Our Campaign Facing Crisis, Atiku May Lose 2019 Election – PDP Governor

A governor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is said to have expressed fears that the presidential candidate of the opposition party, former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, may lose the 2019 election to President Muhammadu Buhari if care is not taken.

“It seems as if we (including Atiku) have conceded the election to Buhari even though the Nigerian people are behind us. The momentum has fallen, the possibility of victory is getting slimmer every day,” the governor who pleaded anonymity was quoted by Premium Times as saying.

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The governor told the newspaper that a number of challenges facing the Presidential Campaign Council of the PDP may cause the opposition to lose the presidential election to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Such challenges, he said, include some leaders of the party who are still aggrieved and the faulty structure of the campaign.

He was quoted as naming governors Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe, Nyesom Wike of Rivers and Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto; as well as former governors Ahmed Makarfi, Sule Lamido, and Rabiu Kwankwaso, among the party leaders who still feel aggrieved that Atiku did not carry them along in making some key appointments before commencement of his campaign.

“He (Atiku) did not consult anybody before appointing Obi (former Anambra State governor, Peter).

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“They (party leaders) are saying we should have sat down to do a proper calculation on where the running mate should come from, whether from the South-west or the South-east.

“The thinking among many leaders is that the running mate should have come from the South-west because you have from there people like Tinubu (former Lagos State governor, Bola, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) who is politically-savvy and (Vice President Yemi) Osinbajo who has integrity and credibility.

“Why will the people of the South-west abandon Tinubu and Osinbajo to vote PDP and Atiku?”

“People believe that we should have instead given the South-west the vice presidency and make a commitment to hand over power to the South-east after an Atiku presidency.”

“(Deputy Senate President, Ike) Ekweremadu and many South-east leaders including the governors; their commitment is not total. Obi is considered an APGA person who only defected to the PDP during the (former President Goodluck) Jonathan era because he had nowhere else to go. In any case, what is his electoral worth in the South-East.”

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The newspaper further quoted the governor as faulting the structure and composition of the PDP presidential campaign organization, saying: “There is also Saraki (Senate President, Bukola) who like Atiku is a recent returnee to the party. He was appointed the head of the campaign.

“Real leaders who have been committed to the PDP, people who did not leave the party during rain or shine, they have been sidelined by the newcomers. Why were leaders like Lamido and Makarfi not given central roles in the campaign?”

“The campaign has a faulty structure. Saraki has a lot of baggage. As a sitting Senate President, he cannot oppose the president vigorously as a leader of another arm of the same government. He also still has a lot to do running that arm of government.

“To worsen the matter, in a zone (South-west) where you have leaders like Bode George, you appointed (former Ekiti State governor, Ayodele) Fayose as campaign coordinator.

“What can Fayose do against people like Tinubu and Osinbajo? Who can Fayose talk to in the zone? Who will he coordinate? The campaign in the South-west is structured to fail.”

“The situation in Kano, where a lot of votes will come from, is going from bad to worse. Although Kwankwaso is the coordinator (for the North-west), he does not appear to be too keen due to lack of consultation. His supporters have started returning to the APC, including the former deputy governor (Hafiz Abubakar). Nothing is happening in that state now.”

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