan on the Atiku project. We see him as a game changer and
that is why we are desperate to woo him.
A fresh twist to Atiku’s exit from
APC emerged yesterday following the revelation that he left the ruling party
since October 18.
Notwithstanding the discrepancy
in the date of resignation and formal announcement of his exit, Atiku’s letter,
which was sent to the chairman of Jada 1Ward, reads: “I wish to inform you of
my decision to resign my membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in
this ward with effect from the date of this letter (October 18, 2017).
“I am resigning from a party we
formed and worked so hard with fellow compatriots across the country to place
in government. I had hope that the APC government will make improvements to the
lives of our people and the continued existence and development of Nigeria as
one indivisible nation. This hope has now been dashed.
“I am unable to reconcile myself
with the dismal performance of the party in government, especially in relation
to the continued polarization of our people along ethnic and religious lines,
which is threatening our unity more than any other time in the recent past, and
the unbearable hardship that our people are currently undergoing.
“As I said in 2006, it is the
struggle for democracy, constitutionalism and service to my country and my
people that are driving my choice. Let me emphasize, again, that this is not
about me. We have to have a country before people can aspire to lead it.
“While wishing you well, let
me express the hope that, in the near
future, a substantial number of you will join forces with us to, once again,
defeat impunity, and restore vision and purpose to the politics of our great
country. Please accept the assurances of my highest regards.”
Former Jigawa State Governor Sule
Lamido has described Atiku’s resignation from the APC as “a disgrace.”
The ex-governor who spoke at the
weekend during the inauguration of a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) office in
Ringim local government of the state, said:
“If Atiku would quit this party it will be morally wrong for any
Nigerian to continue to patronise the APC
“It is unfortunate that the APC
that comprises of those seen as “saints” could be classified by Atiku as a
symbole of poverty, betrayal,
disrespectful and a dungeon of hell”.
He pleaded with the former
leaders of the PDP in the APC to retrace their steps.
He named Senate President Bukola
Saraki, Sokoto State Governor Aminu
Tambuwal, Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso
and Senator Aliyu Wammako.
He said: “We had known that
sooner or later this would happen, because it is an amalgamation of strange bed
fellows that formed the APC that people like Atiku felt he could support its
course, yet today they have betrayed him and they will all betray you if you
don’t leave them”, he declared.
But Accord Party chieftain Dr.
Doyin Okupe advised opposition parties to form a coalition if they hope to
defeat President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC in the 2019 general elections.
Okupe, a former presidential
spokesman, said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as presently constituted,
is weak to upstage APC from power but should team up with other parties to
realise the dream.
Okupe described Accord as a
veritable third force that is blowing like a whirlwind across the Southwest
Nigeria and the country at large, expressing confidence that the party would
win the 2018 governorship election in Ekiti State.
He spoke in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti
State capital, at the weekend during the election and inauguration of the
party’s State executive and the official adoption of Banjo Ojo as the
governorship candidate for the 2018 election.
At the event, 500 members of the
PDP, APC and Labour Party defected to the party and were received by the State
chairman of the party, Chief Abiola Odeoba and National Chairman, Mr. Lawan
Nalado.
Okupe said: “It took a coalition
in 1998 to be able to send away military. The coalition crystallized into PDP,
won election and held it for 16 years.
“It took a coalition of forces again in 2015 to be able to
wrest power from the PDP and that is what Nigerians should do in 2019.”
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