PDP North poised to solely produce presidential candidate

Vows not to repeat convention bazaar
Angry Southwest PDP vows to take pound of flesh on Wike, Fayose, Makarfi
Like the national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP’s) where the party’s Governors Forum solely determined the outcome, the forum will not be allowed to exert similar influence in determining the presidential flag bearer, the Blueprint has authoritatively gathered.
This indication emerged as the PDP northern elders and stakeholders who are meeting to determine their presidential flag bearer without any input from the South “to prevent a repeat of the bazaar that took place at the party’s December 9-10 convention.”
An impeccable source disclosed that the entire Northern PDP is apprehensive that if Wike and Fayose were allowed to have their way after pocketing the party’s  chairmanship, they might resort to imposing an unpopular and weak northern presidential candidate who will not be able to defeat Buhari in 2019.
To this end, the PDP northern elders and stakeholders have resolved that the bazaar that took place leading to the emergence of Secondus will not repeat itself in the party primaries that will produce the presidential flag bearer of the party.
Also gathered was that the southwest PDP has vowed to take their pound of flesh on Governor Nyesom of Rivers state and Ayo Fayose of Ekiti state for the role they played which saw the emergence of Secondus against the Southwest aspiration to be national chairman of the party.
Both Southwest and the PDP North saw the desperate move of returning Secondus as a warning signal to pocket the party and they have vowed to scuttle plans by the two governors to continue to exert pressure on the party and thus deplete the party’s fortunes come 2019.
The source disclosed that consequent on the Wike/Fayose sabotage, the plot to field Makarfi by will fail as the zone has resolved to throw their weight behind the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar who they saw as a formidable candidate capable of defeating Buhari in the presidential 2019 elections.
“They (Southwest) wanted to leave the party but for the Governor Dickson  Reconciliation Committee; Wike fought them; Makarfi ensured that micro zoning  didn’t work and they will work against Wike if he decides to work with Makarfi,” the source said.
Findings revealed that Wike had a field day throwing his money around at the convention and the North had allowed the bazaar go uninterrupted because it was only a southern affair.
The source also hinted that the north is bent on scuttling the plot of Wike and his friend Fayose to make the former Chairman of the PDP’s National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi who he described as Wike’s partner in the conspiracy to impose Secondus on the party as the chairman.
The source told our correspondent that the plot to bring Secondus as Chairman was to guarantee a second term tenure for Wike as well as to pair the duo of Makarfi and Fayose as Presidential flag bearer and running mate respectively.
Back in Rivers state, the Wike second term bid is being viewed by the the Riverine area of the state as sabotage given the earlier promise that he would do one term and hand power over to the Riverine who have not had the opportunity to rule the state since 1999. Odili, Hon Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi and Wike are from the Upland.
Wike’s betrayal of the Riverine is now aided and abetted by Secondus, a Riverine from Andoni in Opopo who would have to pay Wike back by securing him a second term ticket in the party to deprive the Riverine from having a shot at the governor of the state.
“Wike put in everything in producing Uche Secondus as the PDP chairman. What Wike had done by producing Secondus was to put the chairmanship of the party in his pocket to seal his 8 years in Rivers state because nobody from Riverine will challenge him in 2019.”
According to the source, if the Wike second term bid materialises, the upland, majority of who are Igbo speaking would have ruled the state for 24 years.
Part of the disagreement between the former Governor, Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, now a Minister of Transport and Wike was that power should shift to the Riverine but it seems that the Riverine people may have to wait for another six years before they could have a sniff into the state house.
Makarfi now expecting payback from Wike was used to sabotage the chance of the Southwest to become the National chairman by not supporting the micro zoning principle, the only way a Yoruba man would have emerged the chairman of the party.
Our reporter gathered that the former governor of Kaduna state had extracted sufficient reason from Wike and he was promised that his presidential bid would be heavily supported.
But our source further revealed that Wike along with some South South, Southeast governors, is now allegedly gravitating towards giving his support to the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari for reasons of securing a second term and ensuring that the north through Buhari completes their 8 years for power to return to the South.
“Wike is not interested in PDP taking over power in 2019. He is interested in fielding a weak presidential candidate so that he will negotiate with the powers that be in APC so that they would help him work on Amaechi so that his second term bid would have a smooth sail”, the source revealed.

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