The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar is scheduled to meet the presidential candidates of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, to strategise on an alliance against the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Peter Obi and Kwankwaso were members of the PDP before they defected to pursue their presidential aspirations.
Reports say that Obi’s exit from the PDP would impact the party’s votes from the South which was the main opposition party stronghold.
It is also believed that Kwankwaso’s emergence as the candidate of the NNPP will split the votes in the North, especially Kano.
Political analysts believe this will give the advantage to the ruling APC.
Speaking to The PUNCH, former National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, said the 2019 election has made the opposition party realise it needs all the votes from all states.
He said in Kano State, President Muhammadu Buhari won in all the 44 local government areas with 1.4 million votes, while Atiku got 391,593 votes.
“Though the incumbent governor of the state, Abdullahi Ganduje, won the governorship election on the platform of the APC in 2019, it was a tight race between his party and the PDP. So, the PDP has prospects in the state, which is why it has to do what is necessary to get the maximum possible from the state,” Secondus said.
“The 2019 governorship election results, which were a combination of the March 9 election and the March 23 rerun, showed the APC polled 1,033,695 votes, while the PDP scored 1,024,713 votes. With the above analysis, you will see that the PDP will need the cooperation of the two gentlemen to remain popular and win these states.”
The former PDP chairman described Peter Obi and Kwankwaso as “valuable persons” to the party.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Senator Walid Jibrin, pointed out that Peter Obi could split the South-East votes into three.
He stated that the PDP must work to stop the splitting of votes in the southeast as that used to be its stronghold.
“We may have a situation whereby Obi will have some votes from there (South-East), then our party and the APC will get votes as well. We need to work against that. The South-East is our zone and we know the people and the voters there will not abandon us,” he stated.
A source privy to the planned discussions between Atiku, Obi and Kwankwaso said, “We will talk to them. The battle ahead is not personal. We need to win the election and rescue the country from the bad governance of the ruling party. Thank God that we have about nine months ahead of us before the conduct of the general elections.
“We have enough time to engage people and solidify whatever agreement we want to propose. We should not allow this opportunity to slip from our hands.”
Paul Ibe, an aide to Atiku Abubakar told PUNCH when contesting against a ruling party everyone matters.
He stated that Atiku has been consulting with everyone since he grabbed the ticket of the PDP.
In his words, “After he won the primary, he met with other aspirants, PDP governors, former ministers and other stakeholders. In this race, especially when you are contesting against a ruling party, everyone matters. These are extraordinary times and they require extraordinary measures.
“So, there will be alliances and the objective is to kick out the APC that has done nothing than to make Nigerians suffer, promote division and entrench a state of insecurity. But I can’t say if the party is reaching out to them (Obi and Kwankwaso).”
Read also:
‘Peter Obi Could have been My Running Mate ‘ – Kwankwaso
Atiku Schedules Meeting with Peter Obi, Kwankwanso to Mute Strategic Alliance
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