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Atiku in Secret Talks With PDP Over Presidential Run
With the 2019 electioneering season about to kick off in the next few months, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, whose ambition remains undiminished to rule Nigeria, has opened secret discussions with some leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to return to the party and contest on its platform in the 2019 presidential election, THISDAY has learnt.
The discussions are coming on the heels of the pressure mounted recently by the Adamawa chapter of the PDP asking Atiku, who is currently a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), to return to the PDP now that its leadership crisis has been resolved.
Atiku, who has contested for the presidency, once as a candidate of the defunct Action Congress (AC), and made two unsuccessful attempts to secure the presidential tickets of the PDP and APC, has chosen to throw his hat into the ring for a fourth time. During the Ibrahim Babangida years, he was a presidential aspirant in the then Social Democratic Party (SDP) losing to late MKO Abiola and Ambassador Babagana Kingibe.
PDP sources informed THISDAY that some of the governors and past governors of the party, including other leaders of the PDP, are amenable to his return and would most likely back him in his bid to secure the ticket of the PDP.
However, Atiku, in the discussions with the PDP leadership, is not leaving anything to chance and has asked for a guarantee that he would secure the ticket of the party for the 2019 presidential election before jumping ship.
(ThisDay, August 14, 2017)
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