Amid defection rumours, Atiku accused of hijacking Adamawa PDP

Nigeria’s former Vice President (VP) and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar, has been accused of hijacking the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in his home state, Adamawa.

The former VP’s erstwhile special assistant and a chieftain of the PDP, Dr. Umar Ardo, made the allegation on Tuesday and called on the leadership of the PDP to cancel the results of last Saturday ward congresses in Adamawa State.

According to him, this part of plans by the former number two citizen to return to the party under which he served as Vice President under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Ardo, had just finished submitting a petition to the Adamawa State PDP Congress Appeal Panel at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja, on Tuesday, when he disclosed this to newsmen.

He had said, “No election took place in Toungo, Ganye Mayo Belwa, Demsa, Numan, Shelleng, Yola North, Yola South, Mubi South, Michika and Madagali local government areas.

“The Caretaker Committee members representing these LGAs simply sat in their rooms and drew up their list and submitted their names as elected executive members and they were admitted. It’s an open secret that the members of the committee connived and simply sat down and distributed the party offices among themselves.”

On how Atiku has hijacked the PDP in the state he said that he was “involved directly” in the actions of committee members adding that Atiku “called me to say that I should make sure certain persons get these positions. I disagreed. He has hijacked the PDP in the state.”

On why he would want the PDP to interfere in the matter, he said that Atiku’s return has a lot of disadvantages.

“There are also three disadvantages. We learnt that Atiku is coming back to the party with an ambition; an ambition to contest for the Presidency. Now that will be a source of conflict because there are others in the party who are also interested and they are nursing this ambition. There will be conflict among party members.

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“Secondly, the deep pocket that Atiku has will not only serve that ambition; it will also deepen the conflict. The third disadvantage is that those foot soldiers will also serve the ambition and in the process deepen the conflict.”

Meanwhile, the former VP is said to have denied having any hands in PDP matters in Adamawa State, insisting that he has left the party.
Atiku was a former member of the PDP but defected before the 2015 general elections to the APC, where he and three others contested for the party’s presidential ticket but lost to President Muhammadu Buhari.

 

 

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