The presidential aspiration of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar appears to be gaining momentum as some prominent leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-West have already zeroed on him as the party’s candidate ahead of the 2019 general elections. Sources told New Telegraph that the leaders have been working together, albeit underground, to galvanise support for the former number two man in the zone ahead of the party’s presidential primaries which is expected to take place in August.
Atiku, who dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for PDP in November 2017, served as vice president between 1999 and 2007 under former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He has been going round the country in galvanising support for his presidential ambition in the 2019 general elections. The PDP had zoned its presidential ticket to the North and Atiku alongside former governors of Jigawa, Kano and Kaduna states, Sule Lamido, Ibrahim Shekarau and Ahmed Makarfi, as well as Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo, have already declared interest for the race.
According to a source, most of the PDP leaders in the South-West have surreptitiously been supporting the Turaki Adamawa ahead of the party primaries.
“As we speak, most of the leaders of the party in the zone are already in sync with Atiku’s ambition and they have settled for him. Two former governors in the zone are in the vanguard of the support from the South-West.
“There have been several underground meetings and they are making massive progress across the zone. I think former Governor Gbenga Daniel is the one piloting Turaki’s affair and the way things are going, he might be eventually appointed as the Director General of the Campaign.” When asked the basis of support for Atiku by the South-West PDP leaders, the source said some of the yardsticks considered include the former VP’s support for restructuring, his popularity, his tacit support for South-West to produce the National Chairman at the last convention and his acceptable antecedent in the zone at the 2007 presidential election where he contested as the candidate of the defunct Action Congress (AC). He said: “The main issue in the country today is restructuring and Atiku has been in the forefront of it.
He has done a lot of underground work even with the socio-cultural groups like Afenifere, Ohanaeze and other groups. He promoted many of the symposiums on restructuring and he has been meeting with people. “As we speak, series of meetings and consultations are ongoing.
The contact committee of his campaign have made an appreciable progress and many PDP leaders in the South-West are already with him albeit discreetly. “Even some of them are already pressuring the Turaki to commit himself that he would pick his vice from South-West so that PDP and APC can cancel themselves out in the zone
“The South-West PDP is more involved in the ex-VP’s emergence at the primaries than any other zone, the support has been overwhelming,” he said. On the no love lost between Atiku and his exboss, Obasanjo, the source said the leaders of the party have set plans in motion to approach the former President.
“The leaders are working on the age long disposition of Obasanjo to Atiku’s presidential ambition. They are looking at the possibility of reconciling both or in the worst case scenario ensure that the former president did not cast any aspersion on his deputy’s aspiration,” the source said.
Obasanjo and Atiku recently met in Lagos, shook hands, sat next to each other and discussed briefly at the 10th memorial symposium of Abraham Adesanya, a chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO). Speaking on the development, a former Minister of Transport and member of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Ebenezer Babatope, said he is not aware of such blanket support for Atiku by South- West leaders, but noted that his group is seriously considering the ex-VP.
“Democracy is about taking decisions, but we haven’t got to that stage of candidate emergence. It will be jumping the gun to start saying it is A or B, when we get to that stage, we will choose who can deliver for the party in the 2019 election.” On his part, another BoT member, who was also a former acting National Secretary of the party, Chief Akintoye, said whoever is going toemerge as the party’s presidential candidate must come through a popular support as there won’t be imposition.
He said: ‘There is no crime in pushing for support, but what I know is that our National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, is a man of integrity and he won’t allow any imposition. There are many aspirants but the primaries will determine”.