More information about the meeting between Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and former President Goodluck Jonathan has emerged.
WITHIN NIGERIA recalls that Atiku, his running mate, Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, and some PDP chieftains met with Jonathan at his Abuja residence last Thursday.
Following the crisis rocking the major opposition party, the former Vice President and PDP chieftains visited former President Jonathan on a peace mission.
However, it was learned that the PDP flagbearer’s attempt to enlist the former President’s assistance in resolving the ongoing crisis had been thwarted.
Sources at the meeting told TheCable that Atiku urged Jonathan to intervene in the dispute between him and five disgruntled PDP governors known as the Integrity Group.
According to the sources, the former vice president expressed concern that the former President had remained silent on the PDP crisis and had not been participating in party activities.
Jonathan’s Alleged Grievances
According to one source, the former President was enraged because he was not invited to the party’s Board of Trustees meeting.
According to the source, Jonathan claims that the party leadership and Atiku have not shown him any respect by involving him in any activities.
Jonathan reportedly reminded Atiku that he fully supported him in his 2019 presidential bid, but the candidate stopped answering his calls after receiving the ticket.
He said:
Dr Jonathan has never been invited to the meeting of the Board of Trustees.
The party has never accorded him the respect of involving him in its activities. Now that the presidential election is close by Jonathan has suddenly become important.
More so, those nominated by Jonathan into the 2019 presidential campaign council were not appointed. Not a single nominee of his was picked.
Another source said Atiku was also reminded of his role in getting Jonathan and the PDP ousted from power by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015.
Atiku is facing a similar rebellion now and he now wants the same Jonathan who was a victim of his own machination to help him resolve the crisis,” the source.
Jonathan had met with Atiku at the Dorchester Hotel, London, in 2014 to solicit his help in ending the PDP crisis but, ironically, Atiku reportedly said the only condition for peace was for Jonathan to withdraw from the presidential race.
The opinion of Dr Jonathan’s associates is that he should rather support Obi, who has always treated him with respect, than Atiku. President Muhammadu Buhari has treated Dr Jonathan with more respect than Atiku, despite going after his wife and his former ministers, the source said.
However, one of the sources said Atiku reportedly said he was not aware of Jonathan’s complaints and that he would raise them with the party leadership.