2019: PDP leaders target Kwankaso, Saraki

The race for 2019 may have begun in earnest, as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has reportedly started making overtures to former prominent members of the party who left for the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in the run up to the 2015 general elections.

According to reports, the PDP is said to have its eyes on the immediate past governor of Kano State and a serving Senator, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who is having a running battle with his successor, Abdulahi Ganduje and the APC.

Also being targeted is the embattled Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

Saraki has been having a hard time with the leadership of the APC since he became the President of the Senate against the wishes of the national leadership of his party.

The moves to lure back top members who left the party is believed to be part of the strategy to wrestle power from the APC in 2019.

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According to reports, the former Kano governor, Kwankwaso, some former governors from the North and some Senators met behind closed-doors shortly before the wedding (fatiha) of the daughter of a former Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Abdullahi Kure, in the Lapai area of Niger State on Sunday.

Sources close to the meeting suggest that the meeting is part of efforts by the PDP to present a presidential candidate from the North in 2019.

Those at the meeting included the Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees, Senator Walid Jibril, Kure, the immediate past governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, a former governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, Senator Philip Tanimu Aduda, Senator Smart Adeyemi and Senator Isah Mohammed.

PDP supporters at the venue of the meeting added credence to the insinuations that Kwankwaso was being wooed back to the party, when on sighting the dignitaries coming out of the closed-door meeting, chorused, “Sai Kwankwaso, Sai Kwankwasia, Sai Kadawo PDP, insha Allah” meaning “Kwankwaso, you must come back to PDP.”

The PDP chieftains, who attended the meeting, however declined to speak to journalists.

Kwankaso has however denied holding any political meeting with PDP leaders on Sunday.

An aide, who spoke on behalf of the Senator said: “It is not true that Senator Kwankwaso held a meeting with PDP leaders after he had attended the wedding ceremony.

“Senator Kwankwaso and Alhaji Aliyu (Kure) were friends and they both served as governors in their respective states between 1999 and 2003 and they had remained close since then.

“There is no way that Senator Kwankwaso would be holding secret meeting with members of the opposition party when he remained committed to his party, the All Progressives Congress. He is a loyal party man, who would not engage in any anti-party activities.”

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