Atiku, Kwankwaso meet ahead Presidential Election Tribunal judgment
By Ishaya Ibrahim
As Nigerians await the announcement of judgment date by the panel of five Presidential Election Tribunal, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, Atiku Abubakar, has met his counterpart in the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso on Tuesday night.
The meeting was held in the residence of Kwankwaso behind closed doors.
It is not immediately clear the purpose for the meeting since elections are over. However, the Presidential Election Petition Court has reserved ruling in the case against the declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as winner of the Presidential Election.
Atiku and the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, are challenging the victory of Tinubu. One of their prayers to the tribunal is for it to order a rerun. Is Atiku’s visit to Kwankwaso a move in preparation for a possible rerun?
An ally of Atiku, Dokun Ojomo, said the meeting was fruitful, but didn’t give details.
He said via his Twitter handle, “The two had a fruitful discussion on many topics while politics wasn’t excluded.”
After the presidential election, Kwankwaso was thought to have struck a deal with Tinubu when both men met in France. The talk then was that the relationship would be sealed with Kwankwaso offered a ministerial job, or allowing him to name one of his associates to take the slot of Kano State as minister. But the deal collapsed when Tinubu ceded the kano ministerial slot to the camp of Kwankwaso’s political rival, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who nominated his associates for the job. Kano got two slots in the ministerial list of Tinubu. Ganduje has solidified his place in the government of Tinubu as the National Chairman of APC.