Some PDP governors seeking a second term in office are reportedly making overtures to President Muhammadu Buhari
The report says one of the governors sent a message to Buhari while the president was in China
The report quotes a source as saying the defection of Godswill Akpabio also changed thepolitical calculations in the south east and south south
As Nigerians prepare for the 2019 general elections, it has been learnt that five governors on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are seeking a deal with President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Nation reports that the deal is specifically to see the governors support the president for a second term while Buhari is expected to return the gesture so that they can retain their seats.
The report, which said the names of the governors could not be mentioned for strategic reasons, added that they had sent emissaries to Buhari.
The emissaries sent to the president reportedly include two governors on the platform of the All progressives Congress (APC).
According to the report, one of the governors sent a message to the president in China through an APC governor, just as it added a belief that the governors fear they may not be reelected.
It added that the five governors are from the south south and the south east.
“The five governors are lobbying APC leaders to help cut a deal with President Buhari by which the President will allow them to be re-elected in return for their support for Buhari to win the presidential election in those PDP states.
“The arrowhead of the group (from the south south) has been talking to two APC governors. He is pleading with the governors to present the request of the five PDP governors to the president ahead of a likely face-to-face meeting,” the report quoted a source as saying.
“The idea of lobbying for some horse trading with President Buhari was first brought up by the arrowhead, who broached it with senior officials of the presidency last year when his relationship with PDP leaders and members in his state, including his godfather, became frosty,” a source told the newspaper.
It also mentioned another source as saying Senator Godswill Akpabio’s defection and the inroad being made by the APC into the south south has caused a political upset in the geopolitical zone.
“With the defection of Senator Akpabio on August 8, to the APC and the obvious rise in the electoral fortunes of the party in the zone, the arrowhead was mandated by the group to secure an audience with President Buhari for them to present their plan.
“Should the meeting hold, the governors would be dangling before the Presidency the prospect of a win for President Buhari in the south south and Southeast zones, the two regions that have been the strongholds of the PDP,” the source said.
NAIJ.com earlier reported that Chris Ngige, Nigeria’s labour and productivity minister, said it would be better for Igbo people to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 election because of favourable indications that he would win.
Ngige said this when he addressed reporters. He accused Igbo people of suffering from self-inflicted marginalization even when they have opportunity to redeem their predicament.
These governors are confused