With serious political activities towards the 2019 general elections set to fully begin in the early weeks of the coming new year, gladiators across the two major political parties; the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have begun to raise the bar in talks, realignments, plots and intrigues that will define the imminent battle.
The highpoint of the unfolding development, Saturday Sun gathered, is the plot by a large number of members of the two chambers of the National Assembly to dump the ruling party at the last minute if President Buhari emerges APC presidential candidate next year. A principal officer of the National Assembly conversant with the development confirmed on Friday that “several members of NASS are bitter against the president because life has not been easy for us under his administration. Many expectations have been crashed, so, many members at this point are looking out for the most formidable alternative platform to fulfill their political aspiration.”
A member of the party’s national caucus who told Saturday Sun that “findings from an interaction with over 25 members of both chambers at a social event early this week indicate an ominous sign” also confirmed this sentiment. “One would not only feel their anger and frustration, you can touch it”, the APC chieftain added with a wish that something urgent could be done to avert a mass defection of APC federal lawmakers to opposition parties especially the PDP.
It was gathered that not less than 22 APC senators are in this category. Most of them are prominent voices in the Senate either as principal officers or chairmen of strategic committees. Some of them include four former governors; all from the North, two senators from Kaduna and another from Anambra. In the House of Representatives, the source added, the figure triples that of the Senate.
The calculation of the lawmakers, it was gathered, was that though many of them won their elections in 2015 riding on the popularity of President Buhari then, they are not sure if the same will work for them again. “Apart from this, many of the lawmakers are having problems with their state governors and are likely to be denied the party ticket. So, they would rather strike a defection deal with an opposition party where they would be valued now than lose out in the APC power game”, the NASS source added.
Another intrigue that may play out in APC towards the 2019 elections centres around Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal who may become the next political heavyweight to return to the nation’s main opposition political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after the return of former vice president Atiku Abubakar.
Recently, Tambuwal was in Asaba, Delta State capital where he held strategic meeting with Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and ex-governor James Ibori.
Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike missed the meeting as he raced back to Port Harcourt for his 50th birthday anniversary celebration due to the fact that Tambuwal’s flight was delayed at Abuja. But Wike’s message was conveyed to Tambuwal at the meeting, which most PDP faithful in Delta State described as “very fruitful.”
They are very confident that the former Speaker of House of Representatives will make a return to the umbrella party soon. Tambuwal was one of the leading politicians that left the PDP to join the APC in the build up to the 2015 general election.
Governor Okowa had last August, after the non-elective convention of PDP boasted that majority of the political heavyweights who left the party will be returning. Atiku has since returned.
A PDP chieftain in the state told Saturday Sun that Tambuwal actually came for consultations and had useful discussions with Okowa and Ibori, even though the public was made to believe that he made solidarity appearance at the product exhibition and business fair by beneficiaries of Okowa’s job and wealth scheme.
The source added that Tambuwal will likely throw his hat in the ring for the PDP presidential ticket, come 2019. “The meeting was to finetune Tambuwal’s exit from the APC to PDP. Wike could not wait for the meeting because of his birthday celebration in Port Harcourt as Tambuwal came in late due to flight delay. All the same, his views were conveyed,” the source added.
Contacted, the state PDP chairman, Mr. Kingsley Esiso, said that he was not aware of the plan by Tambuwal to return to PDP, insisting that the Sokoto governor came to Asaba for the job creation programme and not for politics. The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Okowa, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, who also feigned ignorance about the development said Tambuwal is a long time mutual friend of both Okowa and Wike. Aniagwu, however, added that should the former House of Representatives Speaker decide to join the PDP, the door is wide open.
Another governor that has also been mentioned in the unfolding power game is the Adamawa state governor, Senator Bindo Jibrilla. He is taken to be one of the APC leaders that may likely follow Atiku to APC. Saturday Sun has, however, learnt that the governor will remain in APC having privately and publicly pledged his loyalty to President Buhari and secured an assurance that he will be protected in the ruling party.
Also responding to enquiries on the clandestine moves between the PDP and some leading APC chiefs across the country, the opposition party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan said receiving aggrieved leaders of the ruling party into an opposition party is a precedent already set by the APC, adding that the PDP would not mind benefiting from the same game plan.
“It’s same game plan APC used as an opposition party, so, there’s nothing strange if we decide to use their own approach to our benefit”, he stressed.
|Sun