Atiku: PDP Moves To Appease 11 Defeated Aspirants

Determined to put its house in order before the next election, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has begun meeting with 11 aspirants, who lost out during its just-concluded presidential primaries in Port Harcourt.

The move to pacify and unify the aspirants is being coordinated by Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, who is the chairman of the party’s National Reconciliation Committee.

In the first of such rapprochement, Dickson, in company of his Delta and Taraba counterparts, Ifeanyi Okowa and Dairus Ishaku, met with Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, who came second in the presidential primaries and a former Caretaker Committee Chairman, Dr. Ahmed Makarfi, in Abuja, yesterday.

At the meeting, the PDP governors also hailed Tambuwal and Makarfi for their understanding and spirit of sportsmanship in the convention.

A statement by Special Adviser to Governor Dickson on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, stated that the governor lauded Tambuwal and Makarfi for displaying maturity and sportsmanship after losing out at the Port Harcourt convention, which was won by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

He commended Tambuwal for the encouraging remarks he made after the emergence of the party’s candidate in the convention in which he was a leading candidate.

He stressed that the meeting with Tambuwal focussed on the need to strengthen the PDP and provide the requisite support for the candidate of the PDP for electoral victory.

He said. “I am leading a team of the committee of governors to interact and compare notes with our brother, His Excellency Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State. As you all know, he ran a great race and we are all proud of what he did and what he continues to do.”

Speaking also Tambuwal said the PDP must remain a strong, united party, stressing that emphasis should be on the country and not personal ambition.

Tambuwal, who condemned the way the country was being run as a proxy, said Nigeria needed a President who would deliver effective governance.

In his remarks, Makarfi said while the aspirants went into the election as aspirants, they emerged collectively as a party.

Makarfi noted that he had known Atiku for many years and had shared many political ideas with him on national issues and was confident he would become Nigeria’s next president.