AS the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) meets
next week to put its house in order,
opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) is
deepening its agenda to wrest power from the
ruling party.
Investigation by the Saturday Tribune
revealed that the opposition is focusing on
areas likely to weaken it in the 2015
presidential poll, such as the fight over its
presidential ticket and PDP’s presence in
some parts of the North.
Findings showed that the leadership of the
opposition party, in conjunction with opinion
and political leaders in the north, has
narrowed APC’s presidential choices to three;
namely Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of
Kano State; Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, and
General Muhammadu Buhari. While the party
has not even elected its leadership, Saturday
Tribune gathered that the three men are
being encouraged to dialogue by the north as
a way of easing tension at future presidential
primaries.
Two of the identified hopefuls were said to
have met in a northern state last Wednesday,
at a meeting facilitated by some senior
citizens in the north, during which they
agreed on some critical issues including
putting northern and party interest above
personal ambitions .
Already, some influential members of the
opposition party have started identifying with
some of the presidential hopefuls. The former
Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani Kayode,
recently visited Kano where he drummed
support for Kwankwaso’s candidacy. The
governor himself was said to have told some
elders in the state capital about his imminent
endorsement as APC’s presidential candidate.
However, the caucus of a leader of the party
and former governor of Lagos State, Bola
Tinubu, is said to be rooting for Tambuwal,
whom the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria
(CAN) helped install as Speaker after the 2011
elections.
An APC source told the Saturday Tribune that
the shortlisting of aspirants for the number
one position is seen as a major step for the
APC to shame its detractors who are already
predicting its disintegration ahead of its
primary election which may come up later this
year.
According to the source, a former president is
behind the deal to ensure a reduction in the
number of contenders. The former president is
also said to be responsible for the ongoing
interface among the identified contenders.
Part of the deal reportedly reached was to
coordinate an Arewa-wide movement to
pressure elected PDP officials to defect to the
APC. That agenda, which is already being
implemented, was said to be responsible for
the recent defection of PDP lawmakers in
Zamfara and Kaduna states to the APC.
Similar pressure is reportedly being put on
elected officials in Katsina, Jigawa and Niger
states. Even while governors Sule Lamido
(Jigawa) and Aliyu Babangida (Niger) have
refused to quit the PDP, Saturday Tribune
gathered that their loyalists in the respective
state Houses of Assembly are under pressure
from the Arewa lobby group.
It was learnt that the opposition is pushing
to reduce PDP to a regional party while the
APC will take its place as the national party.
“ You remember how the PDP emerged from
the defunct All Peoples Party (APP) to become
a pan –Nigeria party. The same forces that
turned APP to a regional party overnight in
1998 are coordinating a reenactment of that
feat with the PDP as the victim now. Very
soon, it will be clear to all that the PDP has
become a party of the South South and the
South East just as was the case with the APP
in 1998 when its root was mainly in the North
West and the North East. You just wait and
see,” the source, who is close to a powerful
traditional ruler in the north, told Saturday
Tribune.
The Arewa agenda is, however, reported to be
facing stiff opposition in the Middle Belt
region where a combination of religious factor
and strong anti- Hausa fulani sentiment is
helping the ruling party.
PDP regains lost members in Kaduna
Meanwhile, in Kaduna State, the fortune of
the PDP appears to be rising, as some
members of the party who earlier left the
party in the state have started returning,
including Hon. Hussaini Dembo, who was a
Zonal Publicity Secretary of the PDP in the
North-West.
Dembo is said to have confessed that after
leaving the PDP about a year ago due to some
internal problems, he had been in the
wilderness and had to return to the party he
had helped build and nurture.
Dembo vowed to also bring along his teeming
supporters from Southern Kaduna back to the
party.
While receiving Dembo at the state PDP
Secretariat in Kaduna on Friday, the Chairman
of the PDP in the state, Dr. Abubakar Gaiya
Haruna, described the defection (of PDP
members) to the opposition party as “political
madness” and advised the media to be wary
of some reports that might be exaggerated to
score cheap political scores.
He said the PDP in Kaduna is solid and would
continue to be the party to beat in the state,
and that the APC would soon lose more of its
members to the ruling party.
A’Ibom PDP urges Jonathan to contest in
2015
Meanwhile, the Akwa Ibom State chapter of
PDP has passed a vote of confidence on
President Goodluck Jonathan, urging him to
contest the 2015 general elections.
An Akwa Ibom State government official who
disclosed this to Saturday Tribune said a
motion was moved on Thursday in Uyo, the
state capital, at an enlarged meeting of the
state caucus of the PDP, which was attended
by the Deputy National Chairman of the party,
Chief Uche Secondus.
In a motion moved by Senator Ita Enang
(representing Uyo Senatorial District) and
seconded by Elder Udo Kerian Akpan, Deputy
Speaker of Akwa Ibom State House of
Assembly, the state chapter of the PDP stated:
“In 2014, when the respective parties will
have to produce their candidates for
respective offices, as will be declared by INEC,
it is important to consider the candidate for
the Presidency.
“We want to move that President Goodluck
Ebele Jonathan, having credibly and creditably
led this country, diversified the economy from
oil to agriculture, successfully privatised the
power sector, unified the country, successfully
handled the security challenges in Nigeria
and brought Nigeria to the eye of the
international community through diplomacy,
this audience do resolve that we pass a vote
of confidence and urge Goodluck Jonathan to
go ahead and contest the nomination of the
PDP and contest the 2015 election as the
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.”
The Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of
Assembly, Elder Sam Ikon, assured President
Jonathan of full support and cooperation of
Akwa Ibom State.
APC ’ll fail in 2015 —PDP
Secondus commended the PDP stakeholders in
the state for holding onto the party from
inception in 1999, adding that the PDP at the
national level was very proud of Akwa Ibom
State and its governor, Godswill Akpabio, for
what he is doing to transform the state.
Secondus remarked: “I am overwhelmed and I
believe that Akwa Ibom is setting the pace for
the entire country to follow. The 2014
campaign is going to revolve around ward
chairmen. The entire Nigeria should know that
PDP is well rooted in all the wards of the
country. We have over 9,000 wards across the
country with PDP offices.
“I want the opposition party to challenge me
if they have offices in these wards across this
nation. PDP will win the election that is
coming in 2015 because we are rooted in
these wards. This is one secret the opposition
does not know. They believe in blackmail and
propaganda. It can’t work.”

tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/news/lead-stories/item/30033-2015-north-shortlists-buhari,-tambuwal,-kwankwaso-•directs-key-pdp-members-to-defect-to-apc-•plots-to-make-pdp-regional-party-•apc-’ll-fail-in-2015-–-pdp.html

[img]http://www.tvcnews.tv/sites/default/files/styles/node-detail/public/field/image/nIGERIAN-PROTESTERS.jpg[/img]

Two of the identified hopefuls were said to
have met in a northern state last Wednesday,
at a meeting facilitated by some senior
citizens in the north, during which they
agreed on some critical issues including
putting northern and party interest above
personal ambitions.


Later some fools will say good luck is playing regional politics.
I know the aim of APC is to collect power from PDP, to hell with nigerians.
We have to be mindful of this APC party ooo

Gud steps ;DGud steps

Reinforces the fact that Apc has no agenda but to grab power by all means. Advancing the Northern agenda seems to be their manifesto. How progressive

northwest not NORTH