A former Vice-President and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress,
Atiku Abubakar, on Saturday denied a statement made by a Peoples Democratic
Party’s chieftain that he might return to the PDP before the elections.
The former vice-president said this in response to reports that he was
being pressured by elements within the ruling party to stage a comeback.
The PDP had said on Friday that it was wooing former members of the
party, including Atiku Abubakar and Kwakwanso, who defected to the All
Progressives Congress to return to the party before the next general elections.
According to the PDP National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, who stated
this at a press conference in Ile-Ife, Osun State, the party had starting
making moves to bring back the former members.
He said, “The PDP has begun moves to bring back some of our former
chieftains who are now in the APC. The PDP reconciliation committee set up by
the National Working Committee will meet with all former members for the
purpose of bringing them back before the next general elections.”
But when contacted, the Director General of the Atiku Media Office,
Mallam Garba Shehu, said there was no plan by Atiku to return to the PDP.
According to him, news linking the APC chieftain to a possible return to
the PDP were lies being peddled by mischief makers.
Shehu said, “There is no iota of truth in such claims. It is not only
false, it is malicious and a product of the futile imaginations of those
peddling it.”
Similarly, Kwankwaso, who was one of seven PDP governors who walked out
of the party’s mini convention last year to protest against “injustices” within
the party, has also denied making moves to return to his former party.
Part of his grievances included the alleged high-handedness of the then
Bamanga Tukur-led national executive committee.
The governor, who spoke through his Director of Press and Public
Relations, Baba Dantiye, described the news of a possible return to the PDP as
baseless and a clear case of desperation on the part of the PDP.
Dantiye said, “He (Kwankwaso) is presently APC’s candidate for Kano
Central Senatorial District. I think it’s just PDP’s desperation.”
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