By Saawua Terzungwe



A former Special Assistant to an ex-Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, on Local Government and State Affairs, Dr. Umar Ardo, has said former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, will work against the PDP if Atiku is fielded as the party’s presidential candidate in 2019.

Ardo, who was also appointed as Special Assistant on Research and Strategy to then President, Obasanjo, in 2003, said Atiku, a chieftain of the ruling APC, was preparing grounds for his return to the PDP.

But Atiku’s Media Adviser, Paul Ibe said it was “ludicrous to accuse a man who is not a member of a party of plotting to hijack its structure. “Whoever is making this allegation has to look elsewhere for their failings,” he said.

Addressing newsmen yesterday in Abuja, Ardo, an ex-governorship aspirant in Adamawa State, said the return of his former principal to secure the PDP presidential ticket would spark-off fresh crisis and spell doom for the party.

In a petition dated November 5, 2017, and addressed to the Chairman, Adamawa State PDP State Congress Appeal Panel, Ardo called for cancellation of the congresses held last week in the state.

“We learnt that Atiku is coming back to the party with an ambition; an ambition to contest for the presidency. Now, his return will be a source of conflict because there are others in the party (PDP) who are also interested and are nursing this ambition.

“Secondly, the deep pocket that Atiku has will not just serve that ambition but it will deepen the conflict. The third disadvantage is that those foot soldiers will also serve for the ambition and in the process deepen the conflict.

“Along with the friends that Atiku will be coming with to the party is also those that will bring up enemies. For instance, it is an open secret and everybody knows it that Obasanjo will fight him.

“I think I will conclude that PDP will be better off without Atiku coming back,” he said.

kenoyad:
the problem with Atiku is just that everybody is now aware of whom he was and how he had used his positions in the past to his huge advantage at the detriment of the mother land Nigeria. I campaigned vividly for him in 2007 cause I thought OBJ was only persecuting him but now that I had realized how he had benefited largely from Nigeria through shady deals of covering up and using fronts, I am ready to come up against him via any little means I can. OBJ, El rufai and Co knows him better than all of us, remember El rufai was DG, BPE while Atiku as vice president was chairman of BPE then.

Oloripelebe:
It wld be a great mistake for pdp to present atiku as their candidate in 2019....they should just find a credible candidate

dodelight:
Though I'm no fan of Atiku. But is Obasanjo God?

dodelight:
Though I'm no fan of Atiku. But is Obasanjo God?

onatisi:


please name 2 prominent Nigerian politicians from the north who are credible and have never been enmeshed in one scandal of corruption or the other . just 2 names not even 3