The five disgruntled governors started making efforts to recruit Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State into the anti-Atiku forces, which caused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) fractures to grow yesterday.
Today in Bauchi, Mohammed is due to meet with the G5, which consists of Governors Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu).
However, yesterday, soon after arriving back in Nigeria from his trip overseas, Atiku Abubakar met with the governor of Bauchi in an effort to prevent the growth of intra-party opposition to him.
In addition, Atiku has teamed up with former governors of Bauchi State Adamu Muazu and Yakubu Dogara to oppose the governor of that state.
Mohammed had protested to the national chairman, Dr. Iyiochia Ayu, that Atiku had ignored him after the presidential primaries while visiting other candidates, thus excluding him from the race.
He further claimed that Atiku was impeding his chances of winning re-election.
In addition, Mohammed, who serves as the vice-chairman of the Atiku Campaign Council in the Northeast, claimed that Atiku chose campaign coordinators from his state without consulting him.
He believed that Atiku was determined to “punish him for running in the presidential primaries and not resigning for him.”
Ayu was forced to lead a delegation to Bauchi last Saturday in order to pacify Mohammed as a result of his letter to the national chairman dated November 3rd.
Yesterday, there were hints that the five disgruntled governors had taken advantage of Atiku’s decision to ignore Mohammed in order to win him around to their cause.
A source, who spoke in confidence with our correspondent, said: “Since Atiku is yet to meet peace terms with Bala and other stakeholders, the G-5 has been mounting pressure on him to join their team in the battle against Atiku.
“All the aggarieved five governors are relocating to Bauchi on Wednesday to prove a point that they are forces to be reckoned with in the party.
“We do not know whether or not Bala will accept the offer to increase the team to G-6.”
In his letter to Ayu, the Bauchi governor opened up on how he was hurt by Atiku and demanded an apology.
The latter reads in part: “There have been undisguised efforts to sabotage my re-election and impose on the state, a governor from another party who is ready to satisfy their selfish interests to the detriment of the larger interest of the people of the state.
“I wish to state that I am indeed surprised by the underserved attitude of Atiku Abubakar towards me. He knows that I have always regarded him as an elder and I have always accorded him all the respect he deserves as the shining light of our North East zone and a foremost nationalist and statesman. In recognition of this, we built and named one of the most important roads in Bauchi after him.
“You would recall that ahead of the formal flag off of the presidential campaign, we hosted a major rally for him in Bauchi. Could all this have been swept away simply because of a legitimate step I took which actually validated his victory?
“Why would he still ‘teach me a lesson’, when his trashing me at the primary is humbling enough? Why would he allow political opportunists to ride on his back to wreck vengeance on his younger brother whose sole preoccupation is the upliftment of the people of Bauchi?
“While Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his political cohorts insist that I must be punished for contesting against him during the presidential primary, the self-acclaimed kingmakers around the Wazirin Adamawa want a pound of flesh from me because I have refused to capitulate to their unbridled sense of entitlement which is pregnant with selfish and dictatorial tendencies.
“It would interest you to know that faced with this adversarial conditions, I complained to both our presidential candidate and his running mate as well as party elders whose names I do not want to mention here. Yet, the treachery has escalated under the watchful eyes of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who to all intents and purposes, is the leader of the groups.
“Based on the above, I wish to make the final following points; that our presidential candidate should issue a public statement disowning renegade elements who are neck-deep in the anti-party plot of subverting my re-election effort and to admonish members of our party to reject the devious overtures and manipulative strategies of my detractors.
“Short of complete public repudiation of those incognities (sic) within a reasonable time frame, coupled with explicit guarantee of sincerity of purpose and public support of my re-election by the presidential candidate, I may withdraw from the PCC and feel free to create new measures and strategies that would guarantee the election and re-election of all PDP candidates in Bauchi and myself.”
