As the race towards 2023 general election begins to take a decisive shape, Senate President of Nigeria, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, Governor of Yobe State and APC’s National Chairman, Interim Caretaker Committee/Convention Planning Committee, Mai Mala Buni and Mohammed Badaru Abubakar (MON) the Governor of Jigawa State, are all set to decamp to the opposition’s Peoples Democratic Party.
A very reliable source in Abuja, told our news platform that the trio have met the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, who is still interested in running on the platform of PDP to actualize his presidential bid to perfect their defection plan.
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, who represents Yobe North Senatorial District in the Senate, was said to have led the delegation that had Governor of Yobe State and APC’s National Chairman, Interim Caretaker Committee/Convention Planning Committee, Mai Mala Buni and Mohammed Badaru Abubakar (MON), who is equally the Chairman, Presidential Committee on Fertilizer, Chairman, Presidential Committee on Non oil Revenue to meet Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Although details of the meeting, which took place at a discreet lodge in Abuja were not made public, inside sources said it may not be unconnected with the rumoured defection plan of the trio of the APC chieftains.
Atiku is among several other contenders for the 2023 presidential ticket of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but sources say he might eventually emerge as the consensus candidate of PDP from the Northern caucus of the party.
Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, our source says have seen the body language of his party, as he might not be supported to be the substantial National Chairman of the ruling APC and with the fact that he is losing the grip of his party structure in Yobe State, has decided to pitch his tent with Atiku Abubakar and the PDP for his second term ambition.
And with the former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, leading 10 other prominent chairmanship aspirants that include; former deputy national chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Saliu Mustapha, former governor of Nasarawa State, Tanko Almakura, former governor of Borno State, Alimodu Sheriff and Senator representing Niger East District, Mohammed Sani-Musa, Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, Borno State, Kashim Shettima, Gombe State, Danjuma Goje, Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, George Akume, Sunny Moniedafe and Mohammed Saidu-Etsu; Mai Mala Buni may have tasted the final glory.
Likewise, if the APC seeded their presidential ticket to the South, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan’s chances of returning to the will be almost impossible. This is because, it will automatically mean a Southerner, preferably from the South West will be the next Senate President.
So, the best calculation for him will be to support a Northerner to become the next President so that he can return to the Senate as the President of the Upper Chamber.
Aside the three prominent public figures, also at the meeting were other top politicians from the North.
With this latest development and plans, the race to 2023 general elections in Nigeria may be taking a very strange direction and may see prominent politicians like Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, Mai Mala Buni and Mohammed Badaru Abubakar (MON), all losing out completely with their calculations and their dwindling popularity.
