A sharp disagreement appears to have crept into the alliance between former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar over who between them should fly the North’s flag in the 2011 presidential election.
Information available to the Nigerian Tribune indicates that the two leaders have failed to reach an agreement on this issue after spending some time discussing the details of the issue.
Sources confirmed, on Tuesday, that the duo of Babangida and Abubakar were unable to agree on who should step down for the other, if they succeeded in winning the zoning war in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Babangida and Abubakar had been at the forefront of the zoning campaign in recent weeks. They had held meetings where they insisted that the zoning policy of the PDP remained sacrosanct.
Sources insisted that the relationship between the inner circles of the two leaders who are championing the zoning cause had not been that cordial, notwithstanding the public show of unity on the matter.
While Abubakar was said to be flaunting his democratic credentials and the fact that he fought his former boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo, between 2005 and 2007, to strengthen democracy, he was said to be insisting that such qualities should stand him out in 2011.
A source monitoring the developments quoted Abubakar as having insisted that his stance against the third term agenda of the Obasanjo administration showed him as a veritable democrat far above the credentials being flaunted by Babangida.
“There is the belief in Atiku’s camp that Babangida should not be seen in the forefront of a democratic contest because of the indelible dent of annulment of the June 12,1993, presidential election which he cannot wish away.
“The belief is that Atiku should be supported as the candidate with the appealing democratic credentials from the North right now,” a source said.
The source, however, added that Babangida believed he had the best political experience to handle Nigeria at this time and that he should be supported by former Vice-President Abu-bakar to run the 2011 race.
“In IBB’s camp, the belief is that being a former leader, he should have the chance of first refusal and Atiku should advert his mind to that reality.
“But for now, they are patching up the public image of the zoning war until it is the right time to neutralise the other. I think they want to first fight a common enemy before going fully for each other’s jugular,” the source stated.
However, the spokesman for Atiku Campaign Organisation, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Tuesday, said the two leaders had not experienced sharp disagreements on the zoning battle.
Shehu, in a telephone conversation, said “the situation has not even arisen. So how can there be a disagreement on a situation that is yet to arise?”
Meanwhile, the camp of President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday, insisted on the need to emphasise Nigeria’s unity above sectional interests.
Jonathan, speaking through his Senior Special Assistant, Research and Strategy, Mr Oronto Douglas, said he would not preside over a divided Nigeria.
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