[dropcap]A[/dropcap] governor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is said to have expressed fears that the presidential candidate of the opposition party, former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, may lose the 2019 election to President Muhammadu Buhari if care is not taken.“It seems as if we (including Atiku) have conceded the election to Buhari even though the Nigerian people are behind us. The momentum has fallen, the possibility of victory is getting slimmer every day,” the governor who pleaded anonymity was quoted by Premium Times as saying.The governor told the newspaper that a number of challenges facing the Presidential Campaign Council of the PDP may cause the opposition to lose the presidential election to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Such challenges, he said, include some leaders of the party who are still aggrieved and the faulty structure of the campaign.
He was quoted as naming governors Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe, Nyesom Wike of Rivers and Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto; as well as former governors Ahmed Makarfi, Sule Lamido, and Rabiu Kwankwaso, among the party leaders who still feel aggrieved that Atiku did not carry them along in making some key appointments before commencement of his campaign.
“He (Atiku) did not consult anybody before appointing Obi (former Anambra State governor, Peter).
“They (party leaders) are saying we should have sat down to do a proper calculation on where the running mate should come from, whether from the South-west or the South-east.
“The thinking among many leaders is that the running mate should have come from the South-west because you have from there people like Tinubu (former Lagos State governor, Bola, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) who is politically-savvy and (Vice President Yemi) Osinbajo who has integrity and credibility.