NewsReports

2019 Presidency: Angry Atiku Shuns Press, Others After Talks With IBB

[dropcap]J[/dropcap]ournalists and supporters of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar were, yesterday, shocked after the former vice-president came out from a meeting with former President Ibrahim Babangida with a long face reflective of a red card shown to his 2019 presidential aspiration.Atiku, who arrived Minna airport to a cheerful reception from his supporters, breezed past the same supporters after a one and half hour closed-door meeting with Babangida during which the latter was said to have asked him to forget his presidential aspiration. Meanwhile, the leadership contest for Atiku’s new political platform, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was, last night, turning into a heated three-man contest in the most competitive leadership contest in the history of the party.

Ahead of the contest scheduled to play out tomorrow, Prince Uche Secondus, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, and Prof. Tunde Adeniran were said to have emerged out of the pack of eight candidates in a contest in which the dominance of the governors was being put to serious test. Ahead of the election tomorrow, party officials have scheduled a meeting with all nine declared candidates for this morning. It was the expectation of some of party chieftains, last night, that this morning’s meeting would be used to build a consensus among the candidates. Yesterday, following series of meetings among the six Southwest candidates in Abuja, it emerged that some of them were inclining themselves towards a consensus candidate from the region.

A consensus was yet to be arrived at mainly because Prof. Adeniran, who has acquired a national momentum, has, however, failed to impress his home base. The meeting between the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa-led Convention Committee and the eight candidates scheduled for 10.00 a.m. at the National Secretariat of the party is to be followed by another meeting with candidates in the other 20 positions on offer tomorrow and subsequently with chairmen of the state chapters of the party.