Gombe State governor Ibrahim Dankwambo has denied the report that he is set to step down for Sokoto State governor Aminu Tambuwal as the People’s Democratic Party picks its presidential candidate for the next general elections. The primaries will hold in Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, alleged to be in support of Tambuwal, is the governor.
Two other aspirants – David Mark and Sule Lamido – were also reported by Sahara Reporters to have agreed to drop their own campaigns to support Tambuwal.
“They have been able to get David Mark, Lamido, Dankwambo to step down for Tambuwal between today and at the convention ground tomorrow. For now that is the plan.
They are also trying to work with Kwanwaso but he has not given them any positive response for now. They are working on Ahmed Makarfi as well,” SaharaReporters said.
Dankwambo, however, insisted that he had no agreement with anyone and that his campaign was still on course.
“False. I’m a 2nd term governor. I have been loyal to the PDP. This does not make any sense. They sold a dummy to you,” Dankwambo tweeted on Friday.
Tambuwal, a former speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, is deemed a weak aspirant and many PDP members are concerned that he will not be a formidable opponent to All Progressives Congress’ President Muhammadu Buhari in the presidential elections holding in February.
A former social media director of the PDP Deji Adeyanju said that Wike and Tambuwal were APC’s moles. He alleged that the move to present Tambuwal as PDP’s presidential candidate was engineered by the APC leadership and the Nigerian government.
“PDP has very strong aspirants but the Mole wants to impose the weakest of them all because of an agreement with Aso Rock,” Adeyanju said on Friday.
In a statement last week, Adeyanju said Wike had already entered into an agreement with Buhari on how to ensure the election of Tambuwal at the convention on Saturday.
“Almost all the presidential aspirants know the agreement Wike has signed with president Buhari. The party should not beg Wike the mole. They should allow him to do his worse. Energy should be dissipated on how to produce a strong presidential candidate who can defeat Buhari,” he said.
Dankwanbo who declared his intent to run for the presidency in 2019 general election early August, has also overtime advocated that the next president should come from the Northeast, saying all interested candidates from the zone should be allowed to showcase themselves for a winner to emerge.
The former Accountant-General of the Federation under three presidents also boosted during his campaign outings that he has “practicable solutions” to the problems confronting the country.
The PDP is to choose a presidential candidate during its national convention on Oct. 5 and 6, with the current Senate President Bukola Saraki, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar and former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, former Plateau State governor Jonah Jang, former governor of Kaduna State Ahmed Makarfi, Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal and former Senate president David Mark, vying for the party’s ticket with Damkwanbo.
