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In spite of the
fact that they
have
agreed to select a single candidate to
represent the north in the battle for
the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP ticket
, there are fresh hints of unease among
the various camps of the four
Presidential aspirants .General Ibrahim
B. Babangida, IBB ,former Vice President
Atiku Abubakar, General Aliyu Gusau and
Governor Bukola Saraki are all in the
race and they recently issued a
statement vowing to unite behind any one
of them chosen to represent the North.
Anytime soon, it is
expected that the team of northern
elders raised to name a consensus will
meet and pick one of them. Actually,
investigations by Newsdiaryonline
revealed that the Northern candidate
would have been named earlier but the
proposed adjustment in election
timetable by the Independent National
Electoral Commission , INEC is providing
room for politicians to take their time
before reaching critical decisions.
While waiting for the
lucky one to be named, newsdiaryonline
has learnt of some anxiety over who will
emerge and all the aspirants are
``watching’’ to see what happens.
``We just hope that
the people to do the selection will be
guided by the very obvious facts on the
ground’’ a senior
associate of one of the aspirants
told newsdiaryonline in Abuja this week.
``Of course we are watching to see how
the selection will be made’’ the source
said amid worry that the choice of a
wrong candidate may make the North lose
the battle for the presidency.
Whoever the north
picks will fight for the PDP ticket at
the primaries
in
what will evidently be a straight
contest
between
the incumbent President Goodluck
Jonathan and the northern challenger.
It was also learnt
that the growing suspicion that IBB may
be favoured by the northern wise men is
further fuelling anxiety and fear that
such a choice may spell doom for the
region. ``The choice of IBB will be a
bad sign because he is someone that is
finding it difficult to even campaign in
some state capitals, so how can they
pick such a man. If they give it to him
how will he campaign for votes. Well,
objectively speaking, I believe the
people involved know the facts and they
will be guided by such facts in making
their decision. But we are still
watching’,’ newsdiaryonline.com was
told.
A
prominent associate of IBB however
dismissed these fears as baseless
in
a chat with newsdiaryonline this
morning.According to the former military
president’s associate,``IBB
has more popularity than the
other aspirants from the north``.He said
those complaining
are just political mischief
makers.
It is not clear yet
what will happen if a “wrong person’’ is
selected. But the four aspirants have
publicly vowed to queue behind whoever
is selected in order to clinch the PDP
ticket.
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