Ex VP, Atiku Abubakar
The Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples
Democratic Party, Senator Walid Jibrin, has ruled out granting automatic ticket
to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to contest the 2019 presidential
election on the platform of the party.
He said should Atiku return to the party as
being speculated in some quarters, he and other aspirants would struggle for
the party’s presidential ticket.
According to him, the former vice-president is
free to dump the governing All Progressives Congress and return to the PDP.
He added that the party was ready for Atiku’s
return and would warmly accept him and his supporters back to the PDP fold.
The BoT chairman, who spoke to journalists in
Kaduna, argued that with the treatment being meted out to the former
vice-president by the APC, he (Atiku) had no option than to join the PDP ahead
of 2019.
Jibrin said, “Has he told you he is returning to
the PDP? We are ready to accept him to our party but he should be ready to work
for a waiver.
“The North met in Abuja to say that any candidate
from the North can contest. Let us get them. I think they are getting set now.
For now, we have a former governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, former
Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido; a former governor of Sokoto State,
Attahiru Bafarawa, and so on preparing to vie for the PDP presidential ticket.
“If the PDP grants Atiku a waiver, he should then
join the cream of presidential aspirants in the party to fight for the ticket
in 2019.
“If the PDP considers Atiku for the automatic
presidential ticket, what about those in the party who are showing
interest? Should we throw them away? If he is coming, he should come as an
equal partner.
“We are ready to accept him. But, he must follow
the rules of the game. First, he must undergo primaries like any other person,
and he must fight for the presidential ticket.”
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