The individual ambitions of some serving governors of the the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appear set to tear the opposition governors’ forum apart, The Nigerian Xpress has reliably gathered.
Although a handful of the current PDP governors, including Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto, Nyesom Wike of Rivers and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi, are believed to be nursing either presidential or vice presidential ambition, only Tambuwal has formally announced his desire to seek the country’s highest office.
Coincidentally, that public announcement by Tambuwal appears to have thrown spanners into the works of certain PDP governors from the South, who were hoping to get the PDP leadership to zone the presidency to the South. For according to their linksmen, zoning the presidency to the South would not only neutralise the formidable challenge of both former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Senate President Bukola Saraki, but also brighten the chances of the aspiring PDP governors from the South.
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However, with Tambuwal, who is also Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum now declaring to run, it is now almost impossible to get the Forum to agree to send any memo to the leadership of the party to accede to zoning the party’s presidential ticket to the South.
The Nigerian Xpress sources, however, revealed that one of the arrowhead governors behind the push to zone the party’s presidential ticket to the South has described the Tambuwal move as a betrayal, and has already begun clandestine moves to remove the Sokoto governor as chairman of the PDP Governors Forum.
According to the sources, the plot is to sell the narrative that Tambuwal can no longer dispassionately chair meetings to discuss zoning, since he is now an interested party.
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The plot is to replace Tambuwal with a South Eastern governor, who would likely be more favourably disposed to zoning the presidential ticket of the party to the South.
While Tambuwal and his supporter governors are not likely to turn and allow themselves to be steamrolled over, what is certain is that testy times lie ahead of the already weakened PDP Governors Forum.
Meanwhile, another vista of trouble may have opened for the PDP governors’ bid to control the party. Former Jigawa State governor and another prospective aspirant for the party’s presidential ticket, Dr Sule Lamido, is presently galvanising the other 23 state chapters of the party where there are no sitting PDP governors.
This could literally take the party out of the control of the current crop of governors who, unlike their predecessors, have virtually refused to support the party in those states controlled by other parties. This is even as the governors are also accused of starving the national headquarters of funds.
Incidentally, going by the subsisting PDP arrangement, the states without sitting governors are likely to collectively produce more delegates to the presidential primaries than the governors presently control.