The pledge by President Muhammadu Buhari to serve only one term is responsible for the whirligig into which the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), and indeed the political class in the country have been thrown, the Daily Times can authoritatively report.
If not quickly resolved, the intrigues may make governing Herculean in the next four years, as politicians of different ideological backgrounds are forging informal alliances.
Two-time Governorship candidate in Lagos, Mr. Jimmy Agbaje, and former Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio recently paid separate visits to the Abuja residence of former Vice President Abubakar Atiku in what is believed to be linked to the politics of 2019. It was learnt last night that apart from paying the APC back in its own coin, the decision of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not to support any candidate put forward by the ruling party for the positions of Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, has serious link to the 2019 Presidential contest.
According to sources within the ruling party, “the decision of President Buhari not to run in 2019 is already tearing the party into shreds as potential aspirants for the office are already mobilizing across parties and geo-political zones to forge a realignment for the contest.” The visit by Akpabio and Agbaje to the Abuja residence of Atiku, according to information pieced together in Abuja is the beginning of the much-expected realignment and coming together of former PDP political heavy weights across the nation before the commencement of the onslaught on the factionalized APC.
It was also gathered that the visit to the residence of Atiku by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, shortly after being sworn, was a confirmation that Atiku was one of those who pulled the strings for his success at election. Atiku, it was reliably gathered is still eyeing the presidency and the decision of Buhari to run for one term has further given the Adamawa politician the verve to start making contacts across party divides. It was further learnt that the main reason the APC national leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, reportedly moved against Saraki was because of the strong opposition of Saraki to Tinubu’s nomination of Professor Yemi Osinbajo as the then running mate to Buhari.
Saraki it was learnt, campaigned vigorously for former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi for the position of the Vice President. It took the intervention of former President Olusegun Obasanjo at his Abeokuta mansion for peace to reign. Daily Times also learnt that the graveyard silence maintained by the former Rivers state governor on the National Assembly election was intended to spite Tinubu who was instrumental to the scuttling of his vice presidential ambition. Apart from that, the Tinubu camp up till press time is still not comfortable with the Saraki occupation of the office of the Senate President.
The reasoning in the camp is that a Saraki Senate presidency for four years would be too strong for them to overrun in 2019 since President Buhari has decided not to run in 2019. In the unfolding political scenario, the battle line appears drawn between Atiku and Tinubu. Already there are reported moves by Tinubu to truncate the emergence of Atiku as the chairman of the BoT of the party, while Atiku on the other hand is pushing for the leadership of the party using different fronts within and outside the party.
The PDP as a party, it was reliably learnt, is not left out of the scheming and permutations for the 2019 elections. The party, according to impeccable sources within the party, has dispatched its foot soldiers across the six geo political zones to mobilize and talk to party members and non-party members on the need to return power to the party in 2019 because of what they described as the false start of the APC since May 29. (Daily Times Nigeria).