A former governor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday day said that the reason some Sourthern Gover-nors of the party were de-fecting to the All Progres-sives Congress(APC) was because of a plot by some elements to return the pres-idency to the North in 2027. He also said that the PDP started dying the day for-mer Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar led seven PDP governors to walk out on former President Good-luck Jonathan at Eagle Square.
The former ruling party, on August 31, 2013, split into two with seven out of the party’s then 23 gover-nors announcing they have formed a new faction. The governors were Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano); Magatakawa Wamako (Sokoto); Chibuike Amae-chi (Rivers); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Babangida Aliyu (Niger) and Abdul-fatai Ahmed (Kwara). ku, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Kawu Baraje (who was an-nounced as leader of the faction), Dr. Sam Sam Jaja, among others.
Speaking with Sunday Telegraph yesterday, the governor, who was a mem-ber of the G5 governors, who opposed Atiku’s can didacy in 2023, said that most Southern governors were in agreement that the presidency should remain in the South until 2031. He said the agreement cut across party line.
He said that the PDP did not learn a lesson from the failures of 2023 and want to repeat the mistake again in 2027.
“Do you know why Southern Governors are moving to the APC? It is a solidarity move. At least, they are sure that the APC would field a Southern candidate in 2027. We are aware that some people in the PDP are scheming to have a northern candidate in the PDP, with the belief that such a person will beat President Bola Tinubu. This was what we fought against in 2023 and they are still thinking of it again. So, it is either the governors de-fect outright or they work for a Southerner then. We won’t allow a truncation of the Southern presiden-cy. No part of Nigeria owns this country more than the other”, he said.
The former governor, who pleaded anonymity, traced the problem of the party to the action of members of the n-PDP, which eventually re-sulted in PDP losing the 2015 general elections.
“Truth is that the party started dying when Atiku led governors against for-mer President Goodluck Jonathan. Why are you people not talking about it?” he asked.
The ex-governor, a mem-ber of Nyesom Wike-led G-5, said the group would not accept any attempt to truncate the turn of the South to complete its presi-dency. one from the South is free to run for office and we will be happy if that happens, but we are not likely going to support any truncation of the south tenure!
“Dragging this little thing will destroy the party un-less PDP flies Southern presidency,” he warned.
According to him, idea of North taking the presi-dential ticket, in 2023, as well as chairmanship at the expense of South was big enough to kill the party.
He, however, hoped that the leadership problem fac-ing the party would soon be resolved, but noted that Supreme Court had made a pronouncement while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been accepting correspondences signed by Senator Samuel Anyanwu.
“Our media reportage is usually emotive and lack deep intellectual bal-ance which is required to shape public opinion,” he said, noting that Nigerians knew that former Presi-dent Muhammadu Buhari lacked the capacity to lead Nigeria but, “we rooted for Buhari and APC. Now, this is where we all are.
“Tinubu is a direct fallout of that Buhari misadven-ture and the man is doing what he has to do. It’s only a tree that will stand and wait to be hued down.”
The former governor said PDP needs the Fed-eral Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, to build the party, but stated that Atiku lacks capacity of building the party.
“I know this will sound strange; Atiku returns to take ticket. Wike is charis-matic and very energetic. He also understands poli-tics.
“If we had allowed him to take Rivers without a fool-ish fight, we would have saved 35 states.
“Now, he has taken it and equally inflicted the injury he promised to inflict and he can do more harm, ” he added, referencing Ti-nubu’s moves in the South.
