…Ex-PDP chairman counters Bode George, says Atiku’s 2027 candidacy won’t destroy party
…Group slams PDP governors for opposing coalition
… Children of main gladiators in open fight over Atiku
By Our Reporter
The internal crisis rocking Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), appears to have notched up by a few decibels over plans by former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to gun for the party’s ticket in the 2027 presidential elections.
On Sunday, the party’s governors had dismissed reports linking the party to a purported merger or coalition ahead of the 2027 general elections. On the same day, a prominent member of the party’s board of trustees, Chief Bode George, dismissed Atiku’s 2027 calculations as capable of causing an implosion that would destroy PDP irretrievably.
Since the double events of Sunday, the tempo of internal wrangling within the opposition party went even higher, with Atiku’s supporters venting their displeasure against those opposing his ambition.
Even the children of the main gladiators were not left out as they hurled epithets at one another for and against Atiku’s candidacy in 2027.
Chief Segun Adewale, a former Lagos State Chairman of the party, dismissed claims by George that the candidacy of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar will affect the party’s chances in 2027.
In a well publicized interview yesterday in Lagos, Adewale insisted that Atiku is an asset to the party, and not a liability
George, also a former PDP Deputy National Chairman, had said in an interview on Channels Television on Monday that Abubakar’s candidacy would spell doom for the party in 2027. Recall that Atiku was the PDP Presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections and came second behind President Bola Tinubu.
Reacting to George, Adewale said it is wrong for anyone to say the emergence of Atiku would undermine the party’s victory in 2027, contending that the chances of the party would rather be affected by anti-party activities and selfishness of “some party leaders like Bode George.”
“Atiku has been contributing to the party for years. Atiku would have won the 2023 presidential election but for the anti-party activities of some people like Bode George.
Anti-party activities led the PDP to where it is today. PDP would have won in 2023 and stayed in power ever since. They made sure that the PDP votes were divided in Lagos and other states. PDP lost that election for that reason,” he said.
Adewale said that the party leadership should rather focus on curbing anti-party activities among leaders and take a firm stand against those destroying the party through their actions and inactions. instead of attacking Atiku.
“Some PDP leaders should be ashamed of themselves, especially those working for the opposition openly and without looking backward in every election. These are the activities affecting our chances and destroying the party in Lagos State and at the national level in all electoral cycles since 2015.
“If Atiku’s candidacy will destroy the PDP, what do we say of party leaders who openly told PDP members to vote opposition in an election? Will that build or brighten our chances? We must address the substance and stop chasing shadows,” Adewale said.
According to him, some leaders always fight PDP candidates and work against them during elections.
“We should rather concentrate on those in the party but working for the opposition. This anti-party (activities) is our problem not Atiku’s candidacy,” he said.
Similarly, the Anti-Tinubu coalition led by a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has condemned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors for their opposition to the coalition, and for playing the spoiler in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s favor in the upcoming 2027 election.
The coalition’s statement was a reaction to the resolution of the PDP Governors’ Forum at its meeting on Monday, April 14, where they declared their opposition to the initiative to form a broad-based coalition of opposition political parties and politicians.
According to the statement by coalition spokesman Salihu Moh Lukman, “The coalition is a viable option not only for defeating the All Progressives Congress, APC, and President Tinubu but also for rescuing Nigeria’s democracy from imminent collapse.”
“For more than 10 years, the PDP had been out of power, and Nigerians had waited for the party to dust itself off and provide the viable opposition that Nigeria needs. Instead, the party went into suspended animation until the rampaging Tinubu-led APC found a willing undertaker to finally put it to rest,” he added.
“The governors know that the virus that afflicts the PDP has no cure. They are only grandstanding. They know that Nigerians cannot accept this PDP as the alternative because it is clear to all discerning Nigerians that the ruling party has hijacked its soul.”
“Nyesom Wike is the untouchable super minister in Asiwaju’s government, not because of the sterling job he is doing in the FCT, but because he has done a great job of ensuring that the PDP is not able to present a presidential candidate to challenge Tinubu for power in 2027.”
“However, with the growing coalition, that mandate has been adjusted in recent weeks. The new agenda is to revive the PDP to stand as a counterforce to the coalition and present a candidate who would split the vote in 2027. This PDP Governors’ Forum is wittingly or unwittingly playing Asiwaju’s spoiler game, and they expect Nigerians to take them seriously.”
Meanwhile, it has been political fireworks between Shamsudeen Bala, son of Bauchi state governor and Chair of the PDP Governor’s Forum, Bala Mohammed, and Atiku’s son, Mohammed Abubakar, over Atiku’s political ambition.
The younger Atiku is reported to have accused Governor Mohammed of failing to support the ex-VP in both the 2019 and 2023 elections.
Mohammed, who also chairs Atiku’s Presidential Support Organisation, alleged that Governor Mohammed’s presidential ambition is at the heart of the PDP’s internal crisis.
He was reacting to an earlier statement by Governor Mohammed’s Shamsudeen, who said his father would not back Atiku’s presidential bid, because Atiku worked against his father in the last elections.
On Friday he openly accused Atiku of undermining Governor Mohammed’s 2023 re-election campaign by aligning with the opposition and rallying political elites in Bauchi against him.
“Honestly, it would be difficult,” Shamsudeen was quoted by The Punch as saying. “Because even if he (Atiku) wins, there’s nothing he would do for us except settle old scores. He didn’t support us in 2023—he backed the APC candidate and used Bauchi elites to oppose us. We barely survived it. He’s made it clear he doesn’t value us enough to engage in dialogue.”
But reacting on Monday, Atiku’s son fired at Governor Mohammed, accusing him of secretly working with the ruling APC and President Tinubu’s administration.
“Let it be known to Shamsu that never has Atiku dissipated an ounce of energy towards his father’s political travails,”Atiku’s son said in a statement. “Atiku’s politics transcend such shenanigans—he has always remained above the fray.”