REVEALED: PDP governors backing Agbaje to install Atiku as 2019 candidate

– The crises bedeviling the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) maybe due to external factors

– There are rumours that the party has already adopted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as its candidate for the 2019 presidential elections

– The alleged adoption of Atiku is said to be behind the recent rumbles in the party

If a report by Daily Independent is anything to go by, former vice president Atiku Abubakar will likely emerge as the presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2019 presidential polls.

The report stated that PDP governors and other influential chieftains in the party has identified Atiku as a viable candidate to wrestle power back from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar is one of Nigeria’s most influential politician

Though currently a member of the APC, rumours have been flying around that Atiku will return to the PDP before the 2019 elections.

Abubakar was a member of the G-34, which saw to the formation of the PDP. A served as the deputy to former President Olusegun Obasanjo for 8 years until both men fell out due to political differences towards the tale end of their second term in office.

Abubakar is generally seen as a political enigma with wide network of political associates round the country and an unmatched deep pocket because of his successes in private business.

A source was quoted in the report as saying  Jonathan was  approached by ousted chairman of the PDP, Ali Modu-Sheriff to provide N3 trillion so that he could be adopted as the party’s sole candidate when “the time was ripe.”

 READ ALSO: I placed a curse on PDP five years ago – Enugu politician spits fire

Influential PDP governors like Fayose ditched Ali Modu Sheriff at the last minute

The former president was said not to be disposed to ruling the country again which paved the way for Sheriff to start scheming his way to be the party’s candidate.

“Sheriff started to nurse the ambition. That was why he manipulated some current PDP governors to adopt him until 2018 when he would step down as the party’s chairman and be adopted as the sole candidate to run for president.

 

“But things did not work out,  in one of the meetings held at the residence of a former senator from the north central zone, Mr Sheriff’s calculations were immediately uncovered.

 

“His calculations were made clear at the meetings. So moves were made to first unify the northern PDP members and then reach out to the south.

“The knock out blow was the shrewd role of Senator Ibrahim Mantu and former Minister, Professor Jerry Gana, who stuck to their guns and informed PDP governors and other members of what was in the offing.

 

“At the first Port Harcourt’s conference, the table turned as Rivers state and Ekiti state governors quickly aligned with the Mantu group and left Modu-Sheriff alone,” the source explained.

“Once that was achieved amid erroneous courts judgement that were obtained by Modu-Sheriff, the need to quickly shop for ideal candidates started. At a meeting in the governor’s lodge of one of the south south states, it was agreed that two PDP members who decamped to APC were ideal candidates,” the source squealed.

READ ALSO: Economic crisis: APC under fire for ‘insulting’ Jonathan

The source explained that the two mentioned were Atiku and Senate President Bukola Saraki. To achieve this, a more amenable and corrupt-free party chairman must be chosen.

Rumours that Senate president, Bukola Saraki will dump the APC for the PDP are also thick

“The need to zone it to the south was strategic just like the need to zone the party’s candidate to the north was.

“The calculations were not to scheme out people but to let a popular candidate win and that popular candidate, by the governors calculations who are scheming to clear the way for Atiku, was Jimi Agbaje.

“The PDP governors accepted him without a dissenter. And he is not running for the Alausa office again,” another source explained.

The report quoted the sources as saying the PDP governors settled for Atiku owing to his complete understanding of the political process, broad political space he has created, stupendous financial possession and his position on key issues plaguing the nation – true federalism.

“He is for true federalism. The larger south sees him as one of theirs. Far above that, his acceptance to provide a whopping N3 trillion for the party since PDP is no longer in power and would compete against federal resources was far seen as an incentive than anything else,” the source averred.

According to the plan, Abubakar would officially decamp early next year after all the party’s structures have been created. A lot of consultations are ongoing such that once he decamps, “about 30 political parties would adopt him to send a strong message of his acceptability.”

According to another source in the PDP’s National Executive Committee, “Abubakar prefers to use the platform he helped to form, he nurtured and served in as a VP. Far from that, you can see the disenchantment in the nation. Even the APC is bogged down with internal crisis.

“The party is disappearing because of infighting. PDP did not witness this when it was in power. While it had crisis, the party’s chairman was not made to look like a little and confused boy as you see in APC.

“But the APC’s undoing is their unreadiness to lead the country. The indices are against them. Nothing is working. Even those ruling us are hungry and angry, could you imagined? That is why they are confused and Nigerians are against them.

“Would you run under such a crazy platform? Abubakar I know would not accept that. In no time, he would come back home because the PDP is his home. He would come with over 300 Atiku Abubakar support groups. Do you know what that means?,” the source asked rhetorically.

READ ALSO: Dokpesi reveals how he would get Atiku, Saraki and others back to the PDP

With last Wednesday’s Federal High Court ruling in Abuja barring Modu-Sheriff from parading himself as the PDP chairman, plans are already on to set a new convention date by the party, with Abuja been touted.

Meanwhile, there is disquiet in the APC as chieftains of the party from the South west on Thursday, August 18 rose from a meeting demanding for the restructuring of Nigeria.

The call came two months after Atiku called for restructuring which immediately attracted the attention of the APC leadership and the presidency, as they openly disagreed with his position. 

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