Jonathan and his supporters accuse Wada of being
responsible for the party’s defeat by the All Progressives Congress
(APC) during the presidential election, according to The Nation.
The reelection bid of Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State may have suffered a major setback following indications that former President, Goodluck Jonathan and some entrenched interests within the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are against him returning to the Government House in Lokoja.
The reelection bid of Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State may have suffered a major setback following indications that former President, Goodluck Jonathan and some entrenched interests within the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are against him returning to the Government House in Lokoja.
It quoted a highly placed source who disclosed that the ex-President believes that Wada supported the APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari because he is a Muslim, adding that his grouse with Wada also bordered on the latter’s visit to former President, Olusegun Obasanjo in his Abeokuta home in Ogun State, at the height of the presidential campaign.
Wada lost in his ward and local government to the APC during the last presidential election, despite the alleged “huge war chest” made available to him by the presidency to prosecute the March 28 election.
It was gathered that other forces against Wada’s emergence as the PDP governorship flag bearer include the party’s former national chairman, Dr Ahmadu Ali and former Governor Ibrahim Idris.
The PDP National Working Committee, NWC, on Wednesday postponed the governorship primary in Kogi State from Thursday to Monday, September 14, attributing the shift to logistics issues.
The newspaper gathered that the party is actually shopping for Wada’s replacement, which is the real reason for the last day postponement of the governorship primary.
According to the source, “Jonathan believes that Wada supported Buhari because he is a Muslim and that he went to visit Obasanjo before the general election.
“These are some of the reasons why you are seeing what we are witnessing. Ahmadu Ali is angry… They argued that Wada deliberately lost his ward and local government in favour of Buhari.
“Idris needs N4 billion which he used to finance Wada’s2003 election and that Wada has not paid him all the while, but that he needs the money now”.
Despite the perceived outcome of the state party congress which favoured Wada, the fear that the national secretariat might spring its own delegates list during the primary is another source of worry for the governor’s camp.
Hundreds of party delegates massed at the Government House Lokoja early Thursday morning, with rumours of plans to take their protest against the unfolding development to Abuja.
“You see the large number of delegates, but the truth is that they have an equally large number of delegates on their list at the national headquarters and this they can bring. Nobody is sure,” said another source.
