Abuja – As the Peoples Democratic Party gets set for its gubernatorial primaries on Monday, President Goodluck Jonathan and the son of the former military head of state, Mohammed Abacha met behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa on Friday, apparently to strategise on how to secure victory for him and the party.
The PDP is presenting the junior Abacha, who was freed from corruption and theft charges by the Federal Government last June, as its governorship candidate for Kano, apparently based on his assumed influence and popularity to be able to dislodge the All Progressives Congress candidate backed by Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
Goodluck Jonathan and Mohammed Abacha
Goodluck Jonathan and Mohammed Abacha
Although the details of their discussions were not made public, Abacha told State House correspondents shortly after emerging from the pareley with Jonathan that he was confident the PDP would ‘recover Kano’ from the APC.
According to him, Kano was stolen from PDP and the party is on its way to recovering the stolen ticket.
Abacha was also optimistic he would emerge the party’s gubernatorial flag bearer.
He said: “We are hopeful; I wouldn’t want to say too much. I said it before that it was a PDP state; it was a PDP ticket. It was taken or converted or even stolen; whatever you want to call it, so be it. The chances of the PDP are still bright.
Speculations had been rife in the country that the Presidency deliberately withdrew the charges bordering on the alleged stealing of N446 billion preferred against the aspirant last June in order to pave the way for him to contest the Kano governorship election.
The government through the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, had justified the nolle proseque granted Abacha, claiming that it was done in the overall interest of the country and not for pecuniary or political reasons.
The government had preferred the nine-count charge of stealing against him in February 2014, claiming that the amount was stolen from its coffers between 1995 and 1998.
But during its withdrawal of the case against Abacha, the government urged the court to strike out the case since it had since discovered “fresh facts” on the matter.
Nigerian lawyer rose against the administration over the matter but it refused to budge.
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