- Saraki, Melaye, leading APC govs top list
- ‘Gov Bindow came back to Atiku after visit to Buhari’
- Ex-VP to join PDP at convention
The All Progressives Congress may have to prepare for a last-minute shocker by some of its key political figures, following the exit of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar from the party, The Point’s investigations have revealed.
Atiku is believed to have perfected plans to formally announce his return to the Peoples Democratic Party at the party’s National Convention, holding in Abuja on December 9.
Informed sources revealed to our correspondent that Senate President Bukola Saraki may, in concert with controversial senator, Dino Melaye, open the floodgate of mass exit of APC lawmakers, who will at the last minute, defect to the PDP to work for Atiku.
Sources in Atiku Support Group also hinted our correspondent that the Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Aisha Al-Hassan, who recently caused a stir by openly declaring support for Atiku, was coordinating events, aimed at the defection of some other cabinet members.
If you must know, after the Governor’s interview with newsmen at the Villa, following his audience with Buhari, he rushed to Atiku’s residence, pleading that he was just playing politics of survival. Bindow engages the trickery of rubbishing Atiku in the public but plays the good boy behind the scenes
Atiku’s home-state governor, Jibrilla Bindow, is also believed to be secretly coordinating underground lobbying among his colleagues at the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, especially those who had defected from the PDP to the APC, to defect back to the PDP for the sake of Atiku.
Lending credence to these findings, one of the die-hard supporters of President Buhari in Adamawa, a former local government vice-chairman, Alhaji Yahya Hammajulde, sensationally accused Governor Bindow of secretly playing Judas, in his recent visit to Aso Rock to pledge loyalty to Buhari.
Speaking with our correspondent in Yola, Hammajulde, a one-time associate of Bindow, who has now fallen out with the governor, said, “As somebody who knows Bindow very well, his statement that he would forever support Buhari is not a surprise to me, but my only worry is that, the governor has now transgressed pardonable borders by going to hoodwink the President with his lie that he is not with Atiku.”
He said the governor was only trying to deceive the APC leadership to weaken the party before joining Atiku in the PDP.
According to him, most of Bindow’s appointees are card-carrying members of the PDP and loyalists of Atiku, including the former VP’s daughter, Dr. Fatima Atiku Abubakar, who is the Commissioner for Health.
Also speaking was an APC chieftain in Adamawa, who had worked tirelessly for Bindow’s victory and served as his collation agent during the two APC primaries in 2014, Ibrahim Usman. He carpeted the governor over his claim that he was one of the founding fathers of the APC in Adamawa State.
Usman said, “I have listened to his interview in Abuja and this is laughable and I disagree with him over this claim. If you are talking about APC’s founding fathers in Adamawa, you are talking about (former Governor) Murtala Nyako; followed by his son, Abdulaziz; then (Buba) Marwa, Marcus Gundiri and the rest; but not Bindow,” Usman quipped.
“Bindow is a betrayer that should not be trusted by the Presidency and any serious-minded politician in the country.”
‘AFTER ASO ROCK, BINDOW CAME BACK TO ATIKU’
In what now appears as a drama of sort, there is a fresh revelation that, after leaving Aso Rock, Governor Bindow went back to meet Atiku at home in Abuja, to re-assure him that his visit to Buhari was mere deception, as he would never betray the ex-VP.
In an interview with our correspondent, the Director-General, Atiku Support Group, Mr. Mark Wosi, said, “Bindow’s visit to Aso Rock, where he painted my principal in bad light, can never be real.If you must know, after the Governor’s interview with newsmen at the Villa, following his audience with Buhari, he rushed to Atiku’s residence, pleading that he was just playing politics of survival.
“Bindow engages the trickery of rubbishing Atiku in the public but plays the good boy behind the scenes, in the guise of politics. Politics, he calls it. But we are watching him; you can be sure he should have known by now that you don’t play double agency with Atiku and end on the winning side.”
But in a swift reaction, the Commissioner for Information, Adamawa State, Mr. Ahmad Sajoh, dismissed Hammajulde, Usman and Wosi’s claims, describing them as deliberate falsehood orchestrated to bring down Governor Bindow.
“I am saying it for the umpteenth time that my principal, the governor, has a pact with President Buhari and will never betray him,” he said.
‘ATIKU BOMBARDED WITH DEFECTION REQUESTS’
Wosi has also revealed that his principal, Atiku, is now inundated with telephone calls from top politicians in the APC, including governors, national and state assembly members, and others, who are willing to work with him.
“I can confirm that Nigerians have a date with shocking revelation of mass defection of prominent APC chieftains in due course,” he said, adding, “At the moment, we get so many calls from highly placed APC leaders who want to be coordinated into my principal’s next move. As we speak right now, there are governors, National Assembly members, as well as state Assembly members, who have sympathy for my boss and are ready to join him on his next political move.
“Whether anybody likes it or not, Atiku is now at the centre of it all; here is a man who led five PDP governors to dump their party to help bring Buhari and his APC to power.”
SARAKI AS LIKELY LEADER OF DEFECTORS
Meanwhile, speculation is equally rife of silent moves allegedly being taken by Senate President Saraki, along with his political godson, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State, to return to the PDP for the sake of an Atiku presidency.
