How Reps Shunned Atiku For Jonathan

Facts emerged on Friday as to how former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was denied a planned endorsement by the caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The planned adoption was scheduled a week after the lawmakers had endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan as their candidate ahead of the National Convention of the PDP.

Sources confirmed that shortly after Jonathan was adopted by the legislators during a consultation with the president, Atiku also moved to secure their backing.

A source in the National Assembly told the Saturday Tribune that Atiku’s supporters in the House, led by Honourable Emeka Ihedioha, reached out to Speaker ‘Dimeji Bankole to request that the Speaker set up a consultative meeting with the former number two man.

Source further confirmed that the Speaker told the emmisaries that the PDP caucus in the House did not have any resources left in its coffers to host Atiku.

It was leant that Ihedioha, who was later joined by returnee Honourable Dino Melaye, ran back with the message that the House caucus was broke.

Sources confirmed that the camp of former vice president offered to offset the bills for drinks and other logistics that would go with the meeting.

“The Speaker agreed to host the meeting when the aspirant’s men gave their words that their man would offset the bills,” a source said, adding that Atiku’s men then began an intense lobby of members of the House so as to upturn Jonathan’s earlier endorsement.

Another source said that Atiku’s men in the House, who are only four, moved from House to House to convince members that the former number two man would perform.

It was gathered that the main issue on the agenda was to get the members of the House of Representatives upturn the earlier endorsement they gave Jonathan.

After Atiku spoke, his loyalists were eager to hear Bankole put the question which they were eager to chorus a loud ‘ aye’, but they were disappointed that the speaker never provided any such opportunity.

“What the Speaker did was to clearly send the signal that Jonathan remains the adopted and anointed candidate of the 257 members of the House of Representatve caucus. The message was very clear,” a source said.

It was gathered that the Speaker only gave Atiku the floor after which he asked one of the members to give the vote of thanks.

Sources also confirmed that a plan to set up a similar meeting with members of the Senate caucus of the PDP had failed since the Senate President David Mark did not provide the space for the meeting.

Sources in the Senate said that the senators had adopted President Jonathan as their candidate for the presidential election.

A source who monitored the Reps’ meeting with Atiku said: “Atiku’s loyalists in the House had apparently told him that they would push the Speaker to put the question, just like it was done for President Jonathan. They thought that it would be a big blow for Jonathan if the Reps could pull that off, but Speaker Bankole did not provide them the chance.

“They kept shouting, Mr. Speaker put the question repeatedly. Bankole kept his cool and followed a pattern of the usual courtesy visits. A member only gave a vote of thanks afterwards. The aim of securing the House and Senate endorsement were defeated,” the source said.

Meanwhile, the animosity between President Jonathan and former Vice President Atiku at the weekend assumed a new twist as Jonathan raised an alarm about purported bid by the former vice president to blackmail him ahead the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primaries early January.

Jonathan alleged that the Atiku Campaign Organisation had compiled fictitious information about his person and has been moving round media houses to sell the document with some measure of desperation, just to malign him and portray him as unfit to get the PDP presidential ticket for the 2011 election.

The president, however, warned Atiku, his co-contestant on the platform of PDP, to desist from any attempt to blackmail him, just as he counselled the media to discountenance any pressure put on them to use any damaging information against him.

Director Planning, Research and Strategy in the Goodluck/Sambo Campaign Organisation, Mr. Mike Omeri, in a statement, said the president would not take kindly to any attempt to blackmail him on any issue and hence warned media houses to be wary of the intent to blackmail him by his opponents.

Meanwhile, the Campaign Organisation of Abubakar has reacted and stated that the president was only crying wolf where there was none.

In a chat with Saturday Tribune, a member of the media team in Atiku’s Campaign Organisation, Mr Paul Ibe, said the organisation was not aware it circulated any documents against the President, stating that the former vice president was too busy at the moment to contemplate doing such a thing.

“We are at the moment getting prepared for the primaries of our party and moreover, this is a season of celebration and so, we are not aware of any plan to blackmail anybody because we are busy,”he said.

During the last National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of PDP in Abuja, President Jonathan had warned the former vice president to desist from making remarks capable of jeopardising national security. He warned that he would not hesitate to wield a big stick against any aspirants noted.