- Party Loyalists Move To Block Saraki, Say He Has No Political Value
Ahead of the 2023 presidential contest, speculations are rising over the possibility of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and immediate past Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki returning to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
This is even as the party has presently beckoned to its estranged members who had left its fold for one reason or the other to come back in the spirit of reconciliation.
The ruling political grouping is also known to have extended the olive branch in a particular sense to other notable bigwigs like Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal and some more members.
Read also: Edo 2020: Edo Govt, APC In Blistering War of Words
And underscoring the fact that behind the scene moves were indeed already ongoing, APC, through a statement by its spokesman, Yekini Nabena asserts that the resolve by Senator Barnabas Gemade and the immediate speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, to already return to its fold, “clearly attests to the fact that the ongoing effort by the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led caretaker committee to reconcile aggrieved members and strengthen the party is yielding the desired result.”
“We assure all true progressives, who left the party over whatever grievance, to return and join ongoing efforts to reposition the APC and further achieve our pro-people plans for the country,” the party’s deputy national publicity secretary, Yekini Nabena, pleaded.
Polity watchers say that though there are no obvious clues as to the fact that the former Vice President may take the bait being thrown his way, it may not be exactly so for the former Senate President.
They hinge their view on the fact that one of Saraki’s notable loyalists, the former Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi, had reportedly returned to the APC fold, and read this as indeed a kite-flying move from the Saraki group.
‘You know how these things work in Nigerian politics. Some big fish wants to move but he doesn’t do so frontally at first. He has to send an advance party.’
Read also: Ondo Guber 2020: Akeredolu, Jegede, APC, PDP, Others In Ferocious War
A source, who has also been following the rumbles in the Nigerian political field also believes that one of the soft lines that has left the PDP vulnerable to poaching at this time is the nomination of Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike as leader of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s campaign committee for the Edo State governorship poll.
This they say goes back to the fact that even before PDP and the former Vice President, Atiku, could challenge the outcome of the Presidential Election Tribunal at the apex court, Governor Wike had sent a congratulatory message to President Buhari.
According to him, Wike’s note to Buhari came in apparent disdain for PDP and Atiku’s belief that they were not only denied of substantial justice by the judiciary, but also that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) robbed them of victory in the election.
While congratulating President Buhari for his victory at the election petition tribunal, the Rivers State governor had urged the president to use his second term in office to unite Nigerians.
But Wike’s action in itself is also being predicated on the fact of what had been described as evidence of the carry-over of animosity from the October 2018 Port Harcourt convention.
It will be recalled that from the stage of choosing the venue of the PDP convention from which the 2019 presidential candidate would be selected, to eventual choice of Port Harcourt, Wike and supporters of the former vice president had been engaged in a game of wits. When reports emerged of plans to relocate the convention from Port Harcourt, Wike went public in rage, insisting that if it was not halted, he would not scatter PDP.
“You are promising restructuring, how are we sure that when you become president you will restructure the country,” he had stated emphatically.
Even beyond this, it was an open secret that the Rivers State strongman was supporting his Sokoto State counterpart, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal. Prior to the return of members of the defunct nPDP, the standing PDP stakeholders had drawn up plans to ensure that only one of theirs would contest against President Buhari.
Prominent among those penciled, as likely candidates then were Senator Ahmed Makarfi, Alhaji Sule Lamido and Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo.
Some other PDP elders however encouraged the former vice president, Atiku to embark on shuttle diplomacy and consultation with eminent presidential aspirants in the party. As such, even though the likes of Wike held a different view by sticking to their preferred aspirants, it was almost clear that the convention would go the way of the former vice president.
At the convention proper, fears that Wike could spring a surprise as the All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders did in 2014 by choosing Lagos, did not materialise: He was caged in his backyard! Atiku won, but winning Wike over was not as deep as expected
Now ahead of the forthcoming 2023 polls, another round of horse trading and political brinksmanship has resumed and with Wike seemingly remaining in a strong position to influence the outcome of things, the APC machine may be capitalising on using the fear of a likely Wike retribution as a handy bait upon which to woo Atiku over to its side and thus provoking a split of monumental proportions in the ranks of the opposition going forward.
