There were more facts yesterday on how former Vice President Atiku Abubakar beat 14 other aspirants to clinch the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday.
It was learnt that two last-minute negotiations with presidential aspirants from the North, especially Sokoto Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, gave Atiku the cutting edge over his closest rival, River State Governor Nyesom Wike. The former Vice-President had 371 votes against Wike’s 237.
The Nation gathered that before agreeing to step down, Tambuwal had been in talks with Atiku for the position of President of the Senate in 2023.
However, the intervention of a former National Security Adviser (NSA), acting on behalf of some founders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), made Tambuwal to back Atiku.
The same forces accounted for the withdrawal of another aspirant, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, from the race in the early hours of Saturday.
Also, in order to give all Northern aspirants the benefit of the doubt, Atiku also held a meeting in Transcorp Hilton with Tambuwal, Dr Bukola Saraki, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State and Hayatu-Deen on the need to present him as a common front against Wike.
The Transcorp Hilton session was triggered by an intelligence report that Wike, who had a big war chest, might clinch the ticket without a united North.
Sources at the meeting said the Bauchi governor stormed out after claiming that he was confident of getting the PDP ticket.
Former Senate President Saraki also said he preferred to go the whole hog based on the facts and figures available to him that he was going to triumph at the primary.
A source, who spoke with our reporter in confidence said: “As of Friday, the situation was still dicey because Wike gave a good fight and his war chest was massive. For five hours, Atiku was on the phone pleading with all the delegates one by one. He succeeded in reaching out to 95 per cent of the delegates.
“In order not to take chances, it became apparent that there must be some realignment and closing of ranks by Northern aspirants. A former National Security Adviser, Gen. Aliyu Gusau, who probably acted on behalf of the founding fathers of PDP, had a meeting with Atiku and Tambuwal at his residence in Abuja.
“The meeting was more or less the icing on the cake because Atiku and Tambuwal had been having covert meetings for about three weeks with an offer of a Senate presidency for the Sokoto State governor if Atiku wins.
”The intervention of the ex-NSA wrapped up all the covert meetings by Atiku and Tambuwal.
The Nation
