Fresh Plot To Scuttle Nigeria's Elections: Jonathan Holds Secret Meeting With Former VP Atiku

President Goodluck Jonathan paid a secret visit to former
Vice President Abubakar Atiku on Friday night to hold a
meeting that lasted till the early hours of Saturday.
Sources at the Presidency told SaharaReporters that Mr.
Jonathan went to Mr. Atiku’s home with the aim of
persuading the former VP to lead a so called interim
government of national unity that the president has been
covertly attempting to sell to numerous political figures in
recent weeks. One source said Mr. Jonathan and some
hawkish members of his inner circle, including Petroleum
Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, First Lady Patience
Jonathan, Governors Olusegun Mimiko and Ayo Fayose of
Ondo and Ekiti respectively, as well as senior presidential
aide Doyin Okupe, have decided that handing over power to
Muhammadu Buhari “is out of the question.”
Several electoral monitoring groups are projecting that Mr.
Buhari, a retired army general and the presidential
candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is the
odds-on favorite to win the March 28 presidential election.
When SaharaReporters reached Mr. Atiku, he expressed
surprise that we knew about his meeting with President
Jonathan. He asserted that the idea of his heading an
interim government did not come up during the long
discussion with the president.
Mr. Atiku said he had retired to bed when he was woken up
and told that President Jonathan had come to see him,
adding that the president was already waiting in his living
room.
After denying that he was asked to head an interim
government, the former vice president admitted that Mr.
Jonathan tried to prevail on him to rejoin the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP). He disclosed that he rejected the
invitation outright.
According to Mr. Atiku, the president also discussed the
ongoing war against Boko Haram insurgents, asking for
support for Nigerian troops fighting in the area. He said
they also discussed the possibility of displaced Nigerians
returning to the areas that have been recaptured from Boko
Haram.
Asked by our reporter whether he thought President
Jonathan was interested in allowing elections to hold on
March 28, the former vice president hesitated before stating
that he would not wish to speculate, but he said the
president’s body language did not reveal that he was
interested in the polls that are scheduled to hold in two
weeks.
The secret meeting between Mr. Jonathan and former VP
Atiku has caused unease among some APC stalwarts. A
few hours after the meeting, a faction of Mr. Atiku’s original
political organization, the Peoples Democratic Movement
(PDM), announced their endorsement of President
Jonathan.
In his telephone interview with SaharaReporters, Mr. Atiku
disclosed that he was opposed to the formation of an
interim government. He stated that when former military
dictator, Ibrahim Babangida, set up an interim national
government in 1993, the dictator offered him a position in
the government through the late General Shehu Yar’Adua
(ret.). He said he rejected the position, adding that it was
eventually given to a Lagos politician Dapo Sarumi.
Asked further about the substance of his conversation with
Mr. Jonathan, the former vice president said advised the
president to ensure that the elections were free and fair and
devoid of the bloodshed that trailed the 2011 general
elections.