The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP may be keeping a close tab on five of its governors over suspicion that they may be working underground to boost the presidential aspiration of General Mohammadu Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress, APC in the February 14 presidential contest, New Telegraph reports.
Quoting a top party official, the report indicates that the governors are suspected to be secretly mobilizing support for Buhari to have at least 25 per cent of the total votes cast in their respective states in order to brighten his chances of winning the presidential election.
The source listed the governors being watched as Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, Delta, Mr. Sullivan Chime, Enugu, Chief Martin Elechi, Ebonyi, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, Niger, Mr. James Bala Ngilari, Adamawa and Abubakar Danladi, Taraba.
According to the source, the leadership of the PDP had doubts about the commitment of the governors, along with some other bigwigs of the party who nurse grievances following the party’s primaries, to work wholeheartedly for the victory of President Goodluck Jonathan next month.
The report could however not confirm if more states are involved in the deal to ease Buhari’s victory just as the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, dismissed the alleged placement of the governor under close watch.
The source however insisted that the party had in its possession ‘verifiable evidence’ that some of the PDP governors, especially those whose interests were bruised in the last primaries were “willing to give the opposition party soft landing in some states.
“On paper, we say there is no problem, but in the real sense of it, there are bottled-up anger and animosity across the various chapters of the party in the country. As a party, we are not losing sight of this and we are doing everything humanly possible to stem any slide in any state chapter of the PDP.
“It is a thing that calls for worry because we have verifiable evidence and enough facts indeed that some of the PDP governors you press call aggrieved governors are already preparing ground to allow General Buhari have a leverage that can give him the required 25 per cent of total votes cast in the February 14 presidential election.
“The irony is that we do know this fact but we do not in the same breath, want to confront them and rock the boat. The only thing we can do is to put them under serious surveillance as we approach the elections”, the source said.
Reacting to the report, Metuh who claimed ignorance of such a development said no PDP governor was hobnobbing with Buhari.
According to him, the report was fabricated by APC to create confusion in the ruling party.
“This is a rumour and a lie fabricated by the opposition to create confusion in our midst. All our governors are intact and fully committed to the ideals of the PDP. They have all been working against the APC and its candidate and cannot turn around to support the opposition in any form.
“They are fully committed to the aspiration of the president for a second term because he has put the nation on the right track in terms of the nation’s economy and the direction of the polity. I urge you to ignore the rumour and place the APC where it belongs,” Metuh said.(Daily Post)
