Will the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) grant the
request of Senate President Bukola Saraki and some of its former members for a
name change before rejoining the party?
The party is wooing Saraki, Sokoto State Governor
Aminu Tambuwal, his predecessor, Senator Aliyu Wammako, former Governor Rabiu
Kwankwaso (Kano) and former Governor Danjuma Goje (Gombe) to return to its fold
in order to wrest power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) next year.
They all left PDP in 2014 to form APC, which wrested
power from PDP in the 2015 elections.
Although sources said yesterday that the request of
the APC chieftains tagged as “game changers” had been “tactically rejected” by
the National Executive Committee (NEC), PDP spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan claimed
that no decision has been taken on the issue.
Another APC chieftain and former Zamfara State
Governor Sani Ahmed Yerima, who was never in PDP, is being wooed by the opposition
party.
About three APC governors from the Northwest are also on PDP’s radar.
About three APC governors from the Northwest are also on PDP’s radar.
But none of them, it was learnt, has made any
commitment to return to PDP. They were said to be weighing the options.
The name change request is said to be a drawback for
the talks.
There are fears that changing PDP’s name may
truncate the tenure of the National Working Committee (NWC) led by Prince Uche
Secondus.
Some forces in the party also felt that the APC
stalwarts should not be dictating to a party they “left in the lurch to lose
the 2015 presidential election.”
A top member of (NEC), who spoke in confidence,
said: “We have really opened up talks with Saraki and others. It is like we are
begging them to return to their roots as part of a larger reconciliation policy
in PDP.
”We want Tambuwal, Kwankwaso, Wammako, Goje and
others in PDP because we see them as “game changers. We are also targeting
ex-Governor Sani Ahmed Yerima of Zamfara State who has always been in the
opposition until the APC coalition emerged.
“We have had series of shuttles to them by some of
our leaders having discovered that they had been patching in APC. They have
been stifled and abandoned in the coalition called APC. We want them to return
to their natural habitat.
“The PDP has also initiated talks with three APC
governors in the Northwest, which is the political base of President Muhammadu
Buhari.”
Responding to a question, the source added: “None of
these leaders has given the PDP any commitment because they are the weighing
options. Some of them have given sufficient signal that they might quit APC.
“If you look at some states, the associates of these
key leaders have started deriding APC. Some of them have even defected from APC
to PDP. So, we are positive.”
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