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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, will return from his foreign trip to nip in the bud the crisis bedevilling the opposition party over choice of his running mate.
According to Daily Trust, the top echelon of the party was not comfortable with the recent visit of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors to Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.
Wike had contested the presidential primary of the PDP with Atiku but lost the ticket to the former vice president at the primary held in Abuja.
Many party bigwigs subsequently suggested that Wike should be picked as Atiku’s running mate. But Atiku picked Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as his running mate, a development that led to crisis in the party as Wike’s loyalists were reportedly not happy with the scheme of things.
It was gathered that the PDP National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, and other stakeholders of the party were exploring different options to end the crisis before the Osun State governorship poll slated for July 16, and the 2023 general elections.
The party is expected to leverage on the committee set up by its Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin, which had Atiku as chairman to bring together the stakeholders towards resolving the contentious issue.
Following the poor turnout of party bigwigs during the inauguration of the Osun State governorship campaign council, where only two of the 12 governors on the party’s platform attended, Atiku, who is expected to return early this week, is expected to lead the charge to ensure PDP’s victory in the state.
“The former vice president will soon be on ground to lead the PDP rally for the Osun governorship election in Osogbo on Thursday.
“Once he (Atiku) arrives, he will also take full charge of the dialogue and mediation process to resolve the fallout from the PDP presidential nomination process,” the medium quoted a source as saying.
Atiku’s spokesperson, Paul Ibe, also confirmed that Atiku would be in Osogbo to lead the mobilisation for the PDP governorship candidate in Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke.
“Atiku will lead from the front once he arrives to reinvigorate and ensure the resolution of all the issues that arose following the conclusion of the nomination processes and it will all be addressed,” he said.