Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, has dismissed insinuations that he was planning to dump the party for ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking with female members of the PDP’s Board of Trustees (BoT), who visited him to help save the party from total collapse, he insisted on a coalition to push out the APC-led government in 2027.
Atiku said the coalition was not just a political strategy, but a necessity to challenge the ruling party and rebuild the country.
THISDAY gathered that Atiku, who was so passionate about the PDP, told the women led by the former Minister of Women Affairs and Ex-National Women Leader of the party, Hajia Inna Ciroma, that the coalition was a workable one that would assure good results.
According to him, the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), the ruling party in the Second Republic, had formed an alliance with the Nigeria Peoples Party, NPN and it was called NPN- NPP accord, saying when the coalition was achieved, the name of PDP would not be affected.
He was said to have told the women about the status of the pan-Nigerian coalition that he was building in conjunction with other leaders and stakeholders across political divides and regions.
Atiku also informed them that the Nigerian Movement was being powered by Nigerians desirous of reclaiming and rebuilding their country.
When contacted, Inna Ciroma said, “We as PDP Board of Trustees, BoT members, the conscience of the party decided to take this bold decision to come into the crisis the party is going through. We as mothers are worried and disturbed with what the party is going through at the moment.
“We are disturbed that the party has no leadership and any organisation without leadership could not stand. We are worried and disturbed. We cannot fold our hands and see things go bad in our great party.
“We decided to visit former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to complain about what we are not happy with, to brainstorm with him on the way forward, on how to save the party from total Collapse.
“We told him that there must be leadership and direction in the party. We had very fruitful discussions with the 2023 Presidential candidate of the party. He told us that he was not leaving the party as he discussed much on the coalition and the need for us to key in.
“We also discussed party funding, that parties should be well-funded so that no single person can control the party based on funding parties must belong to the people and everyone has a role to play in the growth of the party.”
The BoT women further took it upon themselves to have a meeting with the Acting National Chairman, Amb. Umar Damagum, for over one and half hours at Wadata Plaza, PDP National Secretariat.
In order to achieve this, the BoT women constituted a team that would reach out to PDP governors, leaders, stakeholders and other members to discuss the problems, why the crisis and the way forward.
Meanwhile, the Atiku Media Office has said that comments by Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu, Daniel Bwala, had shown that there was a mounting panic over the Atiku-led coalition.
In a statement, Atiku’s media office said they had noted with utter contempt the disparaging remarks by Bwala, during a recent interview on TVC.
The statement stated: “It is both ironic and pathetic that Mr. Bwala — a political turncoat who once served as spokesperson for Atiku Abubakar’s 2023 presidential campaign — now presumes to lecture a statesman of global standing on matters of legacy, destiny, and retirement.
‘’His sanctimonious pontificating, laced with bitterness and duplicity, betrays a desperate effort to curry favour with a floundering administration clearly shaken by the unstoppable momentum of the national coalition being galvanised by Atiku and other progressive leaders.
‘’Let it be clearly stated: Atiku Abubakar neither seeks nor requires validation from political opportunists who shed principles as easily as they change parties. Mr. Bwala’s current relevance, if any, is owed entirely to the platform he once occupied under Atiku’s leadership — a fact that should breed humility, not arrogance.
‘’The Tinubu camp’s obsession with Atiku’s political future is no coincidence. If, as they claim, Atiku is a spent force, why the relentless smear campaign? Why the strategic allocation of presidential platforms to attack him?
“The answer is plain: Atiku Abubakar remains the single most formidable opposition figure in Nigeria, and the coalition he is forging represents a clear and present danger to the decaying edifice of the ruling party.”