Culled From NewsDirect
The fear of a ploy by the three musketeers commonly referred to as informal leaders of National Working Committee (NWC) of All Progressives Congress (APC) is unsettling the presidency, Nigerian NewsDirect has learnt.
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The trio of informal leaders are former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and former Kano State governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
All the three men played prominent roles in the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as the President in the 2015 presidential election but the three had set the machinery in motion to contest against the president in 2019 presidential election.
Atiku while resigning from APC said “…Of the party itself, that same governor said “Mr. President, Sir Your relationship with the national leadership of the party, both the formal (NWC) and informal (Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso), and former governors of ANPP, PDP (that joined us) and ACN, is perceived by most observers to be at best frosty.
Many of them are aggrieved due to what they consider total absence of consultations with them on your part and those you have assigned such duties.”
“Since that memorandum was written, up until today nothing has been done to reverse the treatment meted out to those of us invited to join the APC on the strength of a promise that has proven to be false. If anything, those behaviours have actually worsened,” he added.
“The last week resignation of Atiku from APC has already sent shivers down the spines of cabals in the presidency and we are ready for any hostile reaction they have planned to unleash” an aide of Atiku told Nigerian NewsDirect
“All the three leaders have been relegated to the background in the party they assisted to install by those who cannot even win their polling units, this is so pathetic” he lamented.
In the meantime, there is fear that seven northern state governors will defect with Atiku to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) prominent among them is the Adamawa State Governor, Muhammad Bindow, who is from Atiku’s home state.
Bindow had declared that Atiku gave him N500 million to prosecute his 2015 governorship election.
Bindow made the disclosure when he hosted indigenes of Jimeta at the Government House, saying Atiku gave him N500million for his campaign.
“I shifted loyalty to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar because of the N500 million he gave to support my governorship campaign.
“Apart from the money from the headquarters, nobody gave me N10 during the campaign.
“When the former VP asked me if we had any financial problem, I called the then party state secretary, Abdullahi Bakari, to write and put our campaign demand at N300 million to Mr. Atiku Abubakar.
“It was after the submission that Atiku sent me half a billion naira through Jauro,” the governor stated.
However, Bindow had denied having the intention to decamp from APC because of Atiku.
Apart from his home state, Atiku has very strong political structure across all the North-East states and North Central.
“Very soon, many of the governors will defect when the coast is very clear” he assured
However, Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El Rufai said no APC governor will defect with Atiku to any party. He insisted that all APC governors will not follow the footsteps of Atiku by leaving the party.
“That I am sure of. I can speak authoritatively about it because I’m in touch with my colleagues,” he noted.
“The only governor that he would think will go with him; the governor of Adamawa State has already endorsed President Buhari for the 2019 elections. And there are many governors, I will not mention the number but a majority of the APC governors have already taken the position that the president should run for a second term in office.”
However, Mallam El-Rufai on Friday insisted that all APC governors would not follow the footsteps of Atiku by leaving the party.
“That I am sure of. I can speak authoritatively about it because I’m in touch with my colleagues,” he noted.
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Meanwhile, El-Rufai also said”Atiku is not and has never been a threat to Buhari.”
“…we are confident that the way to preserve our party and advance the interest of Nigeria is for Mr. President to run for a second term. I’m curious to see which APC governor will go with Atiku,” he said.
Another Chieftain of APC who craved anonymity described Atiku as over-rated politician with dwindling fortunes.
He pointed at the result of APC primary election where 3,430 votes were secured to get the ticket. The votes of Buhari outnumbered those of the then Kano State governor, Kwankwanso and Atiku who got 974 and 954 votes respectively. While Owelle Rochas Okorocha got 624, Sam Nda-Isaiah scored 10 votes.
However, Tinubu is being feared for his stronghold in Southwest and also the media, especially the popular Lagos-Ibadan media axis
“No one is in doubt about political dexterity of Tinubu and his strange stronghold on media but in politics, no one can play God, he has his weak sides too” a Chieftain of APC who described himself as unrepentant Buharist told Nigerian NewsDirect.
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