Intense pressure has been mounted on Atiku Abubakar to promise a single term president if given the Peoples Democratic Party’s ticket.
This is to placate the southern delegates and guarantee his victory in the forthcoming primary.
The PDP presidential candidate will emerge on May 29 at the end of the special national convention (presidential primary) that will start a day earlier.
Atiku has been meeting with the statutory delegates ahead of the PDP primary next month.
One of his campaign officers and a statutory delegate from the South said, “The South is angry. The people want power to shift to the South after the disastrous outing of President Muhammadu Buhari. However, because we are not a ruling party, we may not be able to zone that position. For us, it’s about how best to win the election.
“That was what we did in Rivers State in 2015 when we picked Wike as our candidate, even though he is from the same area as his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi. So, one of the things we are telling Alhaji Atiku is to consider a single term.
“If they know it’s just four years, that will make it easier for us to sell his candidacy to the South. It will be a semblance of what Nelson Mandela did in South Africa. He served for one term and made his mark. In any case, after that one term, by 2027, age will no longer be on his (Atiku) side.
“Atiku, who has become a veteran of presidential elections, should be able to tell Nigerians that he will be a one-term President if he wins. Anything short of this will be disastrous for him and the North.”
Another source close to the former vice-president confirmed that some of his supporters were speaking to him to consider the one-term suggestion.
The source noted, “In 2015, Atiku said it only once that he would be a one-term President if he won. After that, he was silent on it. Now, he has to promise to be the Mandela of Nigeria if he wins the primary. That will make things easier for him.
“If he agrees, then we can rest assured that we will have many converts among the delegates and even among Nigerians, who will vote in the general elections. Already, the majority of the statutory delegates are with us. We are trying to win ad hoc and national delegates to our side, but Atiku needs to come out openly to speak on this.”
