…fear continued crisis’ll affect their electoral fortunes

Candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in states controlled by the G-5 governors are currently in a stage of apprehension over the decision of their leaders to dump the Presidential Candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, at the forthcoming General Elections. Some party sources who spoke with Saturday Telegraph during the week said many of the candidates on the platform of the party are expressing frustration that the lingering impasse within the party will impact negatively on their electoral fortunes in February.

“Members of our party who are candidates for one public office or the other in many states, particularly states under the control of G-5 Governors, are very worried about the activities of their principals with regards to their decision to dump Atiku for another candidate. “Their worry stems from the fact that the decision might prove to be costly to their individual aspirations and might eventually back fire on the party on the long run,” a source who is a former S’West zonal PDP Executive Council member said.

The source who pleaded not to be named said the fear stems from the Nigerian voting pattern which he described as one-way, depending on which of the parties have the upper hand at the Presidential poll. To counter this fear, PDP members have decided to stage solidarity walks in the various states for the party’s presidential candidate and to ensure that they triumph at the polls.

This development was confirmed to our correspondent by a former minister from Oyo State in a telephone chat who said, “We have decided to take our fate in our hands by campaigning for our candidate without members of the Integrity Group.” The former minister stated further that “We are set to stage a solidarity walk for the Presidential Candidate of the PDP on January 4, to let the world know that Atiku has a lot of supporters in the state.” Feelers from the party have shown that the leadership might go for broke by expelling those considered as recalcitrant should the Integrity Group go ahead to unveil another Presidential Candidate.

“The leadership of the party is considering outright expulsion of members of this group and their preferred candidates for various offices. We might even write to INEC to withdraw our candidates who are sympathetic to them,” a senior party source said. (Saturday Telegraph)