The peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) is at crossroads following the army of political giants seeking its platform as the 2019 presidential election draws near, National Daily has gathered.
Notable among those vying for the PDP presidential ticket are former vice president, Atiku Abubakar; Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state; Governor Ibrahim Dankwabo of Gombe state; a former special duties minister, Tanimu Turaki; and a former governor of Kaduna state, Senator Ahmed Makarfi.
Others include two former governors of Kano state, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau; former governor of Sokoto state, Attahiru Bafarawa; former Jigawa state governor, Sule Lamido; and an industrialist, Dr Baba Datti Ahmed.
Also included is Senate President Bukola Saraki, who has stated that he is “consulting and actively considering” joining the race.
According to findings by National Daily, PDP’s National Working Committee is working assiduously at picking a consensus in other to avoid a fratricide conflict in the party.
The chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party, Walid Jibrin, also expressed concerns over the number of presidential aspirants within.
He said: “Efforts are on ground by BoT to bring all the PDP presidential aspirants together to consider how best they should accept one of them to stand, realising that despite their number, only one person will emerge as a candidate during the primaries; and also, only one person will emerge as the president of Nigeria.
Another highly-placed party official reportedly said: “The APC is already settled, which gives them a head start with Buhari guaranteed the ticket. “We cannot afford to lose time and resources with the primary. By the time we are ready settling disputes and appeals, we would have lost valuable space to regain lost grounds. “So, the consensus option appears the way to go, though we have worries whether or not it might sit well with the aspirants.”
Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, stated that any candidate the opposition party fields for the 2019 presidential election would defeat President Muhammadu Buhari.
Speaking in Abuja, the nation’s capital, the PDP chairman opined that there is no way Nigerians would give their votes to Buhari in 2019; as the present administration had failed to deliver majority of its promises.