Atiku, political re-collectors say, was one of the key players in the emergence of Saraki as Senate President; and immediately Saraki came on board, the first place of his visit was Atiku’s house in Abuja, where he pledged his loyalty.
The political weight of Saraki in Kwara, also, cannot be underrated, since he controls members of the state Assembly and all the grassroots politicians in his home base.
Sources added that Saraki was not happy with the leadership of the APC for allowing him to be humiliated on corruption charges.
One of the sources told our correspondent, “This is pay-back time for Saraki, as he will return to the PDP; because the party rallied round him to become the Senate President when some leaders of the APC fought against his emergence publicly.
Also, Senator Dino Melaye, Saraki’s acolyte, who is now having a running battle with his Kogi home-state Governor, Yahaya Bello, looks good to follow Saraki to the PDP, as he is reportedly nursing a governorship ambition in Kogi.
Our correspondent also gathered that Senator Shehu Sani from Kaduna, who is nursing the ambition of unseating Governor Nasir El-Rufai, is likely to defect to the PDP with Atiku, to actualise his dream.
SUPPORT FROM HOME
The former Vice President, according to findings, has some home advantage in his base in Adamawa State, where the APC structure is divided between him and former governor Murtala Nyako. Some National Assembly members, led by Senator Binta Masi, may join Atiku in his new fold, according to inside sources.
Binta’s election to the Senate, it was learnt, was, single-handedly, sponsored by the former vice president.
The 20 lawmakers in the state Assembly may also defect to the PDP, led by the Speaker, Hon. Kabiru Mijinyawa, another source disclosed.
POTENTIAL BARRIERS
However, a reliable source in the Atiku camp informed our correspondent that Atiku’s major barrier in realising his dream in the PDP was former President Olusegun Obasanjo, under whom he served as VP from 1999 to 2003, and with whom “there is no love lost till date.”
The source said to that extent, a former governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, had been planted in the PDP by forces loyal to Obasanjo, in a bid to checkmate Atiku. Lamido recently declared his aspiration to become the President on the PDP platform.
Besides, it was learnt that a former governor of Kano State, Dr. Rabiu Kwakwanso, had long dispatched his supporters to the PDP to prepare the grounds for his return to the party, preparatory to the declaration of his presidential ambition.
Sources in Kano informed our correspondent that Kwakwanso’s disaffection with the state governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, who was once his political godson, was at the roots of his frustration with
the APC.
Kwankwanso contested the APC presidential ticket along with President Buhari and Atiku in 2015.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, acknowledging hints that Atiku was headed for the party, has, meanwhile, cautioned that there will be no automatic ticket for the former
VP.
“The PDP is a democratic party. If you come in, you are free to contest elections once you meet our constitutional requirements; but we can’t give our ticket to anybody like that,” Adeyeye declared.
ATIKU OILING CAMPAIGN WITH CHARITY WORKS
Preparing hard to win the heart of the masses, on whose back President Buhari was acclaimed to have ridden to victory in the last election, Atiku has floated a charity organisation known as Atiku Care Foundation, which has chapters across the 36 states of the federation, and Abuja.
Speaking with The Point recently at the inauguration of the Lagos chapter of the ACF, its National President, Ambassador Aliyu Bin Abbas, hinted that the country would be flooded with humanitarian gestures between now and next year, the level of which would be unprecedented.
“Already, we have mapped out communities and sought out individuals in need of one assistance or the other, as we are bent on touching as many communities as our capacity can carry,”
he said.
Abass added that, contrary to insinuation that Atiku was using ill-gotten wealth to fund the organisation, the group was not wholly sponsored by Atiku.
“There are eminent Nigerians in this group spending their money and resources because they identify with the philosophy of social welfarism, which Atiku Abubakar stands for. If Atiku has any financial contribution to this organisation, it is probably as much as the contribution of an ordinary man out there,” he said.
ATIKU NOT WANTED FOR CRIME IN US
Meanwhile, the ex-VP’s presidential dream is also assailed with an allegation of being wanted in the United States for fraud.
However, the US government, last week, said it would not comment on the immigration status of Atiku without express permission from him.
But putting a lie to the allegation, Abass spoke with our correspondent in Lagos, saying, “How can someone wanted for crime in the US be in partnership with a reputable US charity organisation?
Let’s even agree that Atiku is being wanted in the US over fraud as his enemies claimed; are the officials of this body releasing $5 million to us not alive, hale and hearty and exposed enough to have heard that Atiku is a thief? Certainly, you can see the folly of all those who are determined to bring Atiku down for no just cause
“Already, the Atiku Care Foundation has signed a $5 million agreement with a reputable US charity organisation for the body to assist us in executing our projects, and the money will be released to us in tranches.”
Abass declined to name the US charity organisation, as he replied with a clincher: “Let’s even agree that Atiku is being wanted in the US over fraud as his enemies claimed; are the officials of this body releasing $5 million to us not alive, hale and hearty and exposed enough to have heard that Atiku is a thief?
“Certainly, you can see the folly of all those who are determined to bring Atiku down for no just cause.”
