A former Special Adviser to the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has suggested that the party might expel the former vice president.
The aide, Umar Ardo, said Atiku could be expelled if he fails to dump his presidential ambition. He made the remark in a statement, yesterday, while noting that PDP governors had already dumped Atiku.
Recall that Atiku condemned the ruling of the Supreme Court which affirmed President Bola Tinubu as winner of the February 2023 presidential election.
Atiku had vowed he was going nowhere even though “this aspect of the job is done.” Ardo said a statement by PDP governors that they are willing to work with President Bola Tinubu shows they have moved away from Atiku.
He said: “Reading through Atiku’s press conference, last Monday, regarding the outcome of the Supreme Court judgment and his position towards President Bola Tinubu’s Presidency vis-a-vis the following day’s communiqué of the PDP Governors’ Forum, after its meeting at the Oyo State Governor’s Lodge, it’s obvious that the honeymoon between the party’s 2023 presidential candidate and its governors is now over.”
“In a separate address to the press following the communiqué, the chairman of the forum, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, extolled the leadership qualities of President Tinubu and reiterated the PDP governors’ readiness to cooperate, support and work with the Federal Government that he leads.”
“Nothing else can be more explicit in illustrating the two going on their different and separate ways more than this. With these opposing positions, it’s just a matter of time (and in a not distant future) for the inevitable implosion to happen: either Atiku steps down his presidential ambition or leaves the PDP, or be expelled from the party. That’s my reading of the political crystal ball.”