TheCable

Ahmed Makarfi, the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caretaker committee, says he could still contest the party’s presidential ticket in spite of the return of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to the party.

Speaking in the current edition of The Interview, Makarfi addressed the question about his own interest.

“I have heard the rumour (that I am running), it has been there since 2007… I have thought of it. By the time I leave as caretaker committee chairman on 9th or 10th, there’ll still be ten months to the party primaries. By any law or the party’s guidelines, I’m not excluded,” he said, in spite of speculation that Atiku is gunning for the party’s presidential ticket.

Ayo Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, has also indicated interest, but Makarfi said Fayose’s declaration of interest in the party’s presidential ticket “is uncalled for and unhealthy” since the party has zoned the ticket to the north.

He also said the PDP was expecting more defections after Atiku’s move from the All Progressives Congress (APC), the ruling party.

“For some strategic reasons, don’t expect a lot of people to move to the PDP now. People are in APC for different reasons. Wait for the time when everybody will be on his own, you will see the influx of people into the PDP,” he said.

Makarfi, who reportedly came close to being the PDP’s presidential nominee in 2006, finally revealed how former President Olusegun Obasanjo schemed him out, even though an internal party assessment had returned him as the most favourable candidate.

Azu Ishiekwene, the MD/editor-in-chief of the magazine, described the edition as “the most revealing disclosure yet of the inner workings of the opposition trying to come to terms with its uncertain future”.