Atiku, Saraki spearhead PDP resurgence amid key defections

The opposition coalition led by by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the immediate past Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai on Thursday hit back at the Presidency, saying the defection of Delta Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, his predecessor, Ifeanyi Okowa and several prominent leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party did not come as a surprise.

A key stakeholder of the coalition and former National Vice Chairman (North-West) of the All Progressives Congress, Mallam Salihu Lukman disclosed this in a statement made available to The PUNCH in Abuja.

Lukman was reacting to Monday’s trolling by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who mocked Atiku, saying his coalition will crumble following the defection of his key allies to the APC.

“Atiku’s political future looks bleak. The coalition that he, El Rufai, Babachir, and new member Baba-Ahmed are cobbling together has disintegrated.

“Potential allies, including former running mate Ifeanyi Okowa and defunct CPC members, are giving his leprous group a wide berth. Atiku is a loser again,” he stated.

Onanuga’s scathing remark was a follow-up to a similar post by a fellow presidential aide, Tunde Rahman, who also derided the PDP, describing the development as “the biggest shocker ever” for Atiku.

Rahman argued that with the PDP governors now aligning with President Bola Tinubu, the coalition was “dead on arrival.”

But Lukman, a chieftain in the coalition kicked, saying the presidential spokesmen were just humouring themselves.

The politician stated that aside from Okowa and Oborevwori, they are equally aware a few other governors are likely to jump ship.

He said, “First, I think anybody who says this is unexpected will only be deceiving himself. The signals have been there, that some governors are going to decamp. It’s not just one but some governors. The PDP is clearly a shadow of its own self. Although we acknowledge there are people and leaders in the PDP who are optimistic they can rescue the party.

“But if you remember when the governors issued a statement against the coalition, what was our response? Our response was that many of them are working for Asiwaju. Shortly after that, you saw the statement from Akwa Ibom, a,nd of cour,se the Delta governor. It’s not only him. If you check the comments, there are many more being expected.

“On the one hand, people who genuinely worry for the country are expressing fear about a one-party state. On the other hand, the government and APC are jubilating. Look, the beauty of democracy is about competition.

The whole initiative to begin to negotiate the coalition is to ensure that in 2027, Nigerians are presented with options.”

While saying the defection has been long foresaw, Lukman vowed that the opposition figures in the coalition will not be distracted.

The North-West politician also urged the PDD governors and leaders to reconsider their stance on not joining the coalition to form a merger ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

“We have gone far and what has happened in terms of some governors and leaders moving into the APC is not going to distract us at all. Not long from now, the full detail of the coalition will be unveiled to Nigerians including the structure and the strategy in terms of how the election will be contested will be clarified.

We want to correct all the mistakes and shortcomings from the Buhari administration to the Asiwaju administration. We want to restore the aspiration of Nigerians by producing leaders and greater country we will be proud of. That is what the coalition is all about. If anybody sees it differently, we are going to correct all of that.

“If we are talking of correcting the mistake of Buhari, correcting the mistake of Asiwaju, we don’t want to produce a government that will be seen as a sectional government. We want to produce a government that Nigerians will be proud of. We don’t want to produce another set of emperors,” he assured