Presumably to kick-start his presidential ambition, former Vice
President, Atiku Abubakar, visited the National Chairman of his party,
APC.
Atiku’s last known visit to the Party’s secretariat was during the last National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in April.
President Muhammadu Buhari was also in attendance.
Curiously, Atiku visited the National Chairman in his office with the full coterie of his media team.
The meeting was behind closed doors and its outcome sealed.
Recall that Atiku had once stated that President Buhari is a leader, but not a Politician.
Recently, he has lent his voice to the restructuring of Nigeria – a thing President Buhari hates to hear.
He
has openly berated the Buhari led government stating that his
administration “Has refused to learn from the mistakes of past
governments.”
His recent comments on national issues and his visit
to his party’s secretariat confirmed that he still harbors a
presidential ambition.
To checkmate Atiku, and on Tinubu’s advice, Buhari went for the Jugular.
His first move was to direct the Adamawa State chapter of the APC to beg Ribadu to return to the party.
The move angered Atiku and the State Governor, Jibrilla Bindow.
The calculation is this: If Ribadu returns to APC, he may be given a top position in next political administration.
This
will neutralize Atiku’s camp, since the Party will not both support
Atiku and Ribadu for top positions since they hail from the same State.
Prominent
politicians behind Ribadu’s return includes ex-Governor Murtala Nyako,
the Secretary to the Federal Government, Babachir David Lawal and the
state and local government chapters of the party.
The State chapter of APC wrote Ribadu.
Parts
of the letter reads: “We are mindful of the efforts and contributions
you made during the merger without which the merger would have been
difficult.
“To this end, we reaffirm our request for you to come
home to APC and assist and contribute to the success of the APC
government both at the state and national levels.”
Defending the letter, APC stated that “Ribadu did so much for APC in Adamawa State.
“The setback he suffered by ex- Vice President Atiku made him to go to PDP.
“He worked tirelessly to prevent the impeachment of ex-Governor Murtala Nyako.
“The insincerity of APC leaders in the state made Ribadu to defect to PDP against his own volition.
“So, he left APC as a result of local politics.
“It was a state affair but today things have changed.
“Today Nyako is vindicated and Umar Fintiri is under investigation by the EFCC.
“We are now out to correct the past by asking him to return to APC because Nyako has been vindicated.
“Ribadu
has also been justified because he insisted that Nyako was a victim of
political vendetta and abuse of power. Nyako is back.
“We have realized that we have all wronged Ribadu. We want him back.”
The political maneuver worked.
Ribadu immediately accepted to return. He has in fact returned.
APC further stated that “Constitutionally, you cannot stop anybody from joining a party.
“We told the delegation that it is a state issue. If the state executives of APC accept Ribadu, we cannot reject him.
“We will however do our best to reconcile all members of the party, whether old or new.
“Our ultimate target is to keep the APC family united.”
It was also gathered that President Muhammadu Buhari’s supporters endorsed the return of Ribadu.
In other words, Atiku may have been politically emasculated at least within the fold of APC.
Source: Vanguard Newspaper
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