President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday sympathised with the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, over the exit of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar from the party.
Buhari chose the venue of the inauguration of the Ama Pepple-led National Minimum Wage Committee to convey his sympathy to the party chairman, who was at the event along with top government officials.
The President spoke while acknowledging dignitaries that attended the event ahead of his remarks.
Turning to Odigie-Oyegun, Buhari said, “Accept my sympathy for losing a senior member of your party.”
Although he did not mention any name, it was obvious that the President was referring to Atiku who announced his resignation from the APC on Friday.
The former vice-president was one of those who contested the party’s presidential primary ahead of the 2015 general election and lost to Buhari.
He came a distant third behind Buhari and a former Kano State Governor, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Buhari and his spokesmen had avoided speaking on Atiku’s exit since the news broke on Friday.
Before making his position public on Friday, Atiku had resigned from the APC on October 18, 2017.
More APC members coming to PDP
– Gbenga Daniel
A former Governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel, on Monday said the resignation of Atiku from the APC and his expected defection to the Peoples Democratic Party was the beginning of the defection of a large number of APC members to the PDP.
According to him, the defection of more APC members to the PDP will enable the PDP to defeat the APC and form the next government at the federal level.
Daniel spoke at the Ilorin International Airport during his campaign tour to Kwara State for the PDP chairmanship.
The former Ogun state governor stated that the PDP had not given automatic presidential candidate ticket to Atiku, adding that if Atiku eventually moved to the PDP, he would compete with other aspirants for the ticket.
He said, “The PDP has become a bride; everyone wants to become a part of a winning party. I have no doubt that the PDP is going to form the next government at the federal level in Nigeria. We will look forward to receiving the former vice-president and I can assure you that he is not going to be the only one; there is an avalanche of people waiting to get into the PDP.
“But it will not be correct to say that we have prepared the ground for Atiku to pick the presidential ticket. Don’t forget that the PDP is a democratic party; there are so many other people who want to pick the ticket and I am sure if Atiku comes, he is going to compete with other aspirants.”
Daniel said it was untrue that he had stepped down for another contender for the PDP chairmanship, Chief Raymond Dokpesi.
He promised to use his office, if elected, to resolve factional issues in some state chapters of the PDP.