Goodluck Pleads With Atiku To Return To PDP

President Goodluck Jonathan paid a secret visit to
former Vice President Abubakar Atiku on Friday
night to hold a meeting that lasted till the early
hours of Saturday.
Sources at the Presidency told SaharaReporters
that Mr. Jonathan went to Mr. Atiku’s home with
the aim of persuading the former VP to lead a so
called interim government of national unity that the
president has been covertly attempting to sell to
numerous political figures in recent weeks.
One source said Mr. Jonathan and some hawkish
members of his inner circle, including Petroleum
Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, First Lady
Patience Jonathan, Governors Olusegun Mimiko
and Ayo Fayose of Ondo and Ekiti respectively, as
well as senior presidential aide Doyin Okupe, have
decided that handing over power to Muhammadu
Buhari “is out of the question.”
Several electoral monitoring groups are projecting
that Mr. Buhari, a retired army general and the
presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), is the odds-on favorite to win the
March 28 presidential election.
When SaharaReporters reached Mr. Atiku, he
expressed surprise that we knew about his
meeting with President Jonathan. He asserted that
the idea of his heading an interim government did
not come up during the long discussion with the
president.
Mr. Atiku said he had retired to bed when he was
woken up and told that President Jonathan had
come to see him, adding that the president was
already waiting in his living room.
After denying that he was asked to head an interim
government, the former vice president admitted
that Mr. Jonathan tried to prevail on him to rejoin
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He disclosed
that he rejected the invitation outright.
According to Mr. Atiku, the president also
discussed the ongoing war against Boko Haram
insurgents, asking for support for Nigerian troops
fighting in the area. He said they also discussed
the possibility of displaced Nigerians returning to
the areas that have been recaptured from Boko
Haram.
Asked by our reporter whether he thought
President Jonathan was interested in allowing
elections to hold on March 28, the former vice
president hesitated before stating that he would
not wish to speculate, but he said the president’s
body language did not reveal that he was
interested in the polls that are scheduled to hold in
two weeks.
The secret meeting between Mr. Jonathan and
former VP Atiku has caused unease among some
APC stalwarts. A few hours after the meeting, a
faction of Mr. Atiku’s original political organization,
the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM),
announced their endorsement of President
Jonathan.
In his telephone interview with SaharaReporters,
Mr. Atiku disclosed that he was opposed to the
formation of an interim government. He stated that
when former military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida,
set up an interim national government in 1993, the
dictator offered him a position in the government
through the late General Shehu Yar’Adua (ret.). He
said he rejected the position, adding that it was
eventually given to a Lagos politician Dapo
Sarumi.
Asked further about the substance of his
conversation with Mr. Jonathan, the former vice
president said advised the president to ensure that
the elections were free and fair and devoid of the
bloodshed that trailed the 2011 general elections.