…Poised to send delegation to Otta
By Emeka Nze Abuja
Serving and non-serving governors, as well as key members of the National Assembly of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are strategising to ensure the return of the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to the party, Blueprint has gathered. Part of this plot is to ensure that Atiku emerges the fl ag bearer of PDP given his fi nancial warchest to face whoever emerges from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 presidential election.
Also included in the plot is former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, to return to the party and bring along other former military heads of state such as Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar to buy into the Atiku presidential bid. Blueprint further learnt that on the card of the PDP is to settle the agelong rift between the Vice president and his former boss Obasanjo who in the past had contributed in putting a cog in the wheel of Atiku’s presidentiaambition.
To this end, the party is said to be planning to send a “high powered delegation made up of some governors, former governors, and key members of the National Assembly to Obasanjo in Otta, Ogun state to beg him to forgive Atiku and work to actualize Atiku’s ambition to become the president of the country.”
Th ose who did not favour going to Obasanjo argued that the former President had torn his membership card of party and noted that they might meet a brick wall in trying to persuade the former president to rejoin PDP. Some of the governors and senators were of the opinion that the torn membership card may not be Obasanjo’s, after all, since his name was not visible on the card.
Among other plans to reposition the party is the discussion to ensure that only former governors and former senators contests the national chairmanship of the party. According to the source, the party is preparing to ensure that come 2019, all its candidates emerges by consensus in order not to give room for imposition of candidates which might disrupt the peace of the party.
Spokesman of the party, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, who responded to questions by our reporter on the issues, said he would not comment on the issue of Atiku a member of PDP or its presidential fl ag-bearer, urging our reporter to go ahead and do his report. He also said the issue of sending a delegation to Obasanjo on behalf of Atiku is ‘speculative’ and that he would not want to react on the matter. On former governors or Senators becoming party chairman, Adeyeye said it is not true noting that the party wants to take stakeholders along in a democratic process to produce its leaders
