Presidency: IBB, Atiku, others meet, keep mum

General Ibrahim Babangida

Former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former National Security Adviser, General Aliyu Muhammed Gusau and Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki, all Peoples Democratic Party (PDP’s) presidential aspirants met yesterday in Abuja over the group’s attempt to choose a consensus candidate.

The meeting, Sunday Trust gathered, was held at the Abuja residence of the former vice president. But the four northern presidential aspirants refused to disclose the outcome of their meeting to journalists. An associate of one of the presidential candidate who attended the meeting told this reporter last night that “there was an agreement among the northern politicians not to disclose what they discussed during the meeting to the press.”

The source said, “the meeting was convened in furtherance of the northern political leaders’ drive towards fielding a consensus candidate in the forthcoming presidential election.” The source added that the political heavyweights were committed to having a consensus amongst them “to the extent that in an event that they couldn’t agree on a consensus candidate amongst them, they are ready to table the issue to northern elders to pick one out of them.”

This development is coming a day after General Gusau, who until two days ago, was National Security Adviser in President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet, resigned his position and declared his intent to join the presidential race. A close associate of the security chief confirmed to Sunday Trust last night that Gusau, who would pick the party’s nomination form tomorrow, has already appointed Senator Ben Obi as the director- general of his presidential campaign organisation.

Barely 24 hours to the presidential aspirants’ meeting yesterday, which also coincided with President Jonathan’s public declaration to contest the presidency, some eminent members of the party had also given the party two weeks ultimatum praying among other things, the restraining of Jonathan from joining the race under the platform of the party.

In a letter addressed to the party’s national chairman Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, the group asked the party to “issue a declaration restraining President Goodluck Jonathan from participating and presenting himself as an aspirant in the 2010 presidential primary election.”

The party chieftains feared that “our party’s failure to deliver justice on this matter, may ignite a series of events, the scope and magnitude of which we can neither proximate nor contain.” They also vowed to “in addition to other legitimate measures, we will, in concert with other aggrieved members, take any action and all actions warranted by law to obtain justice on this matter.