Party faithful and other Nigerians are expressing greater doubts over the health status of the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, after a hurried Europe trip this week untimely halted his attempt to mend the cracks that have erupted in the party, largely over accusations that he nurses an “all-northern” agenda.
Atiku who has been left distraught by the damaging protests and threats of desertion by the southern extraction of the party after his stage-managed leadership shuffle of the PDP still left it with a National Chairman, campaign DG, and flag bearer from the northern region of the country, was forced to abandon his outreach to the disgruntled members due to what sources described as “a surprising and hurried trip abroad.”
One of the sources who spoke under the condition of anonymity to prevent retributive attack said “the trip was unusual in that it was not on the books. The hurried nature of it, coupled with the deliberate attempt to conceal the itinerary of the candidate abroad, suggests that all is not well and there is more to it than the party is letting on. We are all very worried.”
Another source noted that the 75-year-old Atiku who has spent the previous years in Dubai for reasons also connected to his health, had shown signs of “great fatigue” amid the PDP crisis and several trips undertaken to lobby members from the south who are threatening mass defection to the ruling APC.
He said “the crisis has obviously taken a toll on the candidate. He has been greatly stressed by Wike’s relentless onslaught and the broad lack of support and enthusiasm building up in the south. The relentless lobbying and trips seem to have gotten the better of him. I believe that the trip abroad was for him to recuperate and re-strategize.”
The development has turned off more Nigerians against Atiku’s emergence. Those who were previously opposed to his candidature over concerns that it was out of step with Nigeria’s historical and fragile power-sharing arrangement, say that doubts over his health are yet another reason to forsake the ticket.
“There’s just so much riding against an Atiku emergence at the moment. First of all, it is the turn of the southern region to produce the president. This is what is at the heart of the PDP crisis he has so recklessly managed. Then there is the matter of his failing health. This hush Europe trip affirms my suspicion and seals my decision not to support him,” one of them said.
Although Atiku maintains that the trip, which was not announced until his absence raised dust, was for “business and family reasons”, little detail has been provided on who he is meeting and his exact whereabouts.
Meanwhile, the crisis rocking the PDP has not abated, with more stakeholders calling for the ouster of the national chairman Senator Iyorchia Ayu. The defection of over 7000 members in Sokoto to the APC has also caused many to question the wisdom of appointing Governor Tambuwal as the campaign DG, a decision that only further angered his Rivers counterpart and potentially ended the party’s chances of any reconciliation before the election.