Ex Vice-president, Atiku Abubakar is gearing up to officially declare his presidential bid towards the end of April 2018, PoliticsNGR has gathered.
His campaign organization has already commenced screening of support groups and movements aimed at working for his bid. No fewer than 200 groups are currently being screened.
Declaring his bid for the nation’s top job on Tuesday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Abubakar said he was offering himself to set the country on the path of growth after “the serial failure” of the All Progressives Congress.
The source noted further that Atiku’s central campaign organization got the mandate to streamline the support groups and they subsequently set criteria for the support groups before acknowledging them for the meeting with Atiku in April.
He stressed further that part of the criteria to fulfill before being recognized as a support group for Atiku includes evidence of a structured leadership hierarchy, functional social media, visible presence in the area of operation and an above average grasp of the Atiku ideology, among others.
Among the support groups already positioning to campaign for Atiku include Atiku Global Support Group (AGSG), Concerned Citizens for Atiku, CC4A, Atiku Support Group (ASG), The United Atiku Abubakar Support Group, Atiku Global Support Group, Atiku Youth Association (AYA), Atikunation, among others.
All things being equal, Atiku would formally declare his presidential ambition before the end of this month. Atiku, who has been on intense consultations since he rejoined the PDP last year, said in Port Harcourt: “I have offered myself to run for the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2019.”
Impeccable sources within his office said; “That of Port Harcourt is just an announcement. But everything is in place now for his main declaration in Abuja towards the end of this month”.
It was learned that towards this end, some mutual friends of Atiku and his former boss, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo are currently speaking to Obasanjo not to publicly criticise Atiku, even if he would not support his candidacy.
A source revealed; “There are people on Obasanjo’s side who feel there is need to stop all this war. I am aware (that) somebody close to him (Obasanjo) told him, if you can’t help the cause of this man, don’t hurt his political interest. I’m aware that few days ago, they are trying to work on him,” he revealed.