Determined to oust President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019
presidential election, Senate President Bukola Saraki; presidential
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar; and the
National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, are leading a host
of other chieftains of the opposition party in a meeting in Dubai,
United Arab Emirates, to fine-tune their campaign strategy ahead of the
November 18 commencement date.
The special strategy session, which started on Thursday in the
Middle East city, is meant to put finishing touches to some of the PDP’s
plans aimed at defeating Buhari at the next poll.
According to sources close to the meeting, Atiku is also using the
forum to perfect his comprehensive policy document, detailing how he
intends to improve Nigeria.
It was learnt that the PDP presidential candidate’s roadmap for
Nigeria’s development would be unveiled to Nigerians in the next few
weeks.
Investigation by Saturday PUNCH revealed that Atiku, who had been
in Dubai earlier, was joined by Saraki, Secondus and a host of other PDP
chieftains on Wednesday night.
It was also gathered that Atiku’s running mate and former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, was also attending the meeting.
The Director-General of the Atiku Campaign Organisation, Gbenga
Daniel, who is a former Governor of Ogun State, is also present at the
meeting, according to party stalwarts who spoke to Saturday PUNCH under
the condition of anonymity.
A top source in the PDP told Saturday PUNCH that the meeting was
important for the party to fine-tune its strategy ahead of
electioneering.
“All of them, including Atiku, Saraki, Obi and Daniel are
meeting in Dubai now; the essence is to strategise ahead of the
campaign,” the source said.
As of the time of filing this report, our correspondents could not
ascertain how long in terms of the number of days the strategy session
would last but it was learnt that Saraki, Atiku, Secondus and other
leaders in the meeting were determined to perfect most of their plans
ahead of the presidential campaign scheduled to begin on November 18.
According to INEC’s timetable and schedule of activities issued by
the commission, campaigns for presidential and National Assembly
elections will commence on November 18, while campaigns for governorship
and state assembly elections will start on December 1.
Confirming the meeting in Dubai, the spokesperson for the Atiku
Campaign Organisation, Mr. Segun Sowunmi, said there was a need for
Atiku to meet with critical stakeholders ahead of the presidential,
governorship and other campaigns scheduled to begin soon.
He said, “The appropriate response is that the former
Vice-President, who is now the presidential candidate of the PDP, after a
very gruelling and rigorous campaign during the primaries, has taken a
couple of days for a deserved rest.
“As a matter of fact, the quantum of work needed to be done in
Nigeria is such that the rest is almost turning out to be a working
rest.
“He has been engaging quite a lot of critical stakeholders who
have flown all the way there to have conversations with him, share ideas
and rob minds with him, while others are there to felicitate with him
on his victory.
“As soon as he returns to the country, the entire machinery for
his presidential campaign will be ready and all Nigerians can look
forward to a glorious era so that the change to the change presently in
place happens.”
Asked to mention all the stakeholders in the meeting, he said, “I’m
sure it’s not an inventory-like meeting where I will say who is there
or who is not there. Frankly, I don’t have a list of the people who are
there, but I know a lot of high-ranking people are around the former VP
because of his goodwill which he has gathered over the years.”
On the party’s readiness for campaigns for the 2019 general elections, he said, “We
are extremely prepared because Nigerians are also ready. In going round
the country, Nigerians have now keyed into the agenda of ‘let’s keep
Nigeria working again’.
“Young people, businessmen and everyone else have been affected
by the poor economic policies of the present administration. Nobody has
been spared. Some people have felt it most deeply because they lost
their lives.
“People are ready to use their Permanent Voter Cards to
exercise their franchise in the 2019 general elections, which we believe
should be free, fair and credible.”
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Source: The PUNCH
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