Barely two days after the Supreme Court struck out the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, challenging the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari as winner of the February 23, 2019 election, agitation for the 2023 presidential ticket has commenced. Credible sources told our correspondent yesterday in Abuja that some power brokers in the party were already planning how to field another candidate in 2023.

It was gathered that high ranking members of the PDP, including some serving governors were plotting to field a northern candidate in 2023, while some party bigwigs from the South felt cheated by such arrangement and are challenging the move.

A Board of Trustees (BoT) member from the South who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity said: “It is true that some power brokers in the PDP were not comfortable with the emergence of Atiku but we supported him as our candidate.” “So now that our case has been thrown out, there are pockets of agitations regarding which zone should produce the presidential candidate in 2023. “But I think the party also needs to handle this matter with caution because, already, many of our members are likely to jump ship to the APC. I’m also considering that option so I don’t want to comment on the matter anymore,” he said.

But PDP National Publicity Secretary Kola Ologbondiyan told our correspondent yesterday in a telephone chat that the party has not taken a decision on its 2023 presidential ticket. “There is no agitation within the PDP over the 2023 presidential ticket. It’s even too early to talk about 2023, but I can assure you that the future of the PDP is very bright. “We have not even seen the reasons they (Supreme Court) advanced for their judgement. So we have not reached discussion on that yet,” he said.

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