…as gov negotiates with Secondus
- Protest in Kwara PDP over Saraki’s planned return
The Sokoto State governor, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, may have finally resolved to ditch the All Progressives Congress for his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party, following series of political horse-trading that reportedly took place between him and the PDP leadership.
Tambuwal had capped his discussions with the PDP leaders with a three-hour, closed-door meeting between him and the PDP national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, whom he hosted at Sokoto last week.
TAMBUWAL is not happy that he does not wield any influence in Abuja as the cabal that surrounds the President has effectively fenced him out
Secondus and other members of his National Working Committee had on the surface paid a condolence visit to the Sokoto governor, on the massacre that took place in Tabanni village of Rabah Local Government area.
There, 34 lives were lost in a gunmen invasion. The attack, so far, has been vaguely described as onslaughts from cattle rustlers.
But following the condolence visit to Tambuwal, Secondus and his team reportedly engaged the governor in a three-hour private discussion, amid speculations that the politicians only retreated to perfect the final crossover of Tambuwal to APC.
Top sources in Sokoto government circles, however, informed our correspondent that Tambuwal had been in a dilemma on whether to defect to PDP or not, having been disenchanted with the APC.
“He is not happy that he does not wield any influence in Abuja as the cabal that surrounds the President has effectively fenced him out. Really, the Presidency does not trust him because they see in him, the quest to still pursue a presidential ambition that he nursed way back in 2015, yet in 2019,” said a source, who preferred anonymity.
Rationalising the Secondus visit, a top chieftain of the APC in Sokoto State, Abdullahir Umar Hassan, told our correspondent, “Really, the Secondus visit was a political one and we are all waiting for the governor to take a decision and I am sure that latest next week, he will shock many people with his new step.”
Hassan also put a lie to the state’s government’s position that Secondus’ visit to an APC governor was merely humanitarian and non-political, saying, “Everybody knows that it was purely political.”
“Let me ask: why did Secondus not visit the Tabanni village to commiserate with the local populace? Why did they leave immediately for Abuja after the closed-door meeting with the governor? If it was a sympathy visit, what secrecy should be involved in commiserating with a bereaved person?
“To show their sincerity, the PDP delegation should have proceeded to neighbouring Zamfara where we had an even more severe tragedy lately. Or why didn’t the party proceed to Katsina State for the same sympathy to condole with their governor on the death of over 50 persons and the displacement of thousands of others in the flooding that sacked communities in the state?”
Hassan, however, said Tambuwal was currently in a dilemma as he wanted to negotiate with a presidential ticket to cross over to the PDP.
He said if the party failed to give the governor a presidential ticket, he might settle for a second-term ticket of the party “as the federal forces are mobilising seriously to ensure that he loses the direct primary election newly introduced by APC national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.”
“Since there will be no more party delegates that can be identified and bought, our primary will now be like a general election, and under that situation, Tambuwal cannot match the federal Government’s resources,” he noted.
BAFARAWA’S NEW-FOUND FRIENDSHIP
Other sources also revealed that Tambuwal was headed for the PDP, as a former governor of the state and PDP chieftain, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, had courted
him.
Recently, Bafarawa too was at the Government House, Sokoto, to sympathise with the governor and the people of the state over the Tabanni village killings.
Bafarawa, in a statement, described his visit as historic, bearing the fact that since he left office in 2007, he had never moved near the Government House vicinity, weather on invitation or otherwise. He assured Tambuwal, “who has decided to accept me” of his total support “whenever the need arises, in order to move the state forward.”
RUMPUS IN KWARA PDP OVER SARAKI
Meanwhile, speculations were rife up till weekend that Tambuwal, along with his Benue and Kwara states counterparts, Samuel Ortom and Abdulfatai Ahmed, and the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, were set to finally defect to the PDP this week, following yet a closed door meeting they had with the PDP national chairman in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, last week.
The meeting, it was learnt, had caused disaffection in the Kwara chapter of the PDP, as some of the party’s members protested against “Saraki’s plan to return to PDP through the backdoor.”
This, investigations showed, may have derived from the rumour that Saraki would be handed over the structure of the party in the state by the National body once he defected.
Already, the situation is being met with stiff resistance from major stakeholders of the party, especially some leaders in the State Working Committee, led by Chief Iyiola Akogun Oyedepo.
Speaking exclusively with The Point in Ilorin over the weekend, Oyedepo, a lawyer, bemoaned “the unceasing attempt to bring Bukola Saraki back to the party”, describing it as a let-down for the average Kwaran who had grown to see the PDP as a credible alternative.
“It is practically impossible for us to co-habit with Bukola Saraki in Kwara PDP; we have always had issues with him and his style of politics. Once he joins us, we’ve lost a moral ground to mount the podium and criticise him and his style.
“For the past 16 years, his ‘regime’ has been a big impediment to us in Kwara. What shall we say about water problems, neglect in agriculture, infrastructural deficit, high insecurity, collapsed educational structure, among others?
“That is why we are not yielding any ground to him whatsoever. If he can come and not demand to be handed the structure; if he can come and not demand to bring his undemocratic mode of candidate selection; if he can come and respect constituted authorities in the state, then so be it. But it’s truism he’ll never do such,” Oyedepo foresaw.
Speaking on the next line of action if the duly elected structures of the party is dissolved and replaced with supporters of Saraki upon defection, he said, “They can’t tell us to resign, they can’t force us to relinquish our four years mandate after just few months of election; so I see no legal loophole that can be explored to hand over the party’s structure to any defector at this time.
“I was a foundation member of APC. We left when Saraki came and the party was handed over to him illegally. We foresaw the present crisis in the APC, courtesy of Bukola Saraki; we know that no matter how hard you try to please him, he can never be satisfied.
“If they hand over the structure to him illegally and we have several other options, like seeking legal redress and mass defection of members from the party, among other options, are likely actions,” he threatened.
2019: KWANKWASO, GEORGE, OGUNLEWE IN CRUCIAL TALKS
Last week, however, a presidential aspirant and former governor of Kano State, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, was in Lagos, where he conferred with a former deputy national chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George, and a former Minister of Works, Chief Adeseye Ogunlewe.
Sources close to the politicians revealed to our correspondent that the meeting held by the trio behind closed door was reportedly at the behest of George, on the need for the presidential aspirants to reach a compromise and mass behind a single candidate ahead of the 2019
election.
A source, who would not want to be mentioned because of the sensitivity of the issue, said, “Baba (George) invited Kwankwaso to see how the PDP can decide on a single presidential candidate without going into a contentious presidential primary election.
“Already, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has been working hard in the race but Kwankwaso too is a crowd puller, especially in Kano where the highest number of votes is often recorded. So, he invited
Kwankwaso to see who will step down for each other between him and Atiku. But discussions are still in progress and latest two weeks’ time, a consensus will be
reached.
