Former military President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, and Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara state, held secret talks in Minna, in furtherance of efforts to actualise the emergence of a Northern candidate as the PDP flag bearer for the 2011 presidential election.
Governor Saraki, who is the Chairman, Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), and is also believed to be nursing a presidential ambition, met with the former military ruler behind closed doors yesterday afternoon.
The Minna meeting, according to a source, was aimed at arriving at a strategy that would see to the emergence of one out of three Northern presidential aspirants: Babangida, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Saraki, as the PDP presidential candidate.
The Kwara state governor arrived the Minna Airport at about midday yesterday, and his motorcade drove straight to the residence of General Babangida, where the one and half hours closed door meeting took place.
From the Babangida residence, Saraki proceeded to meet with Governor Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu at his residence along Peter Sarki Road, Tunga. This second meeting lasted for about an hour.
Aliyu is chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF).
Governor Saraki, however, declined to comment on his visit to Minna, and simply said “no comment,” while responding to questions from newsmen, as he drove in one of the jeeps provided by Governor Aliyu straight back to the airport en route Abuja.
The Kwara governor was accompanied by three of his aides on the visits to the residences of the two Niger personalities.
General Babangida said the visit of Governor Saraki was purely a social visit, adding that the Kwara governor was in Minna, to visit his Niger state counterpart and had decided to make a detour to his residence to pay him Sallah homage.Governor Saraki
A close aide of the governor, who spoke to Peoples Daily on condition of anonymity, however, said the meeting between the duo focused on how to evolve effective strategies to achieve North’s aspiration of regaining the presidency in 2011.
“The meeting was basically on next year’s polls and how to ensure that the region regains the presidency in 2011. The duo also discussed the prospects of adopting a consensus candidate for the 2011 presidential poll,” the source added.
However, responding to a text message sent to his cell phone on whether the meeting also dwelled on a request by Saraki for IBB to step down for him, the Special Assistant to the Governor (Media), Bilyaminu Adedamola, debunked the allegation, saying the meeting only dwelled on the PDP zoning agreement.
“Governor Saraki did not ask IBB to step down for him; neither did he ask for Governor Aliyu’s support for any ambition. The discussion was purely on the matter of zoning as it affects the Northern political interest,” the spokesman said.
Reports had indicated yesterday that the G-15, led by former Finance Minister, Malam Adamu Ciroma, is spear-heading the gameplan to thwart the aspiration of President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the 2011 presidential election, in defiance of the PDP zoning formula.
The three presidential aspirants have been told by the Northern leaders to mobilise support in the 36 states and Abuja, for their presidential ambitions, after which they would meet a few days to the PDP presidential primaries to assess their individual chances of defeating President Jonathan and securing the party's ticket.
“Eventually, one of them will be endorsed by the North as its candidate. The aspirants have been made to understand that they are in the race as representatives of the North and, as such, cannot fail or undermine the arrangement agreed upon,” the reports said.
Furthermore, the G-15 is said to have extracted an agreement from the three Northern aspirants that they will whole-heartedly support whoever, is endorsed by the group as the presidential candidate, who will thereafter, be sold to other geo-political zones of the country, the report said. This, however, could not be confirmed by Peoples Daily up to press time last night.




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