Pro-zoning advocates hijack Abuja hotels •Ahead PDP convention •President’s wife holds out olive branch to Atiku

FRESH revelations from the political turf have confirmed that more troubles await the presidential aspiration of President Goodluck Jonathan as the National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) draws close.

Investigations by the Nigerian Tribune have confirmed that some pro-zoning advocates have concluded arrangements to make advanced reservations in all hotels within the Abuja City Centre ahead of the PDP National Convention.

Sources close to a meeting of some of the groups working on the consensus arrangement for the northern presidential aspirant confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that the groups, apparently working in favour of the consensus candidate of the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, have already given the assignment to a South-South politician to take over the hotels in Abuja ahead of the PDP National Convention.

The source said that the groups, at an interactive session, concluded that arrangements be put in place to ensure that all hotels within the Abuja city centre were booked once the PDP confirmed that it was conducting indirect primaries.

“The consultative meeting concluded that arrangements be put in place to make reservations in all hotels in order to make it difficult for Mr. President’s supporters to secure hotel accommodations during the primaries,” a source said, adding that the idea was initially mooted that hotel reservations would be booked in all the six geo-political zones ahead of the planned staggered primaries.

Sources concluded that the strategy to whip Jonathan’s supporters into line would be carefully executed through the strategic hotel booking plan.

A former presidential aspirant of the PDP was said to have once mooted the idea ahead of the 2007 presidential primaries of the PDP before he was asked to withdraw from the race.

But sources confirmed that the groups plotting the fresh strategy believed that it would be kept secret to catch Jonathan and his supporters unawares.

But the Director of Organisation of the Goodluck-Sambo Campaign Organisation, Mr Mike Omeri, said in a telephone interview that the president’s campaign organisation was not afraid of the alleged propaganda and money politics being displayed by its challengers.

He said that the campaign would encourage Nigerians to collect whatever money given to them by politicians but go ahead to vote for the candidate who will deliver the goods.

He said that President Jonathan had insisted in his campaign that he was a man who wanted to work for the sustenance of the future rather than buying the future from the citizens.

“What we will say is that whatever is given to Nigerians, who will be delegates at the PDP convention, they should take it and regard it as evidence of jobs that will not be done.

“What we will give them is service delivery. What we will give them is security for the future and development of the nation at an even rate. You should know that whatever is collected for jobs that will not be done is a bonus that is coming from unwholesome source.

“We want to assure our opponents that the delegates who are coming to Abuja for the PDP convention are not out to sell their birthrights. They are prepared to sleep in the open, on the streets to vote for President Jonathan and they cannot be intimidated,” Omeri said.

Meanwhile, the First Lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan, on Tuesday, took the people of Adamawa by surprise as she held out an olive branch to former Vice-President Abubakar, whom he eulogised as a political leader.

The wife of the president offered Atiku the branch in Numan, Adamawa, venue of the formal declaration of intent to return to Senate by Senator Grace Bent.

Addressing a crowd at the venue of the declaration, Mrs Jonathan said her gesture to Atiku was to demonstrate that politics could be played with open mind and with spirit of brotherhood devoid of acrimony.

She further demonstrated respect for Atiku when she called on the master of ceremonies at the event to recognise his name among invited guests who could not grace the ceremomy because of their schedules.

That prompted Senator Bent to grab the microphone to specially recognise Atiku as “a leader, a true son of Adamawa and a presidential aspirant who would have been here today, but for his tight schedule.”

Mrs Jonathan, in her speech, took a step further when she told the crowd that politics should be played in Nigeria with love and affection by contenders as they aspired for different political offices.

“When I mentioned the name of Atiku, some of you would have wondered why I did so. We never played politics before we get to where we are today, because we believe that whatever God says will always happen. If God says you will be there, you will be there.”

She added that “my husband did not play politics to become the deputy governor of Bayelsa, then governor, vice-president and now president of Nigeria.”

She called on women and youths in Adamawa to support Senator Bent in her return bid to the Senate, adding that Bent had brought Adamawa State to limelight by her performances