EXCLUSIVE: Gov. Ahmed in the Presidency, Begs Jonathan for PDP gubernatorial ticket *We are not sure of his loyalty – Presidency Contrary to the public façade that all is well with the Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives, the Kwara State Governor, Mr. Abdulfatah Ahmed, has actually been making secret advances to President Goodluck Jonathan for the opportunity to re-contest as a governor under the banner of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara state, e-Kwara can authoritatively report. In one of such moves, Gov. Ahmed was on Wednesday 6 th August, 2014 at the Presidential Villa, Abuja where he sought audience with President Goodluck Jonathan for a possible return into the PDP. Ahmed, who arrived the Presidency in an official vehicle, was ushered straight into the Presidential Villa at about 8:04pm, according to a reliable source in the Presidency. He was said to have told the president that it was almost certain that his godfather and leader of the opposition APC in Kwara state, Senator Bukola Saraki, would not avail him the ‘opportunity’ to return for 2 nd term, and as such, he was ready to work with the President for his re-election bid in 2015 so long as he is given the PDP gubernatorial ticket in Kwara State. Saraki and Fatai: In an unholy agenda? Our source, a reliable insider in the Presidency, who craved strict anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said that Governor Ahmed complained bitterly about his political leader’s overbearing attitude towards him, and especially the fact that Saraki had told him (Ahmed) to his face that he would not get a second term ticket. He therefore reportedly pledged his loyalty to the President as long as the President would hand-over the PDP guber ticket to him in the state. Reacting, the President reportedly told him to take the first step of defecting to the PDP, after which other commitments will be ironed out. “The President was careful not to make any firm commitment with him. He was told to defect properly first to the PDP before anything else.” “On a normal day, the President would have given such a “big fish” a cache Blanche order to do and undo. No matter how politically irrelevant his godfather had made him to appear, the President is still not under an illusion that he was dealing with a governor of a state. No matter how, he will have his own loyalists who would automatically add to the President’s own electoral fortune in the state.” “Yet, his move is being viewed with a lot of suspicion. Since this is not his first time of coming to beg the President for one personal favour or the other, which are always ultimately traceable to his godfather, we don’t see a reason why this latest move should be accorded any bigger importance than the rest,” the source said. The source recalls that Mr. Ahmed had at several times in the past tried to distance himself from his political leader and his party, the APC. The first time being when the present chairman of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), Professor Oba Abdulraheem, was to be reappointed and the second being when some former PDP governors, under the name of G5, made to leave the PDP earlier in the year. “In all the two instances, Gov. Ahmed was not taken serious because he was seen as a co- conspirator with his godfather. That’s why Oba had his way without the input of Gov. Ahmed and Saraki. PDP parages own quality aspirants It is not yet clear if stakeholders within the PDP would allow Ahmed into their follow much less allow him pick the gubernatorial ticket of the party. Already, there is a long line up of quality aspirants under the umbrella, chief among are, Mr. Dele Belgore (SAN), Professor Oba Abdulraheem (OFR), Sen. Gbemisola Saraki, Simeon Ajibola, Makanjuola Ajadi, Alhaji Jani Ibrahim and the likes.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 10:02:55 +0000
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