Atiku1dp-300x239This is coming as the zone also threw its weight behind the leadership of the national chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, stressing that the PDP was intact in the North-East and pledged to bring all the stakeholders on board to uplift the party in the zone.
Both Abubakar and Tukur are from Jadea Local Government Area of Adamawa State, one the states of the zone.
The leader of the delegation and zonal chairman of the party, Senator Lawal Girgir, reportedly told the former vice president during the meeting that the zone had come to identify with him as a founding father and committed member of the party, who remained a unifying factor in the North and the entire nation.
According to sources, “the delegation told the former vice president that they came to identify with him as a founding father and loyal member of the party and that he is like a father to them, as nobody had risen to his p olitical position in the zone, apart from the late Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and the late Alhaji Tafawa Balewa.”
The delegation reportedly pleaded with him not to leave the party, but to involve himself actively in all the activities of the party in the zone and the country in general.
According to the sources, the delegation also explained that the dwindling financial position of the PDP in the zone had made it difficult for the party to function effectively in the recent time.
Responding, the former vice president reportedly told the delegation to disregard the speculation making the rounds about his membership of the newly registered PDM, while pledging his absolute commitment to PDP which he co-founded.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the meeting, the zonal publicity secretary of the party, Alhaji Al-Amin Sani Muhammed, said “you know Alhaji Abubakar is one of our major stakeholders, the party zonal executive paid him a visit as a sign of respect.”
According to him,“you know Atiku is a PDP member, if he is not in PDP, I am telling you, we would not have been here.”
There have been speculations that the former vice president was the brain behind the formation of PDM, a claim he had since denied.
PDP NEC holds emergency meeting today
The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will hold an emergency meeting in Abuja today, ahead its forthcoming South-West zonal congress and mini-national convention.
Those expected at the meeting are President Goodluck Jonathan; Vice President Namadi Zambo; former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo; Senate President, his deputy, Speaker of the House of Representatives, his deputy, principal officers of the National Assembly who are members of the party, state governors of the party and members of the boards of trustees (BOT), among others.
It was learnt that the emergency meeting may record a low turnout as most of the expected members were yet to get the notice as of Wednesday.
In fact, most of the NEC members contacted by the Nigerian Tribune over the meeting claimed that they were not aware as of the time they were contacted.
However, a source at the office of the national chaiman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, told the Nigerian Tribune in confidence that the NEC meeting was actually fixed for next week Thursday but had to be changed on the directive of the president, to correct some anomalies.
It was gathered that apart from the anomalies, the NEC may also push for automatic tickets for President Jonathan and governors seeking re-election in 2015, as earlier canvassed by Chief Tony Anenih, BoT chairman.
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