The choice of Sokoto Governor Aminu Tambuwal as the DG of the PDP presidential campaign has faced more questions from anxious party faithful following the mass defections the party continues to record in the state, and across the country, as members abandon it for the ruling APC.
Over 7000 members dumped the PDP in Sokoto state on Tuesday, all of them shifting their allegiance to the APC. This came as Tambuwal’s emergence widened the cracks in the party and strengthened insinuations of a “northern agenda”.
Abubakar Atiku, the presidential candidate, had faced attacks over his exclusionary politics and the non-inclusive leadership composition of the PDP, in which the National Chairman, candidate, and now campaign DG are all from the northern extraction.
Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike has led the protest against the development, threatening mutiny in an escalating conflict that could hand the APC an easy win at the polls next year.
Although Atiku has defended his choice of Tambuwal as a consideration of his political value, the gale of defections rocking the party in Sokoto undermines the claim and has increased doubts over his capacity to keep the party intact for a good showing next year.