.Jonathan’s think tank committee lobbies richest man in
Africa
.Has financial war chest to match any APC candidate’
.’He’s not interested in politics, PDP should look
elsewhere’
Ahead of the 2019 general election, the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), has started making overtures to billionaire business man, Alhaji
Aliko Dangote, to come and contest for the presidential election on its
platform. Already, the opposition PDP has zoned the presidency slot for the
2019 election to the Northern part of the country, while the National
Chairmanship slot of the party has been earmarked for the Southern part. An
impeccable insider source exclusively told The Daily Times in Abuja that the
party, in a determined efforts to win the 2019 election, has already sent
emissary to the billionaire businessman from Kano, who is reputed as the
wealthiest businessman in Africa.
It was learnt that the decision to reach out to Dangote with
a view to wooing him to come and contest for the presidential election on the
platform of the PDP, was part of the decisions reached by members of a think tank
committee put together by the immediate past President of the country, Dr.
Jonathan Goodluck. The opposition PDP, which recently came out of its
leadership crisis following the ruling of the Supreme Court that recognised
Senator Ahmed Makarfi as its National Chairman, was said to have taken a lot of
things into consideration before the decision to go and woo Alhaji Dangote for
the 2019 mission.
The source said: “I can confidently tell you that the PDP
has made overtures to Alhaji Aliko Dangote to come and fly the presidential
flag of our party for the 2019 presidential election. “So many things were
taken into consideration before the party arrived at this decision. Alhaji
Dangote has the clout, the pedigree, the name, the followership and above all
the financial war chest to match any presidential candidate that the governing
All Progressives Congress (APC) or any other party may be bringing forward in
2019”.
It was further gathered that Dangote allegedly spent
personal money running into about N37 billion in 2015 to help in realising the
presidential ambition of President Muhammadu Bihari, before and after he
(Buhari) emerged at the presidential candidate of the APC then. It is still not
clear if Buhari will be seeking a second term in office come 2019. Further
findings showed that Alhaji Dangote had equally made a lot on financial
contributions to the emergence of other past presidents in the country. Another
source within the party who spoke to The Daily Times said: “If Dangote can make
financial contributions to ensure the emergence of other past Presidents in the
country in the past, don’t you think he will be willing and ready to spend any
amount to realise his own presidential ambition if he accepts the overture from
the PDP? “This is one of the reasons why the PDP made the overtures to him
(Dangote) and we sincerely hope and pray that he accepts it.
If he does, the journey to the Aso Rock presidential villa
for the PDP in 2019 would have been made less stressful and less thorny”, the
source added. One of the reasons adduced by some political pundits for the loss
by the PDP of the presidential election to the APC in 2015 was the failure of
the former to pick its candidate from the Northern part of the country. Some
other prominent politicians being linked with moves to return to the PDP to
contest its presidential primaries with the intention to get the party ticket
are former Vice President and chieftain of APC, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and
erstwhile Governor of Kano State and serving Senator, Alhaji Rabiu Musa
Kwankwaso. A member of the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker
Committee (NCC) of the PDP, who spoke on the condition of anonymity on the
issue, told our correspondent that it is too early to make any comment on the
issue for now.
When contacted, a source close to Dangote disclosed that his
principal is not interested in politics, saying that the PDP should look
elsewhere for its candidate. The source, who sought anonymity because of the
sensitive nature of the matter, insisted that the stance of the business mogul
not to dabble into politics has not changed, saying that any attempt by any
political party to woo him for 2019 presidency is a distraction. He said: “The
attempt to woo him will fail because Dangote is not interested in politics. He
is a businessman to the core and what you just asked me to react to is a
distraction. “The PDP should go and look elsewhere for its candidate for 2019
as Dangote is committed to his core vision and desire to invest and create jobs
to the people”.
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