Atiku’s Mishandling of PDP Crisis

POLITICAL NOTES

The failure of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar to resolve the crisis rocking the party is making the rumour mills to have a field day. Last week, all social media platforms were agog with speculations that the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, was not happy with the party’s leadership, and as such, had either resigned or was contemplating to resign his appointment as the Chairman of the Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Council.

While that was trending, it was also rumoured that the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, who doubles as the Vice Chairman of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council in the North-east, was sulking that Atiku picked campaign coordinators from his state without consultation with him.

In order to capitalise on this, the G-5 governors, comprising Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), met Mohammed in Bauchi to enlist him to join forces against Atiku.

Even though the Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation through a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, has since dismissed as “fake news” the report that Governor Emmanuel was threatening to resign, Atiku was believed to have quickly moved to tackle whatever ill-feelings Governor Mohammed had with a visit to him as soon as he returned to the country from his trip abroad.

While the party has urged Nigerians to ignore such shenanigans and fake news coming from the enemies who are desirous of causing confusion in the polity with a view to derailing the party’s electoral process, it is imperative that Atiku should seriously and urgently put his house in order.

The crisis rocking the party has festered for too long. Atiku should not say he has moved on. He needs not foreclose any move towards peace as the leader of the party.

He claims to be a unifier, yet he cannot unify his own party. Little wonder his opponents are mocking him and wondering if he cannot unify his party, how can he unify the country?

While the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu is busy wooing his opponents, Atiku is snubbing his own and making more enemies for himself. Governor Nasir el-Rufai had before the APC primary stated publicly in several fora that he did not believe in Tinubu and did not like his ways, but the former Lagos State governor has remained unrelenting in his efforts to woo him just to get what he wants. Atiku should realise that nothing should be too much to sacrifice for the presidential seat.

He needs to quickly capitalise on the statement credited to Governor Wike last week when he was quoted as saying that the G-5 governors were still open to reconciliation, and did not at any time close their doors to reconciliation.