Who Wants Atiku Out Of PDP?

It now appears there are forces within or outside the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that will like to push former Vice President Atiku Abubakar out of contention for the Presidential ticket of the party.

Some media reports indicated that Atiku will in a few days’ time, dump the PDP for the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), where he is sure to pick the party’s presidential ticket, which has allegedly been denied him at the PDP.

But in a swift reaction, Atiku denied the alleged defection and said he has no plans to leave the PDP any time soon, adding that he was certain that he would get the party’s presidential ticket for next year’s election.

In a statement issued by his campaign office on Sunday, Atiku said, “The campaign office of former Vice President of Nigeria Atiku Abubakar debunks the story from a section of the media that frontline presidential aspirant for the 2019 election, Atiku has defected from the PDP.

The statement describes the report as a malicious attempt to confuse the public about the aspiration of Atiku ahead of the forthcoming presidential primaries election of the PDP.

“For the avoidance of any doubts, Atiku remains the frontline aspirant for the presidential ticket of the PDP.

“In the past two months, Atiku Abubakar has moved across states in the country consulting with stakeholders of the PDP and explaining to them his agenda encapsulated in the acronym JOBS: Jobs, Opportunity, Being united and Security) for Nigeria. The nationwide consultations continues this week with visits to the South West, North West and North Central zones of the country.

“Atiku’s passion and commitment to winning the PDP primaries is without any compromise and to assume that he will abandon the hard work he has done with the positive results he is getting from the stakeholders of the party is to say the least preposterous and unthinkable.

“The Campaign calls on supporters of Atiku to remain steadfast and see the contrived news of defection as an attempt to distract it from the set task of winning the PDP ticket and the 2019 presidential election by the grace of God.”

Political observers believe the rumoured defection could have emanated from forces within the PDP who see Atiku as the candidate to beat for the party’s presidential ticket, and a huge huddle for their own ambition.

“You know Atiku has the influence and the resources to defeat any candidate contesting the ticket of any party with him. So it could be a strategy to weaken his candidature,” a PDP stalwart told THE WHISTLER

But there are others who believe the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC could also be behind such mis-information in the hope of causing confusion within the rank of aspirants in the main opposition party.

“There is no doubt that the ruling APC will not want Atiku to be PDP flagbearer in 2019 because that would mean trouble for the party. They know Atiku is capable of turning the tables,” said another PDP source who thinks the former Vice President will give the APC a run for its money should he become the PDP flagbearer.

Atiku, who remains a strong contender for the presidential seat in the PDP, was the first to declare his presidential ambition under the opposition party.

He made the declaration in July, 2018, before a cheering crowd in his home state of Adamawa, Yola town square, Nigeria’s north-east.

“In 1998, I took this state to the PDP. Today, I have returned to take what rightly belongs to the PDP”, he stated.

“The APC government has failed to unite Nigeria. We are more divided now than we have ever been in our history.

“They destroyed our economy. Today, we are witnessing the most insecure situation; more people have died in Nigeria than in Afghanistan. We now have the highest unemployment rate in the history of this country; more than one million of our youths are unemployed,” Atiku had said in the presence of PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus and other party bigwigs.

Secondus, in his response, described Atiku as a leading presidential aspirant in the party that has the capacity to dislodge APC in 2019.

“PDP is a tsunami that will soon wipe out APC. We are not afraid, we are strong and coming like train to crush APC,” Secondus added.

THE WHISTLER reports that initially, it seemed as though the PDP presidential ticket was for Atiku to clinch, however, other big names began to emerge.

Some of the top PDP presidential aspirants Atiku is expected to battle with for the ticket of the party include the former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido; Governor of Gombe State, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo; former Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa; former Governors of Kano State, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed Makarfi and Sokoto state Governor, Aminu Tambuwal.

For these contenders, it is no exaggeration to say that Atiku is a stumbling block as he has the structure and resources to pick the ticket.

Asides from his experience as a former vice-president, Atiku has a vast political and financial capacity which has made him top favourite for the ticket.

As part of moves towards achieving his presidential ambition, the former number two citizen on July 16, 2018 commenced a consultation and familiarisation tour across the country.

His tour to all the 36 states before the party’s primaries is to consult with leaders and stakeholders of the party towards the actualization of his presidential ambition.